Aha!

EPIPHANY 2013

TODAY, JANUARY 6TH, IS EPIPHANY DAY. THE EPIPHANY IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH THAT IF IT DOESN’T FALL ON SUNDAY, WE CELEBRATE IT ON THE SUNDAY CLOSEST TO JANUARY 6TH.. TODAY WE MOVE THE MAGI TO THE MANGER SO WE CAN REMEMBER THE IMORTANCE OF THIS FEAST.

EPIPHANY DAY, JANUARY 6TH, IS THE DAY AFTER THE 12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS. THEREFORE, EPIPHANY ENDS THE CHRISTMAS SEASON. UNLIKE THE COMMERCIAL WORLD, THE CHURCH’S CHRISTMAS SEASON DOESN’T START ON HALLOWEEN AND END ON DECEMBER 25TH. IN THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH, EPIPHANY IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT. FOR THAT BRANCH OF CHRISTENDOM, EPIPHANY IS WHEN THE INCARNATION IS CELEBRATED.

YES, EPIPHANY IS VERY IMPORTANT IN OUR LIFE. ANOTHER COMMONLY USED WORD FOR EPIPHANY IS MANIFESTATION. OTHER WORDS THAT COULD SUBSTITUTE FOR EPIPHANY ARE SIGN OR EXPRESSION. A MANIFESTATION OR SIGN OR EXPRESSION OF WHAT? IT IS NOT BECAUSE WE CELEBRATE WISE MEN ON CAMELS TODAY. WE HAVE ALL SORTS OF STORIES OF THE LITTLEST WISE MAN OR OTHER MAGI CO-TRAVELERS WHO NEVER MADE IT TO JESUS’ BED. THERE IS AN OPERA CALLED “JAMAL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS”. THIS IS ANOTHER STORY ABOUT THE MAGI. HOWEVER, THESE STORIES TEND TO LEAD US AWAY FROM THE REAL MESSAGE OF EPIPHANY. WHAT WE REMEMBER TODAY IS NOT THE WISE MEN COMING TO JESUS, BUT RATHER JESUS BEING KNOWN TO THE WHOLE WORLD.

SO WHETHER WE USE THE WORD EPIPHANY OR MANIFESTATION OR SIGN OR EXPRESSION DOESN’T MATTER, AS LONG AS WE UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF LETTING THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW ABOUT THE COMING OF JESUS, THE MESSIAH.

TO ME THE EPIPHANY IS AN “AHA” MOMENT. YOU KNOW WHAT AN “AHA” MOMENT IS. AN “AHA” MOMENT IS WHEN A MATH PROBLEM IS SOLVED. AN “AHA” MOMENT IS WHEN A DIFFICULT BIT OF CARPENTRY IS ACCOMPLISHED. AN “AHA” MOMENT IS WHEN A CONFUSING PIECE OF POETRY FINALLY MAKES SENSE. AN “AHA” MOMENT IS WHEN ALL THE PARTS OF A SEWING PROJECT COME TOGETHER AND LOOKS RIGHT. EPIPHANY IS AN “AHA” MOMENT FOR THOSE OF US WHO WERE NOT IN BETHLEHEM 2,000 YEARS AGO.

A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, ON NEW YEARS DAY, ELLEN AND I WENT TO THE MOVIES TO SEE A FILM NAMED “MUNICH”. THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT THE NATION OF ISRAEL HUNTING DOWN AND KILLING THE PALESTINIANS WHO MURDERED THE ISRAELI OLYMPIC ATHELETES IN GERMANY IN THE 1970’S. AFTER AN EXTREME AMOUNT OF BLOODSHED AND GORE ON BOTH SIDES, THE ISRAELI MAN IN CHARGE OF THIS REVENGE OPERATION REALIZES NOTHING IS ACCOMPLISHED BY ALL THIS KILLING, AND HE QUITS. IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE NEW YORK SCENE, WHERE HE MAKES THIS DECISION, YOU CAN SEE THE TWIN TOWERS. I BELIEVE THIS WAS AN AH HA! MOMENT FOR THIS MOVIE CHARACTER; IT CERTAINLY WAS FOR ME.

AT CAMP COAST CARE, MISSISSIPI, WHERE ELLY AND I SPENT A WEEK EIGHT YEARS AGO, THERE WERE FIVE PEOPLE FROM WESTCHESTER COUNTY NEW YORK WHO HAD RIDEN ALL THAT DISTANCE FROM NEW YORK STATE TO MISSISSIPPI, IN A PRIUS TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF MISSISSIPPI. ONE WAS A DEVOUT ATHEIST, ONE A UNITARIAN, ONE A QUAKER, ONE AN EPISCOPALIAN, AND I DON’T KNOW THE BELIEF OF THE FIFTH PERSON. THESE FIVE PEOPLE APARENTLY HAD AH HA! MOMENTS ABOUT A CALL TO HELP, AND IT WAS DENOMINATIONALLY INDEPENDENT. IT CERTAINLY WAS AN AHA! MOMENT FOR ME TO REALIZE THESE FIVE PEOPLE, WITH SUCH DIVERSE RELIGIOUS BACKGROUNDS, COULD SQUEEZE INTO A PRIUS AND TRAVEL HUNDREDS OF MILES TO HELP VICTIMS, THEY DID NOT KNOW, RECOVER FROM A DISASTER. AH HA! MOMENTS OR EPIPHANIES CAN COME TO ANYONE AT ANY TIME. FOR SOME, AN AHA MOMENT IS ALSO A CALL TO MINISTRY.

