Seeing with the eyes of faith

Like the Wise Men, Pastor Douthwaite last Sunday opened up treasures.  Not gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but the treasures of God’s Word.  His Epiphany sermon had some gems that I want to contemplate the rest of this week.   He pointed out, for example, that the Wise Men saw merely a baby–not with the halos of the Christmas cards–but they saw Him with the eyes of faith, as we must, and thus knew Him as the Son of God.

From Rev. James Douthwaite, St. Athanasius Lutheran Church: Epiphany of Our Lord Sermon:

And so really, the Christmas story of the shepherds and the wise men has continued down through the ages, as God has led a countless number of people through the centuries to fall down and worship Him. Including you. For you it wasn’t an angel or a star that led you, but it was God’s doing nonetheless. Through other means – His Word, or preaching. But you are here just as they were. And you see Him by faith just as they did. For they didn’t see a baby that was spectacular – who was glowing or had a halo around His head or that miraculously didn’t cry or soil a diaper – they saw a baby boy just like every other baby boy. But a baby boy that by faith they believed was different than every other baby boy. For this baby boy was not just Mary’s son, but God’s Son. The King and Saviour of the world. And they fell down and worshipped Him. . . .

So what made the wise men wise was that when they entered the house of Mary and Joseph that day and saw the child Jesus, they fell down and worshipped Him. They didn’t say: this is just a house and not a palace; these are just common folk and not royalty, and so this child must not be a king. No. Not their knowledge and not what the world teaches is what drove what they did – they listened to the Word of God, even though it may not have made a lot of earthly, worldly, sense. This child? This child? And they fell down and worshipped Him. Wise men.