I
had a dream Friday night which resulted in my waking up my entire household
belting out the chorus to the song “The King is Coming.” I was awoken from my dream by some amused,
irritated and confused people. I had
dreamed that I was on a college campus that ended up looking much like Disney world. In the distance a friend and I noticed that there
were stars bursting and exploding in the sky. Being that they were very similar
to Disney world fireworks we decided not to become too alarmed but still chose
to move away from the area to where we could not see these exploding
stars. We rounded the corner of a tall
building into what appeared to be some kind of courtyard, people milling
around, and going about their business.
Suddenly stars behind us started exploding everywhere with the sound of
what downtown Baghdad must sound like at times.
“The end of the World is here” exclaimed my friend as we both broke out
into a run and I began to sing the old southern gospel Song the King is
Coming. I awoke from the dream puzzled
by its cause. I realized I had gone to
bad right after researching for this sermon.
The texts and the research had much to say about the coming of a
King. Then, I was reminded of my
childhood memories growing up in a faith tradition that was all about looking
for the second coming of Jesus. The
visions that were handed down of this were very scary much like my dream. Planes crashing, start exploding, trumpets
blaring, cars wrecking, houses disappearing underground, people flying through
the sky. It was not something one really
looked forward to, at least I didn’t.
There were a few times in my child hood that Nostradamus had predicted
the end of the world much like the latest prediction when the Mayan Calendar
ended. There has been a shift in the
scary story now from crashing planes to Zombies. None the less the images can be scary. My logic as a young girl during those times
was just to sing the King is coming over and over again because the Bible did
say that he would come like a thief in the night when no one was
expecting. Therefore if I was singing about
it; it wouldn’t happen. So, reading
about the coming of a king coupled with not so suppressed child hood memories
made the perfect recipe for an apocalyptic dream that ended with a resounding
shout of the “The King is Coming.”
The
good news from today’s passages of scripture is the King has already come. He wasn’t accompanied by crashing planes,
Zombies and exploding stars though. He
was born quietly in an outdoor building to a young teenage girl and a
carpenter. He came quietly as an
innocent, vulnerable infant. Not much a
picture of a King you might think. Yet that
is what we celebrate today, on Epiphany Sunday!
We celebrate the birth of a King and the revelation of who that King is
and what kind of King He would be. A
revelation of who we are as Christ Followers.
Epiphany! What does that mean? Why do we celebrate it? Many of you know that typically as I’m
writing a sermon I will put a Facebook prompt out on the world wide web and I
have fun reading the responses and incorporating them into my sermon. This was my Facebook prompt this week. Epiphany, what is it. Have you had one, if so tell me about
it. I usually get a pretty decent
response out of those postings but I only got three responses to this one and
the third one I solicited in person. I
wondered why? I think possibly it was
because no one could really answer it.
For us, epiphany can be somewhat of a mystery or at least very difficult
to explain. Growing up in a different
tradition I was an adult before I had ever paid any attention to the word. So just what does it mean? One friend suggested it meant a moment when I have a feeling of
tremendous clarity of thought. I feel it when everything clicks. It is an
"A-HA, it makes sense now" moment! “A Revelation Perhaps.” Another friend didn’t share what he thought
it was but said that he has had an epiphany with the birth of each of his
children and that Epiphany’s are accompanied by a paradigm shift. The Third friend said for her it was like
when you try over and over again to get a key to unlock the door and finally
everything lines up just right and the lock comes unlocked. She states she has had many of them and they
are definitely inspired and from the Divine but outside of that you can’t
explain them to someone else and for them get it. Different dictionaries give different
meanings but all of them agree on a couple of things. First Epiphany is a festival celebration when
the church celebrates the manifestation of God in Christ to the gentiles
represented by the Magi. Secondly that
it can be a revelation brought by a deity.
The Early church began celebrating Epiphany around 361 A.D. The Greek epiphaneia derives from the verb
"to appear" and means "appearance,"
"manifestation." In classical Greek it was used of the appearance of
dawn, of an enemy in war, but especially of a manifestation of a deity to a
worshipper (a theophany).
So to Sum it up: Epiphany is a day to celebrate God incarnate
in Jesus Christ to the entire World. It
is a day to celebrate those moments in our lives when we have revelations of
Christ in our lives, when we have been spoken to by God. The focal passages today give us both an
ancient look of epiphany and a Gospel look at Epiphany So let’s take a
look.
Our old Testament story takes place after The Kingdom of
Judah was captured by the Babylonians and many Jews were taken captive and
exiled to Babylon. In today’s Old
Testament passage the prophet Isaiah is giving the Jewish people a word from
God. He brings them a word of hope. It’s important to note that in the two
previous chapters Isaiah has raked the Jews over the coals for their
transgressions. They had turned their
backs on God, they had spoken evil things they had not sought true Justice. They are in the dark both physically and
spiritually. That is their
condition. They sit in the midst of
ruins but even in the midst of the ruins God sends a message of hope. Let’s look at it again.
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 “Lift up your
eyes and look about you:
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the hip.
5 Then you will look and be radiant,
your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
to you the riches of the nations will come.
6 Herds of camels will cover your land,
young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come,
bearing gold and incense
and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the hip.
5 Then you will look and be radiant,
your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
to you the riches of the nations will come.