BUT LET US LOOK AT THE DETAILS OF THE GOSPEL STORY. TODAY’S OH SO FAMILIAR STORY TALKS ABOUT WISE MEN COMING FROM THE EAST. EVEN THOUGH HYMNS AND OTHER STORIES TALK ABOUT THE THREE KINGS, THE BIBLE DOES NOT CALL THEM KINGS. THE BIBLE CALLS THEM WISE MEN, AND IN SOME TRANSLATIONS, WISE COMES OUT “MAGI”, OR “ASTROLOGERS”. IN OTHER WORDS, THEY STUDIED THE STARS AND PLANETS FOR SIGNS OF WHAT WAS TO COME. NOW THE NEXT SURPRISE; THE BIBLE DOESN’T SAY THERE ARE THREE WISE MEN. WE ASSUME THREE, BECAUSE THERE ARE THREE GIFTS: GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH.

OUR BIBLE PASSAGE TODAY SAYS THAT AFTER THE WISE MEN TALKED TO KING HEROD, THEY CONTINUED TO FOLLOW THE STAR UNTIL IT STOPPED MOVING, AND IT STOPPED OVER THE PLACE WHERE JESUS LIVED. THE BIBLE THEN SAYS THEY WENT INTO THE HOUSE AND SAW THE BABE JESUS AND HIS MOTHER, MARY. HEROD TOLD THE WISE MEN TO TELL HIM WHERE THE BABY WAS, BUT THEY WERE WARNED IN A DREAM NOT TO DISCLOSE THE BABY’S LOCATION TO THAT EVIL HEROD. I THINK THE AH HA! MOMENT CAME TO OUR WISE MEN, NOT WHEN THEY FIRST FOUND THE BABE, BUT WHEN THE ANGEL WARNED THEM NOT TO TELL HEROD WHERE THEY FOUND HIM.

WHEN THE WISE DIDN’T RETURN TO HEROD, HE ASKED HIS COURT WISE MEN WHERE SCRIPTURE SAID THE MESSIAH WOULD BE BORN, AND HE DECREED THAT ALL MALE CHILDREN 2 YEARS OLD AND YOUNGER WERE TO BE KILLED WHERE THE COURT FLUNKIES TOLD HEROD THE MESSIAH WOULD BE BORN. THIS SUGGESTS THAT UP TO 2 YEARS COULD HAVE ELAPSED BETWEEN JESUS BIRTH AND THE COMING OF THE WISE MEN.

SOME COMMENTATORS SAY THE WISE MEN CAME FROM BABYLON; SOME SAY PERSIA. SOME HAVE THEM COMING FROM THREE DIVERSE GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS, ASIA, AFRICA, AND ARABIA. THEREFORE THE SPECULATION IS THAT THEY ALSO WERE ETHNICALLY DIVERSE; PERHAPS CHINESE, BLACK AFRICAN, AND ARAB.

OTHERS EXPLAIN THE HEAVENLY BODY THEY WERE CHASING AS STARS, OR COMETS, OR PLANETS. THE COMMENTATORS THAT HAVE THESE OPINIONS ABOUT WHAT THE WISE MEN WERE FOLLOWING, HAVE RESEARCHED HISTORICAL ASTRONOMY AND FOUND EVENTS THAT HAPPENED 2,000 YEARS AGO THAT WOULD HAVE EXPLAINED A REALLY BRIGHT OBJECT IN THE NIGHT SKY. ALL THESE EXPLANATIONS AND COMMENTARIES ARE INTERESTING, BUT THEY TEND TO DISTRACT FROM THE MESSAGE MATTHEW WAS GIVING US.

THAT MESSAGE WAS THAT GOD WAS INTERVENING IN THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE TO HELP US PROTECT OURSELVES FROM OUR SELVES. REMEMBER POGO WHEN HE SAID THAT: “WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US”? THAT INTERVENTION WAS NOT JUST FOR THE ISRAELITES; IT WAS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD. THE MESSAGE WAS ALSO FOR UNITARIANS AND EPISCOPALIANS AND ATHEISTS AND QUAKERS.

THIS MESSAGE OF GOD’S AH HA! OR MANIFESTATION OR EPIPHANY OF SALVATION REACHING THE WHOLE WORLD IS NOT UNIQUE IN THIS READING FROM MATTHEW. THIS REACHING OUT TO THE ENTIRE WORLD IS TOLD IN THE STORY OF JONAH GOING TO NINEVAH. IT WAS TOLD WHEN THE PROPHET ELIJAH HEALED THE SYRIAN GENERAL. THE NEW TESTAMENT IS FULL OF STORIES OF JESUS HEALING AND REACHING OUT TO MANY WHO WERE NOT OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. PERHAPS THE CULMINATION OF THE COMMAND TO REACH OUT IS FOUND IN THE 28TH CHAPTER OF THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, WHEN JESUS SAYS TO HIS DISCIPLES: “GO THEREFORE AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.”

TODAY WE ARE CELEBRATING THE EPIPHANY. TODAY WE ARE REMEMBERING THAT GOD WANTED THE MESSAGE OF SALVATION TO BE GIVEN TO ALL PEOPLE. WE HEAR AND FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION OF MAKING DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS. WE MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS, NOT SO WE CAN HAVE MORE MEMBERS OF ST. PETER AND PAUL OR THE GREATOR CHRISTIAN CHURCH, BUT SO THAT ALL HUMANS MAY KNOW THE PEACE OF CHRIST, THE SHALOM OF CHRIST, SO ALL THE EARTH CAN LIVE IN THIS PAX OF CHRISTUS REX.
AMEN

Preached by Fr. John Nesbitt, Sunday January 6, 2013