Epiphany

By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, Rector

Isaiah wrote, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you..." The light Isaiah is referring to is the grace of God, and an enlightening of the spirit of the people of Israel. He rhapsodizes about how people from all over the world will hear of the greatness of Israel and will come to see it for themselves.

He further writes, "Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn...." What is it that might inspire people to come from all over the world and be amazed at the people of Israel? When Isaiah wrote this, other empires had risen and amazed people. Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia - these were names that inspired awe since they had risen to incredible military power, and each in their turn had influence that was felt and feared throughout the Middle Eastern region. When Isaiah wrote to the people of Israel, they were held in captivity by the Babylonians and could only dream of being a country so great themselves, that they would never again know fear themselves. Isaiah was holding out hope to them that the day would come, a day when , as he wrote, "you shall.. be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because of the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you."

This reading is particularly important today because of its reference to camels bringing tribute from afar that included gold and frankincense. It echoes in the gospel story of the Magi coming from afar bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The word "Epiphany" means "manifestation" in Greek. Its wider application in the Christian faith is to ways in which God’s love was manifested on Earth in the life of Jesus and in miracles he performed. Another definition of Epiphany might be "enlightenment." The feast of the Epiphany recalls the arrival of the Magi from far away, from the East, to find the new king. Matthew is the only Gospel that mentions the Magi and there has been a lot of speculation about them over the years - where in the East they came from, were they Jews from foreign places or priests of Zoroastrianism who studied astrology. Tradition gives them the names of Casper, Melchior and Balthasar, and in some writings has them representing the continents of Africa, Asia and even the far East in China.

The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh reference the writing of Isaiah but also foreshadow the burial of Jesus. What we’re left with is a Biblical mystery that is a familiar and beloved story and a historical puzzle. The role of faith and Bible study is to enter this or any story spiritually and glean our own understandings, our own epiphanies.

What I see in the Magi are seekers. I admire people who leave their comfort zone to learn and discover more. It really doesn’t matter what the names or homelands of the Magi are, what really matters is that there was something so compelling that they had to go find it. If they came from different locations, they found each other in their search, people similarly interested and worked together to achieve their goal.

Spirituality, they were seeking God, and a new understanding of Him. In order to do that, they had to leave what they knew behind and venture into areas unknown to them. In a sense you can say we are all ruled by our limited understandings and views of God and the world.

We are raised in places with certain traditions, mores, customs and ways of approaching knowledge. Where we grew up informs our outlook as does our nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, and so many other factors. Even if many of the same influences impact people, our brains work differently. Personality inventories have become very popular of the last couple decades. What used to be asking another person’s Zodiac sign, now might include asking someone’s Meyer’s Briggs type or more recently genotypes. It’s become important to document scientifically how we see the world differently. Never the less, when we’re used to seeing the world with our own lenses, it’s so hard to imagine seeing it in anyone else’s. Sometimes we describe people as "set in their ways" and this often applies to people who do not care to see the world differently or allow other views, ideas or beliefs in.

As such it’s so important to see the Magi as seekers who are open to a world beyond their own and leave behind one ruler for another. In the world if ideas and belief systems, old ideas do not go easily or willingly. When Herod, heard there was a new King around, became very concerned and wanted to eliminate it. Change is threatening and old orders want no part of it. But the Magi persisted and found their Epiphany. They brought their treasures, and set them before the baby Jesus. They returned home having made this discovery. We hear no more about them, but such a journey had to have made a profound impact on them and how they lived and saw the world.

It’s a wonderful story to unpack, with many layers of understanding and identification. The image of light is again important in this gospel story as it in so many. The star, a light brighter then the others draws the Magi. Jesus is the light of the world, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Again, the love of God, the mystery of God and the promise of God draw people to newer understandings and insights about God.

