The Lectionary
readings for today include a passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians,
Chapter 3.1-12, and because I refer to it throughout this Epiphany homily, I’d
like to read it to you:
This is the
reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was
given to me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as
I wrote above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my
understanding of the mystery of Christ. In former generations this mystery was
not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow-heirs,
members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through
the gospel.
Of this gospel
I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to
me by the working of his power. Although I am the very least of all the saints,
this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless
riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery
hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the
wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal
purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have
access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.
It may, or may
not come as a surprise to you that we’re in the Season of the Epiphany, and you
may be a bit vague about what that represents.
In many British
churches the feast of the Epiphany itself is hardly celebrated at
all. In fact, Epiphany is perhaps the only part of the church
calendar that is observed more in neglect than in celebration. While
the Feast of The Epiphany is an important holiday in many other countries,
particularly those who follow the Eastern Orthodox tradition, but it has simply
not really caught on in mainstream British culture because it’s been eclipsed
by Christmas itself. It’s on Epiphany Sunday that many continental Christians
open their gifts in memory of the gifts offered by the Magi. Personally, for
that reason, I think that is the
right time to open our presents but I have failed to convince my family of
that. My late mother, for instance, would tear into her presents one second
into Christmas day if we hadn’t already sedated her with sufficient gin and
sent her to bed.
In this season
of Epiphany we enter the realm of light which is symbolised by the star of
Bethlehem which most here have put well behind us with the Christmas
decorations we’ve already taken down. Our minds are now firmly on the New Year ahead
and we’ve moved on from stars and cribs and shepherds - and indeed wise men
because many of us tend to lump them all in together as part of Christmas.
In fact the
Greek Orthodox Church has called this season “the season of lights.” It’s no
coincidence that our Old Testament lesson begins: Arise, shine, for your light has come. In the Eastern Church, this
season of light is celebrated as fully as the season of Christmas. We’re entering
into another world where reality is more than what is seen, where light reveals
more than the eye can take in. Epiphany: the light breaking through, the light
shining upon, the revelation unfolding, what St. Paul describes to the
Ephesians as an insight into the mystery
of Christ.
Only Matthew
among the four gospel writers tells the wondrous story of the magi. Tradition
has three Wise Men or Kings but Matthew doesn’t specify the number. It doesn’t
matter that literalists try to discover exactly what happened in the
astronomical realm while others try to explain the story with talk of the
importance of religious myth and symbol; the wonder of the story remains
undiminished. How can we hear it without becoming children again, feeling
ourselves drawn in again in the way we were when the story first entered our
consciousness? Exotic locations, mysterious visitors, camels, a wicked king and
a hint of the other-worldly. What’s not to like? You can imagine Matthew
telling his first listeners: "You're not going to believe this, but let me
tell you about the time when…" and then going on to tell them about the
Eastern kings, dressed in many-coloured robes, the camels moving ponderously
over long stretches of sand, the star so bright, with its long glowing tail
leading them toward a humble hamlet called Bethlehem and the odd and seemingly
inappropriate gifts - these remain in our consciousness.
There is, of
course, a feminist commentary on the Epiphany story. It does the
rounds on Facebook around this time of year. You may be familiar with it:
Do you know what would
have happened if there had been three wise WOMEN instead of three wise MEN? The
three wise women would have:
· asked
for directions,
· therefore
arrived on time,
· helped
deliver the baby,
· cleaned
the stable,
· made
a casserole,
·
and given practical gifts
Anyway, this unlikely group of
foreign dignitaries with their retinue arrive, seemingly out of nowhere,
looking for the one who is born King of the Jews, appearing only once, in the
story of Jesus’ birth. For a few minutes, there is a strong hint of the kingdom
of God which the grown Jesus would proclaim - peace on earth, mercy to the poor
and good will to all people. (All
people, as St. Paul reminds the Ephesians.)
Then the Magi
disappear from Scripture as suddenly as they first appeared. But
the point of their journey remains forever important. They are the
first to understand what others could not yet see: that Jesus “has been born
king of the Jews.” For the ancient Church, this “epiphany” or
acknowledgement of the Christ was worth celebrating. It still is,
but sadly we don’t really celebrate it here. It is, as St. Paul reminds the
Ephesians, the eternal purpose which God,
has realised in Christ Jesus, in whom we have boldness and confidence of access
through our faith in him. But Paul takes it a stage further by reminding us
that Jesus is not just King of the Jews, but of the Gentiles also – you and I,
non-Jews. The Magi are, of course, Gentiles - they are described as coming from
the East, but the symbolism and significance of this is often overlooked. Just
picture in your mind for a moment your own image of the Magi; then look at our
Magi. Some combination of Black, White, Asian or Oriental in the way they are
represented? Certainly not Jewish, which is the point, and which ties in to our
Epistle for today: the Magi reveal what St. Paul is stressing – the
universality of Jesus, a baby born to die for Jew and Gentile alike. A BBC
adaptation of the Nativity from a couple of years ago looked back at the Magi,
seekers after truth and astronomers, and how they interpreted the signs, set off
from their homes, met up at some point on their journey and were confirmed in
their belief that there is a significant birth simply by meeting each other on
the same pilgrimage.
