Sunday Worship Service December 22, 2024

Prelude
Call to Worship Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)
Lighting of the Advent Candle
Hymn JBC # 157
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 301
Offering
Special Hymn
Scripture Matthew 2:1~12
Prayer
Sermon “The First Christ Worship”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 167
Doxology JBC # 679
Benediction
Postlude

　In the Christian church, December 25th is commemorated and celebrated as the date of birth of Jesus Christ.
In today’s passage that was just read out, it says “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod”.
Actually, the month and date of Jesus’ birth is not recorded anywhere in the Bible. Because of this, we do not know whether the 25th of December is Jesus’ actual birthday or not.
It seems that the reason that the Christian church came to celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December has its origins in the time of the early Christians. At that time in Rome, the Cult of Mithras worshipped the sun god Mithra, and held a festival celebrating the “Invincible Sun God” on the 25th of December.

The Christians believed that Jesus Christ himself was the “true Sun”, the only one who brings new life to man and the true God.
As more and more people in the Roman Empire came to believe in Christianity, the Cult of Mithras declined
In this way, the 25th of December was no longer a celebration of the god Mithras, but came to be when Christians commemorated the birth of Christ.
As such, although the date December 25th is not recorded in the Bible, that date represents the history behind many people choosing to believe in the One God of the Bible (rather than believing in idols made by man), and coming to worship the true God.

　While there may be no accurate basis for the 25th of December being Christ’s birthday the Bible does clearly write about the time during which Jesus was born.
As I mentioned at the start of today’s message, the beginning of today’s passage says “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod”.
King Herod, known more commonly as Herod the Great, ruled as the King of Judea, as a vassal of the Roman Empire at the time. (It is said he reigned from 37BC to 4BC).
As written in the sections following today’s passage, he was disturbed by the news that a new king had been born that threatened his position as King, he had all the boys who were two years old or younger in Bethlehem and its vicinity killed, leaving none alive.
Because of this, it could be said that Herod was a ruthless person without mercy.

Yet, we should also know that it is possible that Herod’s upbringing and being in the position of King may be made him that way, and that anyone could become like him.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time that such a king was reigning over Judea (approximately 2000 years ago).
At that time the Magi (or traditionally “wise men”, as they have also come to be translated as), came to Jerusalem (the capital of Judea) from the east, and came to see King Herod.
In the New Interconfessional Bible (Japanese), the Magi are translated as “astrologers (scholars of astrology)”. Perhaps the reason for this is that they knew that a new King of the Jews (Messiah) had been born by looking at the movement of the stars.

They observed the movement of the stars (astronomical objects) and could interpret what they observed, making them the experts in astronomy of their time.
Their knowledge was relatively advanced for their time, so they must have been the leading experts (scholars or scientists) of their time.
　 They came from the east, all the way to Jerusalem. Precisely where in the “the east” they came from is not written, so we do not know.
There are theories that it may mean Babylon, where the Israelites had once been held captive during the Babylonian captivity, or from still further east. If that is the case, the journey they took would have been thousands of kilometers.
Since we do not know precisely we can only guess, however I think we can safely assume that the Magi arrived in Jerusalem after braving the dangers of a very long journey over the course of many days.
The gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus who was born at that time is someone who we need to meet, even if we have to take on so much risk, spend so much time, give so much (or everything) we own, He is the exalted One we should believe in.

Also, the Magi were not Jews, but were from a country to the East, and would have been seen by the Jews as gentiles.
It may be that these gentile Magi became familiar with the stories of the Bible from the Jews who were taken into captivity in Babylon.
The Magi believed the prophecy in the Bible that the true King of the Jews, the Messiah, would be born, and they would have been awaiting this event with great excitement.
The fact that King Herod heard the news of the birth of the Messiah, the King of the Jews, from the gentile Magi who were not Jewish, shows that the Messiah, Jesus, is not just the King of Israel, the land called Judea, and the Jewish people, but is the Savior of all of us, of all mankind.
Before I came to believe in Christ, I used to think “Christianity is a Western religion”, that it is not something for us Japanese people to believe in.

