Sermon Notes — January 4, 2026
January 4, 2026
Another Way
Matthew 2:1-12 (CEB)
Rev. Dr. Mary Beth Bernheisel
When I hear the word Epiphany I think Aha!
I think of an epiphany as an Aha! Moment. A moment when I realize something that had never occurred to me before, or when something new comes to mind that I hadn’t thought of before. Have you ever heard someone say, “It was like a light bulb turned on in my head.” That’s what I think of when I hear the word epiphany.
In terms of the church calendar, Epiphany is both a day and a season. The day of Epiphany is January 6 – that doesn’t change – and the season of Epiphany lasts from January 6 until Ash Wednesday. It was the early Christian church that started the tradition of celebrating Epiphany on January 6, but at that time they celebrated several events together on the same day. They celebrated Jesus’ birth, Jesus’s baptism, and Jesus’s first miracle, turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana.
If you think about it, it kind of makes sense. Those three events were one big Aha moment – you put them together they reveal that Jesus is God’s Son. Eventually Epiphany became focused only on the Wise Men and their visit to Jesus. And the reason for focusing on the Wise Men is that they were Gentiles – not Jews – not members of the House of Israel. The story of the Wise Men is a story about how Jesus came to bring salvation to all people and not just his own people.
A light bulb goes on. Or maybe a star appears in the sky. And we realize once again that God didn’t send Jesus just for some people, but for all people.
Will you pray with me and for me?
These thirteen verses that Dave read for us contain about ten different stories, so I’m going to do my best just to stick with one – the story of two kings – Herod and Jesus – and two Kingdoms – the Kingdom of Rome and the Kingdom of heaven.
We’ll start with Herod and his Kingdom. I won’t bore you with all the ins and outs of how Herod became King of Judea, mostly because I don’t understand them myself, but the short story is that the Roman senate appointed him, which meant that he served at the pleasure of the Roman senate and they expected him to keep the people in line.
Here’s a map of the Roman Empire in 125 AD. The Empire is a cream color and that tiny little red sliver is Judea. That’s what Herod was in charge of. His official title was King of Judea, but he was also called King of the Jews. King Herod, as you probably already know, was not mentally well. He was so paranoid that he had his wife’s brother drowned because he was afraid that the Roman senate was going to push him off the throne and replace him with the brother. He had a spy network among the Jewish people who were supposed to warn him if anyone was planning a revolt. He had a sister named Salome, who was every bit as nasty as he was. And Salome convinced Herod that his wife Mariamne was unfaithful to him, so Herod ordered the murder of Mariamne, her two sons, and her grandfather.
Welcome to Herod’s kingdom.
In today’s story these royal officials – magicians – kings – they come in to Herod’s palace and they ask to meet the child who was born King of the Jews. As paranoid as Herod was, they couldn’t have asked a worse question. If a new child had been born King of the Jews then either the Roman senate was planning to replace Herod or someone was plotting against him.
But Herod was just crafty enough to use these visitors to his own advantage. If he could get the visitors to tell him where to find this child that was born to be the King of the Jews then he could get rid of the kid and continue his reign of terror.
In another room in the palace, while Herod kept his visitors waiting over here, he met with the scholars of scripture. “Let’s just say, hypothetically, that there was a king that wasn’t me. Where would that king be born?” The scholars did a little bit of homework, put together a few clues – some from the prophet Micah, some from the history found in 2 Samuel – and told Herod that Bethlehem was the place.
From you will come one who governs, who will shepherd my people Israel. (Matthew 2:6)
Keep those two things in mind. The shepherd of Israel will come from Bethlehem.
Last Monday afternoon about 40 kids and families from the church and tagalongs like me went to see the movie David. As many times as I’ve read stories about King David, I don’t think I’ve ever vividly pictured David as a young shepherd. I think about David mostly in his role as king. But one of the things I appreciated about the film was that it emphasized David the shepherd – that’s who he was at his core. That’s what he was born to do. All through the film, anytime anyone mentions David becoming a king he reminds them that he’s not a king. He’s a shepherd.
But that’s the very reason that God chooses David. Because he is a shepherd. Because he has compassion for the helpless sheep. Because he is gentle and kind when he needs to be, but he does whatever he has to do to protect his sheep.