But even as
the Magi move on leaving Jesus to his mission on earth, we know that there
is work to be done. There is a Gospel to be proclaimed.
Epiphany experienced becomes Gospel lived. St. Paul reminds the Ephesians of
this when he tells them that they, and we, are to make all men see what is the plan of God’s mystery. We are
called to seek and serve Christ in those we meet, loving our neighbours as
ourselves in order to make the Lord clear and real and known in our world
today.
Christ dwells
with us today, is still there to be seen and discovered by those who, like the
Magi, are willing to journey far from the commonplace in their quest for
understanding and knowledge. What does that mean in practice? Every
time I preach I know I say much the same thing at some point during the sermon:
to stop this being just a lovely story we have to make it real for us today and
look for the applications. Like the Wise Ones from the East, we must be willing
to leave the comfort of the familiar, of our preconceptions and
prejudices. We must be willing to look for the Christ in places others
refuse to enter, whether it be the asylum-seekers shelter, the soup-kitchen for
the homeless, the drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit, the psychiatric ward,
the prison wing …….or the stable.
The Magi
brought gifts - gold for Kingship, frankincense for Jesus’ priestly divinity,
and myrrh for suffering humanity: gifts in a juxtaposition of the Gift of God
to humanity in the Christ-child and as with any gift this is not a gift that we
have to accept. I can receive it, but I don’t have to accept it. I’m sure many
of you here can picture the less than enthusiastic face of someone who didn’t
welcome your Christmas gift to them and we know that there are people out there
who are unenthusiastic about this gift from God. The Incarnation remains for
many an unopened present or maybe a present put away for a future occasion
which never comes. “Yes, I can see it needs further thought, but I’m too
busy now.”
What are we to
make of this Epiphany for ourselves today? For one thing, it’s a sobering
reminder that Jesus is more than simply our brother, more than a friend we can
turn to when we are seeking a listening ear, more even than a prophet, helpful
as those ways of relating to him are. Christ is God made present in
our day and age. His divinity spills over into our earthly
realm. As we subsequently read on of Jesus’ journeys throughout
Galilee and beyond, as we listen attentively to his stories and parables, we
are from time to time reminded emphatically of where all this is coming from
and where it leads.
So what is our
response to that precious gift? What do we bring in return? What is our gold,
frankincense or myrrh? Well, perhaps we must principally bring the gift of
ourselves as we encounter Christ alive and present in the elderly, children, the
disabled, the homeless, the alcoholic, the drug abuser, the prisoner and all
the vulnerable, defenceless or damaged people of our world – and the ones who
have received the gift in their heads but have not received it in their hearts:
them too. I’ll give you an example: I’m sure I’ve told you who my particular
problem people are. I get on with most people but I struggle with aggressive
beggars, and I challenge you to think who your problem people are. It’s the
same message again here, isn’t it? As St. Paul tells the Ephesians I became a servant of this gospel by the
gift of God’s grace given me through the working of God’s power. The
message of Paul is clear: we are servants of this gospel – we serve those we
encounter whoever they are, not just the nice ones.
Christ is also
manifest today in the bread and wine of Communion, which we struggle in faith
to recognize as his body and blood. Christ is there when we turn to
him in confident prayer and in those times when we find ourselves without words
and on the point of despair. He is with us in the quiet of our
hearts and in the noise of our daily lives. But Christ is not ours to
hold or keep. Paradoxically, he allows us from time to time to experience
his absence precisely so that we, as his disciples, might learn the importance
of bringing his presence to others. That’s the Epiphany challenge and
the challenge St. Paul gave to the Ephesians as he reminded them of their
mission to the Gentiles. We now become in our lives the epiphany to others of
Christ’s presence in our world.
We’ve been
incorporated into the story: the Bible's story is our story too. Each of us is
the Father's beloved daughter or son; he loves us and he has sent us out to
love our enemies, to return good for evil, to bring wholeness to the sick, to
stand up and speak out for those ignored and despised by others, the poor, the hungry,
and the homeless. And at the end of our quests we will have such stories to
tell. A bit like Matthew and Paul: "You're not going to believe this, but
let me tell you about the time when…"
Epiphany: the
light breaking through, the light shining upon, the revelation unfolding, what
St. Paul describes to the Ephesians as an insight
into the mystery of Christ. The divine has become clear and real in our
midst. Arise, shine for your light has come.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment