This Sunday ends the season of Christmas with Epiphany.  For all you lapsed Anglicans (like me), this is Epiphany Sunday.  Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.  And it’s this Sunday because tradition says that the Wise Men came to visit the Christ Child twelve days after Christmas (and that’s where “The Twelve Days of Christmas” comes from).

And believe it or not, all of that comes from  our passage for this Sunday.  We’re back in the Gospel of Matthew this week with a bright shining star that no one can explain, the appearance of those strange men from the East, who tradition tells us were philosophers, astronomers, magicians, the king’s advisors, all of the above, or none of the above ­ take your pick.

We’re continuing in our series on the life of Christ, Walking with Jesus: A Year with the Savior.  And we’re going to get our first real sense that the people who should be overjoyed at the birth of the Messiah aren’t and don’t care.  And the people who shouldn’t even know or care about the birth of the Messiah somehow both know and care.  It’s our first clear glimpse of seeing God reverse who’s an insider and who’s an outsider, and it’s rarely who you think it’s supposed to be.

So now it’s time to come and learn about faith in the newborn King from people who shouldn’t have any.  And what they’ve come to do is eye-opening.  And it should serve to build our faith and start 2024 off right.  See you Sunday, Dr. Dave