So it’s no surprise when the religious scholars tell Herod that the new king has been born in Bethlehem – David’s hometown. This new king will have the heart of a shepherd, just like David. He will love his people in the same kind, compassionate, and fierce way that David loved his sheep, and then, when he became king, the way David loved his people.
And so Herod sends the visitors from the East on their way with strict instructions to come back and tell him exactly – exactly – where they find this child so that Herod can go and “honor” him, too.
The visitors leave the palace and Behold! Do you remember Terry’s stole from a few weeks ago? Behold! Look at this amazing thing! Behold a star appears, but this time it settles right over the house in Bethlehem where Jesus was.
And they rejoiced! With great joy. And they went to the house and they saw the child and they fell to their knees to worship him. What a strange sight. Privileged stargazers from thousands of miles away fall to their knees to worship the King of the Jews.
They could have been offended, put out, disappointed that the king they were looking for wasn’t in the royal palace but in a plain old house in a really small town. They could have walked right by and not even bothered to go in – that’s not a birthplace for a king. They could have turned up their noses at the humble home where Jesus and his parents stayed. But they walked right in and worshiped him.
They were used to kings like Herod. They were used to kings who rule by fear and intimidation. Kings who can’t fathom anything more terrifying than losing their power. Kings who value control more than anything else.
But this was a different kind of king. A king born to rule as a shepherd. Those visitors met two kings on their journey, but they only worshiped one. Jesus.
And what of his kingdom? It’s not on a map. It doesn’t have borders. There is no palace. It is everything that the kingdom of Herod – the kingdom of the world – isn’t. The Herods of the world plot and scheme in dark corners, but this king is the light of the world. And his kingdom is so glorious that it can only be marked by the stars in the sky.
This king will grow up to be gentle like David and wise like Solomon, but his whole life will show us a different way to be in the world. We will know that he is the true king because he loves his sheep. And that very love itself – love that includes everyone, love that beckons everyone – that love will threaten every system and every institution, and indeed every person who insists that there must be outsiders so that there can be insiders, who insist that some have to live in want so that others can have all they want, who insist that some need a whole lot of power in order to keep power from those who won’t use it the way they want them to.
By the power of God who put the stars in the sky, the kings see not only who this king is now, but the kind of kingdom he might one day bring. What alternative do they have but to worship him?
And after they have risen from their knees and given him their gifts, they have a choice to make. Do they obey the command of Herod and return to him, and tell him where to find the new king of the Jews? Or do they follow their dreams and find another way home.
Perhaps they are inspired by the other kind of king to imagine another kind of kingdom, and so they go home by another way.
As James Taylor famously sang,
Steer clear of royal welcomes
Avoid a big to-do
A king who would slaughter the innocents
Will not cut a deal for you
Four days into the new year our holy king invites us to choose once again. We can take the way of Herod and decide that the way things are is just the way they have to be. Or we can follow the visitors from the east and be inspired by the promise of a different kind of king and a different kind of kingdom. A kingdom ruled by love and compassion, and fierce, uncompromising commitment to the world as God wants it to be.
This is so much a part of the DNA of Bethlehem UMC, and my prayer is that you understand that your compassionate love for your neighbors is God’s kingdom – this alternative kingdom that Jesus brings. You believe that people experiencing homelessness should not only have a warm place to sleep but that they should be surrounded by a community that truly cares about them. That’s God’s kingdom. You believe that children whose parents can’t provide enough to eat should still have food – that’s God’s kingdom. You believe that families who have to choose between paying the light bill and buying Christmas presents should still have delightful gifts to open – that’s God’s kingdom. And every moment that we engage in that kind of love and generosity is a moment of light, a moment that reflects the world as God wants it to be, ruled not by coercive control but beckoning compassion.
And it’s not simply a matter of high ideals or a strong moral compass. You believe – and you act on your beliefs – that if God’s kingdom is real, then we are responsible for making our corner of the world look like that kingdom. That other way.
We begin this new year at the table set by Jesus who came not just to show us a different way, but who came to be a different way. In him is the fullness of God’s kingdom. When you come to this table know that you are invited once again into the way of fierce love and gentle compassion – into the way of Jesus.