Epiphany of the Lord Sunday
January 4, 2015
Matthew 2:1-12
Let’s
see a show of hands: who still has their Christmas decorations up? You don’t need to feel bad if you do, we
still have some up here at the church because it’s still Christmas! In the church, the Christmas season is 12
days long, the basis for the song “The 12 Days of Christmas.” The first day of Christmas is Christmas Day
and the 12th day of Christmas is tomorrow. The day after that,
January 6th, is Epiphany. Epiphany
is when we celebrate the coming of the wise ones to see Jesus. Because January 6th isn’t always a
Sunday, the first Sunday in January is marked as Epiphany Sunday, which is why
we read the story of the magi today. Epiphany
means “to make known” or “to show forth.”
To have an epiphany is to have a sudden revelation or a great
realization, what you might call an “aha!” moment. In this Epiphany story from Matthew 2, what
we see revealed is Jesus’ divine mission, and this is in the quote from the
prophet Micah. When the magi came to
Jerusalem, they went to the King, which is a normal thing to do for foreign
dignitaries upon entering a different country.
They asked King Herod about this new king. King Herod didn’t know anything, so he asked
the chief priests and teachers of the law and in response, they cited the Old
Testament prophet Micah, chapter 5, verse 2, which says, “Bethlehem
in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least of the leading cities of
Judah; for from you will come a leader who will guide my people Israel.” And this is the epiphany, or revelation, of
who this King is to be – a leader who will shepherd God’s people. This is Jesus’ mission and in this season
that follows Epiphany we’ll read about his baptism, his miracles, his ministry,
and his call for us to follow him.
However, I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to the Epiphany story with the
magi. I imagine this story is probably too familiar to most of
us. We know that they came from the
east. We can picture them in the
nativity sets with their camels and their gifts of gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. We know that the fact that there
were three gifts is why it’s thought there were three wise men and that each of
those gifts have meaning. As our middle
hymn explains, these gifts coordinate with characteristics of Jesus: gold is an
appropriate gift to give a King, incense is something that’s offered in worship
to God, and myrrh was used in ancient embalming techniques, foreshadowing
Jesus’ death.[1] This is a story many of us know well.
However, Scripture is inspired by God, God speaks through it, and we are
different each time we read it, which is why we can read the same passage over
and over again and continue to learn more about God and more about
ourselves. This year, reading this story
again, I found myself wondering about the magi’s journey. Matthew doesn’t tell us much about their
journey; just that “Magi came from the east to Jerusalem.” But there are a few things we can infer about
their journey from the other details that Matthew gives us.
First,
the star was enough to guide them. Whether “the East” was Persia, which is modern-day
Iran, or points farther east, following this one star was enough to get them
all the way to Jerusalem. It was enough
to get them through many days of walking through the desert without losing
their way. It was enough for them to
trust it for guidance without anything
else to help them along the way. The
one star, by itself, led them to Judea. This
star sounds similar to the North Star that sailors used to use for navigation
to figure out which way was north so that they could determine which direction
to sail. The North Star was also used by
slaves escaping the oppression of the south to make their way north to
freedom. Can anyone here find the North
Star today? I’ll confess, knowing that
it’s at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper constellation doesn’t help
me a whole lot. So, even if we can find
it, would we be able to use it as a GPS to guide us where we want to go? It’s a lot harder to see the stars than it
used to be, thanks to city lights and pollution, and you have to really pay
attention to follow them. Even when the
night sky is clear, it’s not like a GPS that tells you out loud when and where
each turn is and will recalculate if you miss the turn. When you follow a star, you have to pay
attention and it’s up to you to make sure you’re going the right direction. Keep in mind, the magi didn’t know exactly
where they were going. They were solely
reliant on this one star to guide them, and it was enough.
The
star is a symbol for God’s guidance, light for our journey. Is God’s guidance enough for you? Is following his word and his path enough for
you to keep your way? Or do you try to
add other things, like reading your horoscope to find out what will happen to
you? Or gambling, because you don’t
believe that God has provided you with enough?
God’s guidance is enough, if you’re looking to other sources, to other
stars, then it sounds like you don’t trust God to take care of you. God’s guidance is enough. If the problem is
discerning it and figuring out how God is guiding you, let’s talk. I’d love to listen with you to what God is
saying.
The second thing about the magi’s journey that struck me was
that they came ready to worship. They didn’t know their destination or what
country they were going to. They didn’t
know how long it was going to take to get there and how many days the journey
would last. They didn’t know exactly
what they were going to find at the end, other than a newborn King. They didn’t know how many sets of clothes to
pack, but they knew to bring gifts for the King. They didn’t know how much food to bring with
them, but they knew that when they found the King, they would worship him. They were ready. In this case, the journey wasn’t the point. The end was what mattered and it involved
worshipping Jesus.
When
you come to worship, even though you know all of those details like how long it
takes to get to church and that worship will last about one hour, even though
there are fewer unknowns when you come to worship than there were for the magi,
do you arrive ready? Or, when you
arrive, are you still concerned about business matters or chatting with friends
and neighbors in the pews? When you get
here Sunday morning, are you ready to worship?
If not, why not? What else do you
need to do to prepare yourself before the service starts? The magi didn’t know much about what the
journey would be like, but they journeyed ready to worship at the end.
Finally,
let’s look at the end of their journey. What happened when they got to Jesus? Matthew says they were “overwhelmed with joy.” Overwhelmed with joy. Can you remember a time when you were
overwhelmed with joy? What caused you to
be filled with joy? For the wise ones,
it was when they saw that the star had stopped moving and stood over the place
where Jesus was. Their journey was at an
end. Their search was at an end. They had finally found Jesus, and joy is the word used to describe what
they were feeling. I’d think that after
that long trip with so many unknowns, I’d be relieved or exhausted or glad to
no longer be traveling. I don’t know
that “joy” would be the word that came to mind.
But these wise ones are joyful, which implies almost a giddiness, or glee,
and a huge smile. It’s the difference
between saying “Thank God that’s over!” and “Thank God we’re here!” Their focus wasn’t on their journey; it was
on the destination. They had their eyes
on the prize, and what a prize: Jesus!
Last
weekend in North Carolina, my husband and I got to go out, and since we don’t
have the energy to be very creative in our dates these days, we went to a
movie. We saw “Into the Woods,” which is
a creative mishmash of fairy tales and overall a pretty good movie. But we didn’t like the ending. It felt like the writers just ran out of
steam before they finished writing the script.
And it made me wonder, how do you end well? Does our culture have trouble ending
well? Is that why there are so many
movie sequels these days? We can’t let
well enough alone? We don’t like
ending? Have we gotten to the point
where we no longer know how to end well?
There seems to be so much emphasis these days on the journey and that
it’s the journey that counts, not the end.
And then there’s another phrase about “it doesn’t matter how you get
there, as long as you get there.” I
really think both matter. The journey
matters and the destination matters. How you go somewhere and where you are going are both
important.
Paul
uses the metaphor of a race in many of his letters in the New Testament. He encourages his readers to run the race in
such a way that you might win the prize,[2]
the prize being God’s call in Christ Jesus.[3] The author of Hebrews says to run with
perseverance the race set before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus.[4] This race is not a sprint but a marathon, and
when it’s over, if we have persevered, then we will have ended it well and will
reach the end with joy. How do you feel
when you reach the end of a journey? Are
you joyful? If not, why not? These magi
trusted in the star to guide them, they traveled prepared, and they were filled
with joy at the end. Sounds like a good
model for all of us to follow.
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