Epiphany

Christmas 2 - Epiphany: Matthew 2:1-12
Tonight, getting towards the end of the Christmas season, we’re thinking about Epiphany. On Christmas day we celebrated what is called the Incarnation, that is when God became human. But in some senses today’s celebration is more important . That’s because it’s only through Epiphany that we know what God is up to.

A baby in a manger is all very well, but so what? Now, with the benefit of hindsight we know something about the, “so what”, because of what Jesus did and said, because of what he showed us about himself. And this is what Epiphany means. It means a revelation of something, usually something spiritual, to someone. Celebrating Epiphany is about celebrating the fact that God is a God of revelation and about considering what our response to that revelation will be.

In the reading we’ve just had we had an example of an Epiphany. This was when the Magi, or Wise Ones, from the east came to worship Jesus.

From this story I’d like to concentrate on two things. Firstly how does God make revelations, that is, from where will epiphanies come to us? Secondly, what are possible reactions to these revelations?

So, how does God reveal?

In the passage we see several sources of God’s revelations.

God met the wise ones where they were. We don’t know very much about them but it is likely that they were astrologers of some kind. They were people who examined the stars for signs and revelations. And God went to meet them and spoke to them in a language they understood. As the psalmist wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of God’s hands”.

Having received this declaration that God was doing something the wise ones followed the star. They came to Jerusalem where we see another way that God makes revelations.

Through the wise ones, God made Jesus’ presence on earth known to Herod and the priests of Israel. So we see that God’s revelations can be made through people. If we want God to reveal something to us then we need to be listening to people and their experiences of following God.

When the priests of Israel heard the news that the wise ones bought, they went to our next source of God’s revelation, the scriptures. The scriptures bring two things to revelation.

Firstly God can speak through them into our situation directly and reveal things to us. If we want to experience more of the character of God, be warned about the temptations that we might fall into, discover the general will of God for our lives, then we need to be searching through this book and opening our hearts to the Holy Spirit and allowing him to teach us.

Secondly the scriptures can be used to test or inform about revelations from other sources. In this case the priests confirmed that the revelation of the star had put the Wise Ones on the right track and informed them about the next stage of the journey.

Contemporary culture is full of stuff that might spark an epiphany in somebody. Take films for instance. From Bruce Almighty, to Lord of the Rings, to Finding Nemo, all of these films might cause somebody to have an insight or come to a conclusion about themselves, about the world they’re in, or about God. And what do they do with that conclusion, that possible revelation. Is this God speaking to them or is it not? How do they know?

One way for them to know would be to test it against what God says in the Bible. But, how are they going to do that if they don’t know where to look. An important step on the journey of the Wise Ones to the stable was taken because the priests of Israel were there to open the scriptures and explain the direction shown there. You may have heard the phrase “ The priesthood of all believers”, we express it here at St. Mary’s in one of our core values “All Involved”.

It is one of our responsibilities as the people of God to know our Bibles, not just with head knowledge but with application knowledge, with directional knowledge, so that we can help others on their journeys towards Jesus.

The wise ones have had a message from God, they’ve followed it’s instruction, told other people about it on the way and have tested it against scripture. What next?

The final revelation in this passage is the greatest revelation of all, meeting with Jesus.

The point of meeting with Jesus is always the greatest epiphany. The revelation that here is God who created us, who was rejected by us in our rebellion, who loves us so much that he came and died on a cross, and was raised to life. Who reigns now and calls us to be his friends and co-workers, preparing for his triumphal return.

Many of us have experienced that first meeting with Jesus. For some it was at the end of a long journey, as for the wise ones, for others of us it came like a flash, all revealed in an instant. Having had that first meeting, we need to continue walking with Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and continue to allow Jesus to reveal more about God and ourselves to us as we go.

Having looked at the some of the ways God is revealed, let’s move on to look at some responses to an Epiphany:

Stepping away from the Bible for an instant and back into the world, we come across one possible response to an epiphany. Bridget Jones has just been released from a Thai prison after 11 days where she had been jailed because she was tricked into attempting to smuggle cocaine out of the country. She believes that her hardships have led to a Spiritual Epiphany for her, and this is her reaction:

New Post-Spiritual Epiphany Life Resolutions:

1 Not start smoking or drinking again as have not had drink for eleven days and only two cigarettes. Though may just have small bottle of wine now. As obviously need to celebrate. Yes.