Certainly, it is true that historically the Christian church developed in the West (Rome and European countries), but Jesus Christ was born in Israel as a Jew, meaning that it is not necessarily true to think of Christianity as a Western religion.
I think that when I used to reject Christianity because I thought it was a Western religion, I now think that it was because I had a kind of bias or obstacle within me (it could also be called prejudice).
The truth transcends the borders, ethnic and racial differences of our human world.
Even though the truth of God transcends our differences in the human world, is it right that we often value partiality and take pride in our national and ethnic differences in the human world, particularly those of the nation we belong to, over that truth?
We are all God’s creation, and were each of us created by God to have different characteristics.

The Bible tells us that even though we were created by God to be each of us different, God wants us all to know Him as the One God who made each of us, to believe in the God that transcends the difference of nationality, region, race and ethnicity we find in our human world, and to live together.
Let us continue to open our hearts and minds to the truth spoken through the Bible and listen carefully to the words of the Bible.
And what is fortunate for us is that now, in order to seek the true God, the Savior, and meet with Him, we do not need to travel for hundreds or thousands of kilometers like the Magi in today’s passage.
To meet with God, we do not need to go to Jerusalem. This is because even now, God is with us here in this place. Can this be true?

This is true. The Bible says this.
　 In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 18 Verse 20, Jesus says:

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

It means that when we gather together in Jesus’ name, that is, believing that Christ is God, coming together in the faith, uniting in heart and mind, Jesus will be with us in that place.
When we the Christian church gather together not by human thoughts and desires, but are brought together by the grace and love of Jesus Christ, when we give glory back to Christ together, Jesus is with us in that place.
In other words, if we gather together with faith in Christ, no matter where that is, Jesus will be with us in that place. Isn’t that such a great blessing?
Let us all continue to walk in faith, sharing the grace that Jesus is with us where we gather in the name of Christ, hearing the Word of the Bible together and receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God!
And, for those who do not yet have faith and have not yet made the decision, we hope from the bottom of our hearts that you will continue to come to church and experience meeting with the true God.
When the Magi went to Herod’s palace first, they found the King of the Jews (Jesus) was not there.

Jesus was born as the son of Joseph the carpenter and his mother Mary, as a boy in an ordinary Jewish family.
Herod said “Go and search carefully for the child” (verse 8), and the Magi set out in search of Him.
When they did so, the star they had seen from the East guided them, stopping above the place where the infant (Jesus) lay.
They were overjoyed, and entered the house.

Let’s read verse 11.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The Magi bowed down to the infant they found there, worshipped Him, and presented Him with the treasures they had brought
Gold is said to symbolize an offering to the One who is King, and frankincense (a perfume made from the sap of certain trees) symbolizes an offering to the One who is the High Priest connecting God and man.
And myrrh was a preservative used to prevent the bodies of the dead from decaying, so it could be said to symbolize Christ’s eventual death on the cross for the atonement of sins for all.
In this way, at that time, the Magi presented the treasures they had brought to One who is the true King, the One who is the High Priest connecting God and man, the One who gave His life for us, that is who they gave their treasures to.

It could also be said that at that time, they were the first to give their worship to Christ.

In what way do we worship Christ? Do we believe in Christ with our hearts, praise Him, and present our treasures to Him?
The one who is God was born as a man. That One is Jesus Christ. He did this to forgive us our sins and grant us salvation.
Let us believe in, rejoice and be thankful that Christ was born into our world for us this way.
Let us continue meeting together in Christ’s name, offering to Jesus the best of what we have, starting with our whole selves, continuing to offer our worship to the true Christ,
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” The gracious blessing from Jesus in these words will always remain true and will continue to be a reality for us.