6th January 2007EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
Fr Julian Browning
Isaiah 60 : 1 - 6 ; Ephesians 3 : 1 - 12 ; Matthew 2 : 1 – 12
We have seen his star in the East, & are come to worship him. St. Matthew 2.2
We too can step into that Epiphany scene in the stable, away from the fear, and hatred and envy which dominates human affairs...
The Feast of the Epiphany used to be one of the three major feasts
of the Early Church: Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost, but the Epiphany
is now well and truly upstaged by Christmas. Yet we do well to
celebrate the Epiphany in style. We do so in good company. The Queen
celebrates the Epiphany in the Chapel Royal by presenting at the altar
her offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh. She sends along three
high-ranking officers to make the offerings on her behalf. But the
effect is the same. The powers of the world outside Israel bow down at
the crib. Epiphany means 'manifestation', a showing of Jesus Christ to
the Gentiles, that is to say, us and to all people everywhere.
A feast day of the Church should concentrate the mind. A feast day is
not just a marker of an event such as Christmas or Easter, a nod to the
past. A feast day brings to the forefront of our worship, before our
eyes, a particular revelation of our faith, something which God wants
us to hear. The feast of the Epiphany confirms something we always
hoped was true, that the mysteries of God are accessible to everybody.
So on this day we almost always hear what St.Paul wrote to the
Ephesians, “pagans now share the same inheritance”. In one
sense that's a bit disappointing because we sometimes behave as if we
have God bottled up here somehow, and everyone outside has a sort of
second class access to him. That can't be true, can it? St.Paul's words
should be a great encouragement. Such is the power and glory of God
that he unifies everything and everyone. There's no difference now
between Jew and Gentile. We are fellow heirs, partakers of the same
promise, these images roll out of the Gospels, and are taken up in the
story of Jesus, so we become members of one body, we all drink of the
same cup, and so on.
On the Feast of the Epiphany we are united because, from all sorts of
different directions, we are converging on the crib, like the wise men,
to see the Holy Family and to learn more of this mystery. We too can
step into that Epiphany scene in the stable, away from the fear, and
hatred and envy which dominates human affairs, and present our own
gold, frankincense and myrrh. Like the wise men we come from outside
Israel, adoring the Messiah. We heard Isaiah. Isaiah 60, vv 2 & 3:
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen
upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the
brightness of thy rising. We bring gold, the symbol of his kingship. We
bring frankincense, incense, in recognition of his divinity. We bring
myrrh, which was used for embalming, as a symbol of his Passion.
So far, so holy. But one chap couldn't take it. I must confess to a
certain sympathy with King Herod. He was horrid, but real. Herod didn't
want change. Didn't like feeling threatened. The wise men had hinted at
change when they talked about this new star and asked Herod the fatal
question, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews?' The very last
thing Herod wanted was the appearance of the Messiah, the long-awaited
King of the Jews. So for Herod, the star was bad news. And so he was
ready to kill. The appearance of that star, and the birth of the Christ
child, made a bad man worse. Hidden in that little horror story, the
massacre of all those children so long ago, is a little warning for you
and for me as we try to be Christians. It would be nice, wouldn't it,
if we became better people as we delve deeper into Christianity. Older,
wiser, better. Sometimes that happens, but not always. The coming of
Jesus Christ into our thoughts and into our lives, his manifestation,
his epiphany in the world arounds, can sometimes provoke a reaction
against him, because his demands are so great, and his insistence that
we turn from self to God is so uncompromising, that we become like an
angry child or a threatened king like Herod. We want no more of this.
It's fear that makes us like that. God can cast out our fear. Perfect
love casts out fear. At every turn in our lives we are presented with
choices, forks in the road. We can look up at the star and think like
Herod: I don't want that child in my life, he's a rival, a challenge to
my conceit, a judgement on my life, and he wants me to change. So I
shall snuff him out, whatever it costs in terms of human life and
happiness. Or we can go forward in faith like the wise men, secure in
our prophecies, willing to worship and ready to offer ourselves,
whatever I can give, poor as I am. They followed a star, they looked
for their salvation beyond themselves, they knew that they were being
beckoned, guided, towards a place of great joy. They gave gold,
frankincense and myrrh. What can we give?
Truth in its beauty and love in its tenderness,
These are the offerings to lay on his shrine.