Access. Do you have access? If you have an “all access pass” to a rock concert, you get to walk backstage and even meet the band. No one can just go up to the President of the United States and engage him in a conversation. You've got to have “access.” You can watch a show like “Access Hollywood” because you can't go behind the scenes of the rich and famous but their cameras and reporters can. Access. Gotta have access. Well if it's that hard to get the ear of the president or a close up pic with a superstar, how much more difficult is it to have access to Almighty God? The birth of Christ and the coming of the Wise Men happened for this purpose: so that we would know we have access to God. St. Paul says it: “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” To have God's ear, to speak to the Lord, to come to Him, you need only Christ. You don't have to be Jewish in the bloodline of Abraham. You don't have to make an appointment with His secretary. Because of Jesus you have access not to the fleeting starlets and politicians of this world but to the Lord and Creator of all the universe. In Christ, you have access to God.
Epiphany, the coming of the pagan Wise Men from Babylon or Persia or wherever, is God's promise that His Son was born for all people. The birth of the Son of God in the flesh is His promise that it doesn't matter where you're from or what you've done, His salvation is for you. What is it that gives access to Jesus for these Wise Men? It's the Word of God. The Lord puts a new star in the sky to guide them and they go and learn the Scriptures which say the Baby is born in Bethlehem. When they get to the house in Bethlehem, there's no guards to get by or papers to fill out. Just Baby Jesus to be worshiped as the King and Savior. Access. This Baby isn't like other Kings. You don't have to have special access. He came to be the King and Savior of these Wise Men and the shepherds who came when He was born and for you too. The fact that Jesus was not born in a palace with guards or kept under lock and key in some fortress is a sign that He is born to give access. And it is with boldness and confidence that those magi open their gifts and give them to the Child.
The reason for this access and boldness that St. Paul speaks about is what this Child will grow up to do. In the Old Testament, nobody entered the holy part of the Temple without some blood being shed from a sheep or goat. Just so, the access to God that Jesus gives us isn't accomplished by Him waving His hand but by having His hand nailed to the cross. We do indeed come into the Father's presence through Christ but only because He has paid the price for our sins. We can only enter the Holy Place because what is unholy in us has been forgiven by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. And Jesus died for all. Shepherds. Wise men. Jews. Gentiles. Everyone. There is no one who is left out of shedding of Christ's blood for sinners. The coming of the Gentile Wise Men on Epiphany is your reminder that you too are the ones for whom Christ was born and died and rose.
St. Paul writes to the Ephesians that he was made an apostle for the sake of the Gentiles. He was sent to preach to everyone that they now had a Savior. So in the church today the preacher does the same thing: preach that you have a Savior. Here it is: You have a Savior! And the ways in which that Savior delivers His forgiveness are what give you that boldness and confidence to come before God as His beloved child. Your Baptism. It means you're a child of God and your sins have been washed away. Absolution. It declares that nothing stands between you and the Lord. The preaching and teaching of the Scriptures: the unchanging promise that for Christ's sake the Lord won't turn you away. The Lord's Supper: the very blood of the Lamb by which we have access to God the Father. In these ways you can stand before the Lord with all boldness and confidence instead of fear of judgment. This is why Jesus came. It's why he gives you forgiveness in His church. So you can stand before Him as His own dear child.
You're surely seen the kinds of prayers that people pray in the movies. “Dear God, I'm sure you're busy right now. It's me, little Bobby. I know my problems aren't that important but if you're not too busy...” And so on. No! To pray like a Christian is to come before God with boldness and confidence because we have access in Christ. It is to pray this way: “Lord, I am not worthy to be called your child or ask anything, but you sent Your Son for all people and that includes me. He shed His blood so that I can stand before your throne in the Holy of Holies. He washed me and gave me His own body and blood. So pay attention, Lord! Listen up, Father, for I ask your blessings and help!” That's what it means to have access with boldness and confidence. Because of Jesus you can bend the ear of God and have Him pay complete attention to you and never turn you away. You may never get to chat with the President or hang out with a movie legend. But in Christ, you have infinitely more: access to God Himself. That access is granted by Jesus who shed His blood to open the way to you. And now, in Him, you are right there with the Lord as His own dear child and friend. Access. With boldness and confidence. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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