Epiphany...
Sunday, January 6, 2008
From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 60:
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen
upon you. 2For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. 3Nations
shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their
nurses’ arms. 5Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill
and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth
of the nations shall come to you. 6A multitude of camels shall cover you, the
young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall
bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
From the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2:
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ 9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
"Another Way ” A
Communion Meditation Preached by at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton United Church of Christ A minister1 has the following hanging in his office:
Today we hear the story of the Three Wise Men. On the secular calendar, the Christmas season begins right after Halloween – if not earlier -- and seems to end abruptly at 12:01 am on December 26. But on the church calendar, the Christmas season lasts 12 days – you know, as in the “Twelve Days of Christmas – and it ends today, January 6, which we call Epiphany. The word epiphany literally means “manifestation” or “appearance,” and today we celebrate the appearance of the Christ Child to the Gentile world, represented by the Magi. As important as we think the Wise Men are to the Christmas story, it is only St. Matthew who tells of their visit, and although tradition has them arriving on the night of Jesus’ birth, it is likely that the Wise Men made their visit to the Holy Family two years after Jesus’ birth. Notice that, in this morning’s Gospel lesson, Matthew says they arrive to see Jesus while Mary, Joseph and the “child” – not the baby – are “in the house,” not “in the manger” as the shepherds found him. And for all we think we know about these visitors from the east, Matthew gives us precious few details. Nowhere in the Bible does it say there were three Wise Men, and scripture doesn’t tell us their native country, although they were thought to have come from Persia. Nor does scripture tell us their names, although according to tradition, they were astronomers named Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar who read the heavens at night, looking for portents in the stars. Even though they themselves were not Jewish, the Magi may have been familiar with the books of the Old Testament, such as Micah, who prophesized that from Bethlehem would come forth the “one who is to be ruler in Israel” [5:2]. They may have been familiar with the oracle’s words in the book of Numbers [24:17]: “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel,” and the prophecies of Daniel [ch. 9], who said that time was right for the birth of the Messiah. They may have known that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob spoke through the prophet Isaiah, promising a Messiah who would be a light not just to Israel, but also to the Gentile nations. 2 The Magi follow the star in the night sky, but for all their sophistication and learnedness, they manage to miss their destination by nine miles. Instead of ending up in Bethlehem, where the babe was actually born, they find themselves in Jerusalem, at King Herod’s palace. We don’t know if they simply make an astrological error, or if they are blinded by their own pre-conceived notions of where the new ruler of Israel would be born. Who could blame them for looking for the King of kings in a place of prestige, power, and wealth, amid the pageantry of a royal court? But when they continue to follow the star, finding the Child in a humble village, among a common family, they kneel before him, willingly offering their gifts. An Epiphany is the moment of sudden insight, that “aha!” moment when your questions are answered, the mystery solved, and there in Bethlehem, the Magi have their epiphany. In the surprising poverty of a lowly manger, as they look into the face of the Christ child, they know they have found what the stars portended and the Old Testament prophets foretold. And having seen the face of Jesus, their lives are transformed, and nothing will be the same again. Our translation of this morning’s passage from Matthew says the Magi “left for their own country by another road.” But many translations use the phrase “by another way.”3; They return home by another way – not just a different road, but another way of loving, another way of living, of being. The early Christian movement was called “The Way,” and having seen the Messiah, the Wise Men leave their old ways – the ways of power and influence -- for another way, Christ’s way. Many of us have, by now, taken down our Christmas trees, packed away the decorations for another year, and returned to our pre-Christmas lives — our jobs, our friends, whatever it was that we were doing before we headed off for Bethlehem. But the story of the Wise Men reminds us that we cannot walk away from the manger unchanged. Although we may return to our lives as they were before December 25, things will be different, because we cannot forget what we have experienced at Christmas. Christ has shown us another way – the way of love, of compassion, of acceptance and open hearts. In the Christ child, we have experienced the living God – and nothing can ever be the same again, because God’s gift of Love makes each of us a new person, and the sharing of that love transforms the human heart. Amen.
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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.