Epiphany 2012, Matthew 2:1-12
For the Church all across the world,
the sacred season of Christmas has officially come to a close. This
seems to be the case for the secular celebration of late December as well,
evidenced by the fact that I’m now seeing Valentine’s Day items flooding the
stores I most often frequent. I believe I’ve even seen a wee bit of leprechaun
peeking at me with a reminder that St. Patrick’s Day is coming soon enough after
that. So, yeah, we are moving on from buying,
then giving and receiving gifts with our loved ones in celebration of Jesus’
birth.
Now it is time to faithfully focus
on bringing ourselves everyday as
loving gifts in worshipful service to Him.
We’ve shifted into the church season
of epiphany. What does this mean? A common understanding of epiphany is that
it is a flash of fresh insight – most especially of the spiritual sort. Perhaps you’ve found yourself at one time
or another lost in a revelatory moment and saying, “Ah, I’ve just had an
epiphany.”
A couple evenings ago, for example,
I had a rather sudden, wonderfully overwhelming, and completely re-energizing
realization about how very full my heart is with hope for my family life right
now. This wasn’t at all a brand new
insight. Yet the way it dawned on me
while resting on my living room couch late Thursday evening in an otherwise
empty manse felt like God had directly and lovingly whispered in my ear. My heart all of a sudden felt as big and
bright as the moon was that evening.
The broader, biblical meaning of the
season of Epiphany, for us as individual Christians, as a congregation, and as
part of the universal church in the world, is discovered in this morning’s familiar
Scripture passage. While it talks of
giving Jesus presents, it even more so proclaims how his presence is a gift to
all humankind and how we gift Him every time we openly, actively bear witness
to this.
At the heart of our passage are the
mystery men who visited Christ’s meager manger. Most common Bible translations – such as
the NRSV in our pews and the traditional King James Version – identify them as
“wise men from the east.” Other more modern translations have called
them “scholars” (The Message) or “magi” (Common English Bible).
I most like “magi” because it is closest
to the ancient Greek word magos (pronounced
mahghas). This
word has influenced our having the word “magic” in our vocabulary and refers to
the people who were considered in ancient Middle Eastern times to be mystical
seers. As we know from today’s text,
they were people who expertly studied the stars for spiritual guidance and who
could also interpret dreams as messages from God.
No proper interpretation of Matthew
2:1, it’s worth quickly noting, labels these intriguing travelers as
kings. This tradition and the beloved
Christmas carol that comes to mind is most likely the result of reading Matthew
2 with Isaiah 60, verse 3 in mind, which, prophesying about the Messiah reads,
“Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” By the way, there is also no biblical indication
of how many Magi there were … three gifts were presented and that’s about all
we know about the numbers!
I believe the most helpful thing
that can be said about these mystical gift-bearers to the newborn King of Kings
and Lord of Lords is what New Testament professor Mark Allen Powell has
written. In an online commentary, he
states “The Magi of Matthew 2 are depicted as persons who do as they are
instructed, seek no honor for themselves, and who gladly humble themselves.”[i] These
were not people of Jewish faith, yet they interpreted that a rising star – some
scholars speculate it was a comet – was instructing them and leading them to
worshipfully bow down before and greatly gift Israel’s true, divine King. That was an epiphany. Then they followed it until they were right
under it and right before the newborn Jesus.
There, the epiphany erupted further and overwhelmed them with joy! What a beautiful moment!
The original Greek word Matthew used
to describe their behavior in the presence of the Christ child (that is often
translated as “homage”) refers to the ancient spiritual practice of falling
upon their knees and touching the ground with their foreheads as an expression
of resounding reverence. I find this faithful
gesture is worth a whole lot more than the gold, frankincense and myrrh they
brought combined. Especially since,
again, they were outsiders to Israel who accepted that the precious, holy gift
of Emmanuel was as much for them as it was for Abraham, Sarah, Ruth, King
David, and all the forbearers of Hebrew tradition. Their gesture was one of receiving at the
same time it was of giving. Their
utterly devout actions enrich the epiphany by bearing witness to the amazing
truth that Jesus is the gift salvation to absolutely all of humankind.
So the Magi are role models of how
to respond to a holy epiphany. It means
letting such a holy moment lead you closer to the very heart and living
presence of the Lord. It means being there with overwhelming,
worshipful joy. It means reverently presenting
yourself as a precious gift to God’s glory in Christ.
Keep the image of the Magi in mind
and heart every single day of this freshly unfolding new year. Maybe put today’s bulletin cover on your
fridge. Just don’t forget about
them. They are more than figurines put
away with the Christmas crèche. They are spiritual guides silhouetted in Christ
Light. And they exhort us by example to
not only have a deeply individual piety, but to get back up off our knees and
journey with others back into the world – fraught as it is with
evil-intentioned Herods – in order to expand the message about God’s all-redeeming
love in our Lord.
It’s
wonderfully appropriate that on this celebration of Epiphany we are ordaining
and installing church officers.
Agreeing to serve as a church leader is about so much more than having
time and talent to serve the practical needs of this historic faith
community. It is about a commitment to
humbly, actively answer ongoing epiphanies.
As it was for the Magi, it is about joyfully being silhouetted in Christ
light. It is about words and deeds that
reverently identify, celebrate and build up the all-inclusive, ever-expanding
kingdom of our God. It is not just
about what tasks you’ll do as you fulfill a term, it’s more deeply about being
on a journey of faithful interpretation, vision and holy action as God inspires
and guides members and visitors alike through our bright congregational presence
in this community and beyond.
In the spirit of epiphany, of being
open to ongoing holy revelations, I read an article in this month’s Presbyterians
Today magazine about what healthy congregations focus on. It exhorts us to pinpoint the guiding,
gathering and redeeming Light of Christ on “caring for and working to transform
the community around [us] by offering service, advocacy, spiritual guidance and
worship.”
Did you hear the word
“transform?” That’s epiphany talk. It’s talk about not allowing the
Christ-light that is shining through FPC to become dim and spiritually static. After all, the Magi didn’t stay by the side
of our Lord’s meager manger. They had a
very reverent visit and then moved on to follow the Light wherever it needed
them to go. To hammer home the point
about needing to be a lively, enlightened presence not only within the doors of
our buildings but even more so beyond them, the article offered this compelling
quote by author Leonard Sweet – “The church is measured, not by its seating
capacity, but by its sending capacity.”
Faithful friends, our God summons us
all to observe illuminating signals in this world. As we do so with humble, joyful, truly
reverent faith, we are also sent out to serve the Light of the World in every
location it is present. It is present
in the pews next to you. It is present in
our nursery and Sunday School rooms. It
is present throughout the Community House as we gather there for table
fellowship and committee meetings and as we open those doors to homeless in
Hunterdon, to Seeing Eye training, to Haytown Nursery, to quilters, and to
whomever else has need. It is present
with people in our neighborhoods and workplaces and various social circles who
may not share our faith, but, like the Magi, may well have the starlight of our
Savior rising to direct their lives. It is present everywhere we present the great
gift of ourselves to Jesus. Christmas
may have come to a close, but sacred calling has always just begun. Amen.
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