Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Matthew 2:1-12 Today is the first Sunday after Epiphany: ‘the making of the light known’. Jesus is revealed for who he is. But what makes Matthew 2 so appropriate for today, at the beginning of the year, is the focus that is on worship. ‘Worship’ is not a word that the New Testament uses often, and certainly not to depict an event. But here ‘worship’ does talk about an event: The wise men say to Herod: ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We .. have come to worship him’ ( Matthew 2:1 ) Herod answers them, ‘Report to me, so that I too may go and worship him’. ( Matthew 2:8 ) When they reach the house, ‘they bowed down and worshipped him’ ( Matthew 2:11 ) Matthew is soaked in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament ‘worship’ is an event. It is what you do when you go to the temple, submit yourself to God and offer sacrifices to Him. And so when Matthew uses the word ‘worship’, he is not using it in the way that the rest of the New Testament uses the word. For Jo