1/7 Sermon - A Star and Scepter For All People

A star and scepter for all people.

Numbers 24:15-17a 

Diversity, race, racism has been a hot topic for… quite awhile in history. It still is! What’s just the latest discussion? Antisemitism? For or against Palestine? How about the terrorist organization? Look, I am NOT here to offer political opinions or rants. The church is not the place for that.

- But Epiphany Sunday is a great time to talk about what the Bible says, what our foundation is, for race, diversity, really just how we view other people.  Our theme for today is this: A star and scepter for all people.

Let’s go back to our reading from Numbers. The Jews, Israel, were on the march. They had begun to march into the land of Canaan. And it was going well! God had just wiped out the Amorites, a nation in Canaan. Now they are marching by the kingdom of Moah. So the king of Moab was afraid. He tried to get Balaam, a prophet, to curse Israel. But instead, he blessed them!

Look at what Balaam says, it’s a beautiful confession. Read Numbers 24. He sees clearly, his eyes are open, he kneels before the most High God, and he prophesies that a star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel. A mighty king would come from the nation of the Jews.

But there is a little problem here, at least for me. This Savior would come…from the Jews. I’m not a Jew! I’m of German & Swiss heritage. This Savior wouldn’t be from my people! Maybe, maybe we should join  the king of Moab and panic! If this king is not German, not my heritage, what’s going to happen to me? To my people? To my ethnicity?

Do you see the problem? We are so quick to see everything in this world as me vs. them, my tribe vs. that tribe, every person or group as an enemy or outsider. That’s not the attitude that God wants us to have. Thankfully Epiphany helps us see clearly, as Balaam did. This was a scepter, a star for all people. I’ll explain these pictures more later.

So Epiphany falls every year on January 6th. Maybe you know this, but it is kind of the first ‘Christmas’, where the church celebrated Jesus as a baby, and it predates Christmas on Dec 25th by perhaps 200 years. Epiphany is all about the Magi who came from the East to worship Jesus.

We don’t know much about the Magi. How many? Names? Where did they come from exactly? But we know the most important part! Why they came. These Gentiles, from Persia, maybe modern day Iranians, foreigners, came to worship Jesus, the king born of the Jews, but the Savior for the whole world.

- As foreigners, that means Jesus is our Savior too. He died for the sins of the Jews, the Persians, the Iranians, the Germans, the Swiss, the Chinese, he died for my sins and your sins. The Magi show is Jesus is a Savior, a star and scepter for all people.

But notice the contrast between the magi and the others: Herod connived plotted to kill Jesus, he did massacre dozens of infants. The priests dismissed this news, they couldn’t care less about the prophecies in Scripture, Jerusalem was troubled, not joyful at the promised king.

- I can abuse and misuse Jesus too. I use my status as a redeemed child of God to look down on others. I don’t even know how often this past year I’d torn others down, looked down my nose, bashed other people, and just been all around judgmental. I use Jesus to divide, not to love.

Let’s go back to the contrast: the magi, on the other hand, traveled 1000s of miles to see Jesus, brought expensive gifts, rejoiced to find him, and bowed down to worship him. We sometimes think of the Magi’s gifts or worship as gold, myrrh frankincense. They are good, but secondary. Their primary worship was their humility. They bowed down and worshiped Jesus, and acknowledge that this baby was their king.

- This is what unites us. It doesn’t matter where we are from, what we look like, what our ethnicity is. Jesus, born from the Jewish people, is the Savior of all peoples, of me, of you. Let’s follow the example of these foreigners, these Persians, these Iranians, and worship Jesus, humble ourselves before him, bow to Jesus as our Savior and king. He is the star and scepter of all people.

This is Paul’s point in our reading from Romans. Jesus is the Savior, the star, the scepter, for all people. Of course the Jews are special! They are! I can say that although I am of German/Swiss heritage. The Jews are God’s chosen people, he established a nation, fought for them, built a temple among them, lived among them, and had his own son descendent from Abraham and David.

But they aren’t particularly special any longer, just their heritage. Israel rejected Jesus and his gospel of repentance and forgiveness. So God destroyed the temple, twice. The Jewish people, their city, and their nation no longer have any religious significance. But God promises a remnant of Jews will always believe in Jesus as their Savior.

In his letter to Romans, Paul tells us exactly what the Magi show us: we are all united, every race and people, under God in our sin and in God’s mercy.

- We are all equally sinful, rebellious against God, disobedient, and we all deserve God’ wrath.

- We are all equally objects of God’s mercy, offered the same hope of eternal life and forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ blood.

There are so many ways we divide ourselves. I don’t think I need to list all of them to you; we see enough of that each day and each week. Is there any way we can possibly be united? There is one way, only one way: through Jesus, by confessing how we all sin against God’s will, and by believing that our sins our forgiven. This message is for all people.

Balaam’s prophesy’s something unique. A star, a scepter for all people, rising out of the Jewish nation. Jesus. That’s what Jesus is: a star, a scepter. I want to talk about those two pictures just a little bit.

What comes to mind when you picture a star?

They give guidance to those who travel.

They give light to and beauty to the darkness night sky.

They give hope to those who look up at them.

These are all exactly what Jesus gives to all people. To you. He guides us as we live in this world with his Word. He gives light and beauty to our lives as we rest in his forgiveness. Jesus gives hope to us as we travel in this dark world that we will live in paradise. Jesus is our star. 

What comes to your mind when you picture a scepter?

It symbolized that someone was king.

It meant that the king had power and authority to rule.

The beauty showed how wealthy and powerful the king was.

That is exactly who Jesus is. He is our king; He doesn’t just rule in name; he has power and authority over everything. His rule extends over the whole world.

Jesus is the star, the scepter, the hope, the ruler of all people. We can find unity in this world only through Jesus.

This is how I want your perspective to change today: I want you to look at the people around you differently.

- Of course we’re Americans, and proud to be in such a great country!

- None of our families were here 300 years ago, and our ethnicities are all different and rich with history and tradition.

- Of course we will sometimes think, speak, act differently from others!

- But that is not a reason to distrust or divide ourselves.

I want you to look at the people around you differently: every single person you see, including yourself, is a sinner, Every single person you see is loved by God. Every single person you see has had Jesus die for their sins. God wants every single person you see to believe in Jesus and have eternal life. God wants every single person to love and live in his Word. This is the only thing that can truly unite us.

Jesus is the star and scepter for all people, the ruler and hope for all people, the Savior for all people. He’s your Savior and the Savior of the person standing on the opposite side of the world. What a wonderful way for us to see other people.