6 Herds of camels will cover your land,
young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come,
bearing gold and incense
and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.
There are a couple of things to take hold of here. First and foremost is the very first verse
which comes in the form of a command:
Arise, Shine! God through Isaiah
commands the people to rise out of the ruins and out of the darkness and
shine. What are they to shine? They are to shine the light that they have received. That light being the very presence and care
of their almighty and awesome God. How
do they shine their light? Well let’s
look back at chapter 58; vs. 6-9. They
read:
Is not this the kind of fasting I have
chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
God says this is the way to shine your
light: Take care of the oppressed, the
underdog, the different. That is when
your light will break forth. You see we
are a light, lighting the way for others to see and reach Jesus, Emmanuel, God
with us. We are the way for others to
experience Epiphany.
The second thing that is noteworthy here is
the mention of other nations coming to the light. Up to this point God has been viewed as the
God of the Jews. Other nations pay homage
to other gods, Yahweh is for the Jews.
But here in this chapter 60 Isaiah says the other nations will come to
the light. The Jews will be a light that
draws everyone in for God desires relationship with all of humanity; not just a
select few. ALL!
This notion takes us to the Gospel passage
of Epiphany for Today. It is the story of the visit of the Magi to baby
Jesus. A few questions arose for me out
of this passage. What are Magi? Where did they come from? How did they know to follow the star? How did they know what the star would lead
them to? Just what is frankincense and myrrh? Magi were a class of people who were known as
astronomers and astrologists. They were
very well versed in science and math and were considered to be so wise that in
their area of the world (the east) only persons who had been Magi could become
kings and the magi were who crowned the Kings.
The Magi were not of Jewish heritage; they were Gentiles. This is very important for here we see again
that God is for all. No longer will there
be Jew or Greek. God is the God of
all. It is these Gentiles that first
come to worship Jesus. How did they
know? It is believed that they were knowledgeable
of Jewish scripture. It is also part of
the belief of astrologists that when a baby was born a star for that baby would
appear. Some scholars suggest that the
star was not actually a star but was a brilliant light that could only be seen
by those truly seeking it. Such was the
light of God’s glory in many other parts of both the Old and New Testament. There was light that guided the Jews in the
wilderness. Moses’ face radiated with
God’s glory when he came down from the mountain. There are numerous other examples. So, it is thought that the Magi knew of
prophecy and thus when the light they were searching for appeared they set out
on a journey to go find the “king of the Jews” that had been born and to honor
and worship him. They find Jesus and
they bare gifts and they worship him. We
get a picture here of worship being a true homage to Jesus through kneeling
before him and bestowing gifts upon him.
These were some of the same gifts that Queen Sheba had brought to King Solomon
when she visited. Gold, Frankincense and
Myrrh were common gifts brought to Kings upon visiting them. Thus the Magi brought common gifts for paying
homage to a King. Frankincense and Myrrh
were used both as infusions into oil to create anointing oil and also was
burned as incense during times of sacrifice in order to rid the temple of the
odors from the sacrifices. Frankincense
and Myrrh were thus both part of the normal homage for any king and were essential
elements used in worshipping Yahweh, the God of the Jews. We must keep this all in mind as
Christians. We must keep in mind that it
was Gentiles that came and worshipped Jesus.
No one has a monopoly on God. God’s
grace is for anyone who will seek to find it such as the Magi. There are no walls barring anyone from
entering into relationship with God. The
Apostle Paul’s very mission was to take the message of the Mystery of God to
the Gentiles, the outsiders. He writes
in Ephesians 3:1-12:
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner
of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2 Surely you have
heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
3 that is, the mystery made
known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will
be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to
people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s
holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles
are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers
together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7 I became a servant
of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his
power. 8 Although
I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to
preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the
administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who
created all things. 10
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God
should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
11 according to his eternal
purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him
we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
The last thing we should note in the Gospel
passage is that because Herod was seeking Jesus to kill him, the Magi took a
different route home in order to avoid the Herod and his men. Gregory the Great once said “Having come to
know Jesus we are forbidden to return by the way we came. Knowing Jesus changes us, changes our
path. That is epiphany. It is meeting Jesus and letting Jesus change
our path. It is being open to the light,
to the still small voice. It is those
moments of clarity when something about God becomes new and real like it never
has before.
One writer summed up the common themes of
these passages this way:
He stated “The common theme is the
manifestation of God to People outside of the Religious Community. We are to be a light to the nations. The ultimate purpose of God is the
unification of humanity in a truly multicultural community where all
distinctions between insiders and outsiders have vanished. Those distinctions erode with the coming of
Christ who was revealed to some who were thought to be on the outside and
paradoxically rejected by many who were thought to be on the inside.
So as we start a new year here at Longs
United Methodist I want you to ponder these questions both for yourselves and
individuals and for us as a church community: The star guides the Magi to Jesus. What stars have or are still guiding you to
Jesus? Who are the lights in this dark
world? Who is Looking at you or me or
this church to be their star, their guide to Jesus?
As we celebrate Epiphany this day let’s do
so with a commitment that these doors will be wide open. Let’s do so with a commitment to be a light to
the Bethel community. Let’s do so with the
full knowledge that God graciously, mysteriously and sometimes defiantly breaks
into human lives: May we do the
same.
Thanks be to God!