Today we
celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany: the
meeting of East and West – the original celebration of the Christ Child long
before Christmas became part of the Christian tradition. It is the day when Gentiles embraced the
wisdom of Judaism while Israel’s King Herod turned his back on the light of the
prophets.
It is the
occasion when we honor the mystery of God’s love being revealed to Zoroastrian
scientists from Persia through the stars, not worship, Bible study or
meaningful ministries of compassion and peace. It is a time
when children can be playful in the Sanctuary with a pageant while adults
contemplate the mysterious and amazing depth and breadth of God’s grace.
It is a time
of awe and wonder and light – the celebration of comfort and joy, to be sure –
but also so much more, as well. One
preacher described Epiphany like this.
One this sacred day: God reaches beyond shepherds at the bottom of the
barrel to Wise Ones at the top. God reaches beyond people scared witless by
God’s glory to those who observe the glorious star at its rising, and methodically,
persistently and sincerely follow it to a king. And all along the way, God
directs them, first by a star, then via a verse from the prophet Micah, and
finally through their dreams. (Working Preacher)
In just a moment our children will share
with you this year’s Epiphany Pageant and Tableau – our way of marking the
close of the Advent/Christmas arc – and what they have to offer is a vital part
of the story. But I also want to give the adults the other part of the
story – three key thoughts to ponder about the significance of Epiphany –
because this feast day is not about simply for children. It is also about how adults
can learn to be surprised by the mysterious presence of God’s grace in our
everyday, ordinary, walking around lives.
In Romans 12, St. Paul put it like this:
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So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your
everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and
walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God
does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so
well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.
Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the
culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God
brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
The ancient church, you see, celebrated
their awareness that God’s word – the essence of holy truth – had become flesh
– incarnated in Jesus Christ on Epiphany. So, in that spirit, let’s consider these three
insights as the Word speaks to our age. With a passing nod to O. Henry, I’m thinking
of this message as the three gifts of the Magi.
+ First, let’s visit with the Wise
Men – the three Kings – the Magi. As best anyone can tell
they represent a paradox within the Christian story. In their own land, Persia – modern day Iran –
they were both scientists and part of a priestly caste of astrologers. They
were considered astute and reputable guides to the holy. But they were not
revered in Israel, right? In the Holy
Lands, the Magi were not only Gentiles – unbelievers – they were also
star-gazers who were considered ignorant and superstitious. Yet they came
to honor the Christ Child while the king of Israel plotted to have him
murdered. Call it mystery – or paradox –
or challenge, but this part of the ancient story is very contemporary. It tells us that so very often we who are supposed to get it, don’t! We’re too busy, too certain of our own
wisdom, too worried, too puffed up, too something… who knows? So God doesn’t
wait for us, God shares the blessings of grace with everyone and asks us to
catch up. That’s the first insight for Epiphany.
+ Second, after the Magi bring
their gifts – and discern through a dream that King Herod is going to punish or
trick them if they go back to Jerusalem and report in – the scripture tells us
that they “left by another way.” That is, they realized
that they couldn’t go back home by the old route. The light had changed them,
you see, they were no longer the same people, so they had to operate in a new
and different manner. That, too, is something all too easily missed in this
story: after Christmas, after we take
down the tree and all the decorations, then we want things to get back to
normal. We’ve got meetings and things to
take care of; we’ve got work to do and people to see and bills to pay. But the
Feast of Epiphany says: if we just do
that – if we fail to make some changes and try to return to business as usual
after the birth of Jesus – there will be trouble. In fact, let me suggest to
you based upon this story that IF the Magi had gone back by their usual route,
they would have become pawns of King Herod – servants of corruption, violence
and greed – people who ignored the call of God’s grace on their lives. That’s
the second challenge for us at Epiphany: how are we do advance the light of
peace and justice in our lives after celebrating the birth of the Christ child?
Business as usual is really not an option…
+ And the third gift of the Magi is
equally challenging because what the Wise Men bring to the gospel of Matthew is
Christ’s connection to Moses and the prophets.
The
narrative in Matthew is a Christian midrash on the story of the early life of
Moses in Exodus. King Herod is the new
Pharaoh – the oppressive king who held Israel in bondage – who plans to have
Jesus – the new Moses – murdered. Because of the Magi’s visions and presence of
God’s grace, however, that murder doesn’t happen. In the gospel, the holy family escapes to…
where? Egypt (another descriptive detail
to help us make the Moses connection) just as Israel’s Moses escaped slaughter
by being hidden in the river until he could be rescued and cared for in secret.
This foreshadowing using the images of Moses helped the early church see Jesus
as the one who delivered his people from a cruel tyrant once – and continues to
do so now. In fact, as the story matures, after the holy family returns from
Egypt – and Jesus grows up to mature in wisdom and grace – what is the next
major event in his story? His baptism in
the river that sends him into the desert wilderness for… how long? 40 days – not 40 years – but still the
connection is clear, yes?
Now let me
push the edge of this just a bit: in the
tradition, Moses is always
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The three
gifts of the Magi – the invitation to follow the light even when it is
surprising, the call to live a changed life because of the Christ Child, and
the challenge of embracing the justice and compassion of Israel’s prophets – means
that after Christmas we cannot go back to business as usual. We must return to our ordinary lives by a new
way: arise, shine, beloved, for you
light has come and the brightness of God’s love is shining through you upon the
whole world. Let it be so, Lord, let it be so.
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