What happens when the people with the right answers never take a single step?

In Matthew’s Epiphany story, strangers arrive in Jerusalem asking about a newborn king. The priests and scribes know exactly where to point them. They quote the prophecy. They name Bethlehem. And then they stay home.

This episode sits with the ones who knew the answer but didn’t go looking.

Set in the quiet days just after Christmas, this sermon explores how knowledge can become insulation, how certainty can replace seeking, and how faith can slowly turn into management instead of movement. Before the wise men ever arrive at the house, Scripture asks us to linger with the uncomfortable truth that proximity to God’s Word doesn’t always produce encounter.

This is Epiphany in two parts. Today is about the ones who stayed put. Next week, we’ll follow the ones who moved.

You’ve wandered into a small-town church in Oklahoma, just after the miracle has gone quiet. Stay a while. This might be closer than you think.