Epiphany! Arise! Shine!

This week I share excerpts from the Sermon I preached on Epiphany Sunday, January 3, 2016

Scripture                Isaiah 60:1-6

Arise! Shine! Your light has come; the Lord’s glory has shone upon you.
² Though darkness covers the earth and gloom the nations,
    the Lord will shine upon you; God’s glory will appear over you.
³ Nations will come to your light and kings to your dawning radiance.

⁴ Lift up your eyes and look all around: they are all gathered; they have come to you.  Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters on caregivers’ hips.
⁵ Then you will see and be radiant; your heart will tremble and open wide,
    because the sea’s abundance will be turned over to you;

    the nations’ wealth will come to you.
⁶ Countless camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah.
They will all come from Sheba, carrying gold and incense, proclaiming the Lord’s praises.

Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. ² They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.”  ³ When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. ⁴ He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

⁶ You, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
        by no means are you least among the rulers of Judah,
            because from you will come one who governs,
            who will shepherd my people Israel.”

⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the magi and found out from them the time when the star had first appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him.” ⁹ When they heard the king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. ¹¹ They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.

Sermon: 

Today we celebrate “Epiphany.” 

The word epiphany comes from the Latin word epiphania.   There isn’t a great English translation of the word … we kindof just borrowed the word as it is … an epiphany is a sudden, surprising happening that changes everything completely.   

H. Richard Niebuhr says this kind of revelation is like reading a complicated book with a hard to follow storyline.  As you are reading suddenly you come to a sentence that will illuminate the entire story, looking back and looking forward.  On the night he was born, Jesus was that illumination!

Looking back, although the Israelites had been captives for many years, there were 2 days side by side … One day they were captives in Babylon and the next day, the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians.  Suddenly, they were free to return to their homeland.  The prophet Isaiah says, “Arise! Shine!  Your light has come; the Lord’s glory has shone upon you.”    He is casting a vision for them, inviting them to open their eyes, to look up and to experience this moment of epiphany!   God has come near to you!   One day you were not free … but now on this day, you are free!

Have you ever experienced this type of “light-bulb” moment … an “I once was lost but now I’m found” type of moment … a revelation that has moved you from the darkness into the light?    Many of us have personal moments of epiphany, they can be instantaneous but they can also be growth moments over a long period of time.  Many years ago, I had an epiphany moment.  In that moment, I also recognized the universality of God’s love for all people.  

If God could forgive me, if God still loved me, then there is nothing one can do that God will not forgive and God loves everyone … God chooses everyone!   

Of course, not all people choose God back, right?    That means that epiphanies can be warm, assuring, and comforting, BUT that is not where Matthew emphasis lies.  For him, epiphanies are complex, multidimensional, disturbing, and inconvenient, dangerous, and destabilizing.   After all, our gospel epiphany story begins “during the rule of King Herod.”  

Do you remember the violence, cruelty and ruthlessness of the Herodians, puppet kings of the Roman Empire, presiding over a corrupt system that benefited a small elite.  While depriving the poor of their daily bread they required loyalty at all costs?  

And into the court of King Herod the Great, enter the magi.   

Although the word magi is most closely translated “magician,” in this context magi means spiritual seeker or religious figure, persons with a more than earthly wisdom.   Most instructive for us is the fact that they were Gentiles with not just a spiritual sensitivity to God but a desire to worship God by “coming to honor” this newborn “king” traveling into the darkness led only by the “light” of a star.    Ironically, God used spiritual seekers who practiced other religions to let King Herod and the chief priests and scribes of the people in on the news that their Messiah had been born.   

Can you just imagine what was going on inside Herod, the “present” king of the Jews, when the magi share the news of a “new"born king of the Jews that he didn’t know about???   not really sure how wise those wise men were at that point!!   The text says he was troubled … fearful?  angry?  upset?  Not only that … when the king ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy!   In his fear, he scrambles to get this situation under control by any means!  

He even tries to trick the magi into revealing the baby’s whereabouts … tell me where he is so that “I too may go and honor him.”   Yeah … probably so he can dispose of him quietly but their wisdom returned to them just in time!  and because we know how the story ends … this actually results in the murder of many innocent Jewish babies. 

We could say that … from the moment he was born,

Jesus inspired on the one hand spiritual curiosity, honor and worship

And yet, we could also say … from the moment he was born,

Jesus inspired on the other hand fear, anger, and violence!

But we know that it is more complicated than that, because we are broken, the world is broken.   And it is that brokenness that allows the interplay of light and dark to encourage humble admission that God's glory may be manifested when and where we least expect it.  In the brokenness of our own lives and in the ruins of our community, our nation, and our world … together we can open our eyes, look around and listen to Isaiah: 

Arise!  Shine!  Your light has come; the Lord’s glory has shone upon you.  Though darkness covers the earth and gloom the nations, the Lord will shine upon you; God’s glory will appear over you.  Nations will come to your light and kings to your dawning radiance.  Lift up your eyes and look all around: they are all gathered; they have come to you.

And may you be blessed as you seek the spark of God's love and light within each person you meet, today and every day.