2 Not rely on men but on self. (Unless Mark Darcy wants to go back out with me)

3. Not bother about stupid things e.g. weight, mad hair.

4. Not discard advice of self help books, poems etc. but limit it to key things e.g. optimism, not freaking out, forgiving

5. Be more careful about men as are plainly - if evidence of Jed not to mention Daniel anything to go by - dangerous

6. Not take rubbish from people i.e. my boss, but have confidence in self-reliance

7. Be more spiritual and stick to spiritual principles

Goody, now can look at Hello! and tabloids.

The thing that strikes me about this response is its lack of true impact on her life. She had been through a tough time, and it had shown her things, but there doesn’t appear to be an impact that will make a lasting difference. This is in sharp contrast to the reactions that are caused in the lives of Herod and the wise ones by the revelation that Jesus has come.

We don’t discover much about Herod’s response from this particular passage, just clues in the facts that the Wise One’s message troubled Herod and that the Wise Ones were warned not to go back to him. It is elsewhere we discover that Herod went on to order the slaughter all of the children of Jesus’ age in Bethlehem.

So Herod was troubled by the revelation that Jesus had come, it caused him to lie about his intentions and led him to attempt to undo the thing that was revealed.

Why did he have this response? I don’t know. All I can do is think about why I might have similar reactions.

The revelation of the right of Kingship can cause a negative reaction if someone wants to hold on to their control. Jesus was the rightful king of the Jews, and Herod felt threatened in his position as king. Jesus is the rightful king of my life, but often I do not want to acknowledge that kingship, I want to be in charge. We should not be surprised when people have a negative reaction to us as Christians or to the message of Christ. We only have to look in our own hearts to realize that at the centre of that negative reaction is the conflict between the rightful claim of Jesus to Kingship and a rebellious clinging to control by the self.

In complete contrast the wise ones response is to worship and bring gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh. Traditionally these have been taken to symbolize gifts acknowledging Jesus Kingship, Godhood, and humanness.

What gifts might we bring in this new year that acknowledge these things?

What response does Jesus kingship elicit ? Gold - our wealth. This illustrates Jesus’ rule and kingdom over every bit of our lives, including our wallets and material needs.

I find that Christmas is bad for this. When we got back from our Christmas holiday I switched my computer on and the cooling fan was making a horrid noise, the bearings had gone so I went to Maplins yesterday to get a new one, however I ended up wandering around the shop planning upgrades to my computer. By the time I’d finished I needed a new graphics card, a new sound card, some more Ram, a TFT screen, and a DVD/CD rewriter.

Actually I don’t need any of this, I’d like it, and there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with any of it but Christmas, for me, does tend to get me thinking about the things I’d like to get. And the trouble is, if I start focusing on these then I lose sight of Jesus, who knows what I need and provides it for me.

One of the hardest bits I find about Jesus being my king is letting go of the material things I desire and ending up begrudging and resenting the money I give back to God.

What response does Jesus’ Godhood elicit? Incense - Our worship. How do we worship this God that is revealed to us? In Spirit and in Truth is the standard reply. But what does this mean?

In Spirit - with the help of the Holy Spirit, and in our inmost being. Not just with our bodies and our religious actions but in our spirits. Even though God is made known to us in revelation, we still only see a small part of God and who God is. It is only by the Holy Spirit that we can worship because the Holy Spirit allows our spirits to experience and adore that which our minds cannot comprehend or our words explain.

In truth. I love the depth of meanings in the word true. I feel that it has an almost physical quality. We talk about a straight line being true, about true musical pitch, about a true alignment where two things meet. The human physical senses are amazingly good at telling if something is true or not. One of the reasons we named our son Nathaniel, is for one of the first disciples, of whom Jesus said, “ Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false” and it is one of my deepest desires for him that people will say that of him. For me truth is to do with being transparently and obviously consistent in all the things we think, all the things we do and all the things we say. And when all those things are also consistent with God’s will then we are worshipping in truth.

What response does Jesus humanness elicit?

Myrrh - Our repentance. Jesus came down to earth, became human and then died so that we could be released from the consequences of our rebellion and sinfulness. It is because we are sinful that Jesus had to become human. Therefore I believe that one of the key responses we should have is repentance for the sins that led to Jesus giving up heaven and coming to earth. Myrrh is an antiseptic perfume that was used in the preparation of a body for burial and our repentance is part of the process of putting our old selves to death so that we might be raised to new life in and for Jesus.

As we celebate Epiphany, let us ask God to reveal more to us this year. Let us look in unexpected places. Let us listen to those around us. Let us delve into our Bibles so that we can hear more for ourselves and so that we can help others hear more and let us meet Jesus, and walk with him every day by the power of the Holy Spirit .

Let us resolve to respond to the epiphanies that God will reveal to us not with fear or rebellious pride but with repentance, true and spirit filled worship and a whole hearted giving of all that we have and are,

Amen.

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