A book that was very important to me some years ago is titled, Jesus through the Centuries. From Rabbi to King of Kings, to Divine and Human model, to Liberator to Cosmic Christ, the book chronicles how the understanding of Jesus changed over time and how it still does. For some, these changes are exciting, for others, they are disturbing. A lot of the conflict in religions today is based on competing ways in which we see not only Jesus, but the Divine from any tradition. New understandings often collide with older ones. The seeker has to weigh if changes are fads or deeper truths, thoughtful or capricious. It’s not easy, but the seeker enters uncomfortable places with eyes open.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul talks a little about his own Epiphany. Originally, Paul persecuted the Christian church. He oversaw the execution of Christians and made it his life’s work to eliminate the threat of Christianity to the pure faith of the Israelites into which he was born, raised and educated.

The book of Acts describes his conversion experience as receiving a vision of Jesus and scales falling from his eyes. He received a revelation and belief, changing his life and ultimately, the direction of the Christian church. He had to convince a skeptical group of Christians that his conversion was sincere, and he even pushed them to a new vision of the church that include Gentiles. The importance of the Magi being seen as non-Jews from afar coming to worship the Christ child references God’s openness to all people being drawn by the light of God. Another change that almost split the church. Another Epiphany.

This rich story of God being manifest in different ways that challenge even at the risk of discomfort is always timely. The love of God is the light that leads us to unknown places, and discoveries beyond our imaginations. Our church and state dealing with issues of equality and justice for gays and lesbians regarding ordination and marriage; national and international solutions to economic crises and fear of terrorism; or in the ways we live our own lives here at home - God calls us by the light of love to be ruled by a faith that grows and even changes.

As Christians, our faith grows and changes. In Sunday school we receive one concept and as we grow and experience the world differently, our understanding of Jesus will change. Sometimes there is a gap between one understanding and another and we panic as though we’ve lost faith. But those gaps are more often thresholds to deeper insights.

The obstacles encountered by the Magi are not unlike those faced by anyone who truly seeks deeper faith, knowledge, or insight. And like them, the journey is rewarded by a fresh, new outlook with the potential to grow and strengthen. In our relationships with God, whether our seeking finds God for the first time, or again after many times, it is led by the star or light, the grace of God drawing us deeper into the mystery and joy that is God. Amen.

©2010 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ

The Epiphany

By Mary Davis, Seminarian Intern

Matthew 2:1-12

Good morning, and Happy New Year! Today, we celebrate Epiphany, the Christian celebration of God manifested or revealed to humanity; God, the divine, in the person of the blessed Baby Jesus; God living and dwelling as one of us. And, in addition, Epiphany is the day we recall the 3 Magi, or "wise men", who journeyed, following a star, to pay homage to and bear gifts for Jesus in the manger. And, in the Eastern Church, this is the day when they remember and reflect on the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River while still other churches reflect today on Christ's first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana.

With so many interesting and important threads stirred up during this season of Epiphany, it was difficult to decide what to preach about today. Still, I have to confess, for most of my 41 years in the Episcopal Church, I have witnessed an Epiphany Sunday demonstration by 3 congregants dressed up as the three kings, reenacting the parts of Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, but as I understand it, those 3 kings will arrive next Sunday here, bearing their symbolic gifts at the St. George's Family Service!

So my husband and I began to talk about why Epiphany is important, and what about Epiphany relates to us and to our lives today. And something interesting happened during this simple conversation. Rather than the three 'wise men' or that bright guiding star or Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River or Jesus' first miracle jumping to the forefront of my mind, instead, King Herod, the threatening and menacing figure from our Gospel reading today, leapt off the page and came to life for me.

King Herod, in this story from Matthew, is clearly undone by the strange appearance of a previously unidentified star and by the wise men looking for a new "king of the Jews." In fact, the Gospel tells us that King Herod was not the only one who was "frightened" by this news. But "all of Jerusalem with him" were afraid (2:3). Obviously, King Herod was feeling very much like an outsider, someone shut out, like a person not invited to a party. And so, he reacts, calling together his closest allies, the "chief priests and scribes of the people" (2:4) as well as consulting the 'wise men' themselves, and he asks them to let him in on their secret.

Now King Herod, also known as Herod the Great, was a powerful man. He was responsible for rebuilding the second Temple in Jerusalem, but also was well known for his excessive brutality in Judea. What was it that King Herod was clinging to, that caused him to fear the news of Jesus' birth so violently? Could a little baby, born in obscurity to apolitical parents, lying in a manger in Bethlehem mean that King Herod could not or would not be able to carry on with life as usual, maintaining his kingly life of luxury and preserving his dominance in power? King Herod was clinging tightly to his grip on power as we see thru Matthew's description of his efforts to trick the Magi into revealing Jesus' whereabouts.

Herod's desperation in this Gospel story brought to mind a mental image of a story I once read by the Catholic theologian, Henri Nouwen. It is the image of the "Clenched Fist." Nouwen tells a story of an elderly woman, who when brought to a psychiatric center, was wildly swinging at everything in sight. Her vigor and energy frightened everyone so much that, for her own safety, the doctors felt that they had to take everything away from her. But, in her hand she clutched one small coin which she gripped in her fist and refused to give up. In fact, it took two people to pry open her tightly clenched hand. It was as though she would lose her very self along with that coin. If they deprived her of that one last possession, she would have nothing more and she would be nothing more. At least, that was her fear. [1]

Similarly, King Herod was also clinging to his fears, to his greediness, to his control, clutching his "coin" of power.

And in the same way, whether we chose to acknowledge it or not, we cling ever so tightly to our own fears, our own jealousies, our own bitterness. Perhaps you were slighted at some point, disrespected or mistreated. Perhaps your hard work was not acknowledged properly, or worse, attributed to some one else. Perhaps someone seemingly less talented and productive than you received a promotion that you thought should be yours. We cling to these feelings, even though sometimes they are many years old, clutching them as if they give us life.

As Nouwen writes, we say to ourselves and excuse ourselves, this is just how I am, it's me, because it's life as we know it. We justify clinging onto these disappointments and pains, because it's what we know, whether we like it or not, whether it's healthy or not, whether it's painful or not, even when it creates a giant-sized barrier which inhibits us from worshipping the baby Jesus or, even when it hinders our experience of the risen Christ.

All of us here have experiences such as these, although hopefully and certainly not to the same degree as King Herod! But good news is found today in our Epistle reading from Ephesians. It's no coincidence that today's Epistle assures us that all of humankind, Gentiles as well as Jews, are invited to experience and dwell in the "boundless riches of Christ." (Ephesians 3:8) The shimmering star over Bethlehem, the star which calls us all to Jesus, Emmanuel - God with us – is the star that beckons all of us to be insiders. It's so easy to think about Epiphany and focus only on what we, as God's beloved, receive. But it's more than that. First, Epiphany is about what we are able to let go of. We are invited to open our clenched fists, to lay our jealousies, our bitterness, our anger, even our fears at the feet of Christ. Just like the woman in the psychiatric hospital, who had to let go in order to receive beneficial treatment and help from her doctors, we, too, have to open our hands fully in order to receive a gift. The symbolic posture of opening up our hands in order to receive a gift, allows us to be ready for, experience, and receive the freedom and joy that Christ offers us, "the boldness and confidence through faith in Christ." (Ephesians 3) All of us.

The Gospel lessons for the next few Sundays give us a hint, or a glimpse, of what Jesus' wonderful and powerful works are; of the gifts that Christ offers us to place in our unclenched hands. Not to steal Bernie's thunder for the weeks ahead, but we'll hear about how Jesus, anointed at baptism, "went about doing good and healing" (Acts 10:38), teaching, calling disciples, "proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23)." All of this is available to us today as well – being healed, being called as Christ's disciples.

So let us celebrate God incarnate in this season of Epiphany, keeping in mind the words of the angels who proclaimed his presence, "Do not be afraid!" Don't be afraid, like King Herod and the rest of Jerusalem, do not be afraid of a loving God who desires nothing more than to enter your most intimate space and invites you to let go of whatever it is you cling to so anxiously. Do not be afraid of a God who transcends our human realities. We are all invited guests, insiders on this Epiphany journey to meet Christ, but we must first open ourselves, our frustrations, our disappointments, our insecurities, "to the One who is love and only love." [2]

Amen.

[1] www.beliefnet.com; 'First, Unclench Your Fists' by Henri Nouwen, 2006.
[2] Ibid.

© 2008 Mary Davis