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.  

Ephipany Part 1: The Star

Matthew 2:1-12     Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”  King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem.  He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”   “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:  
      ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
      are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, 
      for a ruler will come from you
      who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.  Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”   After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.   When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!   They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

Context:  The main characters in the Epiphany story are "some wise men from eastern lands."  Matthew calls them magoi, which can mean "magicians" or a certain type of "priests."  Yet most scholars believe these wise men were "astrologers" made most probable by the reference to the stars.  They appear to be Gentile pagans because they do not seem to know the prophetic writings as do the "priests and teachers of religious law."  These men get on the wrong side of both the political authorities (Herod) and the religious authorities.  When they receive a warning from God to flee and not to return to Herod with information about the baby, they do so without hesitation. 

The witness of Matthew seems to have arisen in a Jewish community in post-70 CE which locates the writing of the gospel after the destruction of the temple. With the collapse of Jerusalem and the temple, the community endured an identity crisis.  Into this Jewish identity crisis walks these three Gentiles, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Although much has been made of these gifts, they were probably only symbolic in the sense that they were gifts fit for a king ... the King of the Jews.  That the text mentions three gifts is the only reason we count the number of wise men as three.  Tradition also gives them the title of Kings ... Have you sung We Three Kings yet this Christmas season?  Yet this is nothing in the text that indicates they were anything more than ordinary spiritual seekers from a distant land.    

Going Deeper:  The word epiphany means "revelation."  God was revealed in the baby Jesus ... Emmanuel ... God with us!  We don't know how this is so.  It's a mystery.  The spiritual seekers we know as the wise men knew the revelation of God through nature.  They made it their life's work to study the stars and they must have lived in great wonder ... after all they didn't know about the vast universe we know about today. 

The Light of the Shining Star illuminated the Christ Child.  The Light of Christ guided the wise men so they could give gifts and glorify the one sent to reveal the realm of God.   Not one of these men was forced to follow ... in their passion for spiritual knowledge they were willing to follow the Light into the unknown. 

Pondering: 
Image from NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScl/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Follow Link for more images at National Geographic News.


The wise men were spiritual seekers ... what a Star it must have been for them to set out for an unknown land with only this glimmer of light!  Have you ever taken a journey into the unknown?  Why did you begin your journey?  What were you seeking?  Have you ever gazed at the stars and wondered about the God who made such beauty?  How do the stars speak to you of God?  What is it that you know about God through the vast expanse of our universe?   We all know spiritual seekers ... people who have a deep desire for a connection with ... Perhaps the seekers in our lives can help us to honor the mystery of the spiritual life. 


A Prayer for Epiphany:   Take a moment to quiet your mind after night has fallen.  Close your eyes and visualize the stars.  If  the night is clear and the air is not too cold for you ... wander out and gaze at the stars in the silence.  Or glance through the online pictures.  Before you lay your head down to sleep tonight pray this prayer for the God who is revealed in babies and stars! 

God with us,
God revealed in us,
God come to us, Emmanuel:
Long hidden within our heart's barren womb;
Too often explained away by our mind's idol of reason;
and so many moments kept captive in our soul's chains of doubt.
Show forth among us,
Bread of Life!
Be manifest here this day,
Cup of Salvation!
Great God of the Epiphany,
this day reveal your salvation
to the poor who hunger for your nourishment,
to the seekers who travel across deserts for your drink,
to us gathered here, who desire you.
Great God of the Epiphany,
this day reveal your salvation
Through the one who saves us, Jesus Christ, Amen.