Epiphany of the Lord Sunday
January 3, 2016
Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12
(Or watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2QYFL11Ork&feature=em-upload_owner )
Anyone stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve? And if you did, did you have the TV on to
watch the ball drop in Times Square? Or
perhaps you were out and about in our fine state and saw in person the disco
ball drop in Hampden or the doughnut drop in Hagerstown or, featured on
national TV this year, the crab drop in Easton.[1] It turns out there are all kinds of objects
to drop to ring in the new year, which is why it makes it all the more
interesting to learn that there are a few places that really want to
distinguish themselves, and so instead of dropping something, they raise something. For example, in Charlotte, North Carolina,
they raise a crown, a symbol of the city’s nickname as the Queen City.[2] Even more interesting, because of how it
relates to our Scriptures for this morning, is that Chicago has a star that rises at midnight. After
all, what do our magi see? They saw
Jesus’ star at its rising, and then
went to find him to worship him.[3] They were paying attention enough that they
saw the star go up. They weren’t just
scanning the night sky and said, “Hey, look up there, it’s a new star”; they
said, “Hey, look there on the horizon, that star is going up, that’s a new
star, one just being born.” And they
asked King Herod, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it
rose, and we have come to worship him.”[4]
It’s an interesting idea, the idea of a star being born
when Jesus is born, and yet it makes sense, because we who follow Jesus know
that he is the light of the world. In
the Gospel of John Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me,
you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads
to life.”[5] Jesus, of course, is the light that leads to
life. His is the star that we should
follow, the star that sheds light on the path that leads to life.
Now,
the good news about this star, this light, is that we don’t have to go find it.
The opening verse of our Old Testament passage says, “Arise! Shine! Your light has come…”[6] Your light has come. You don’t have to go get it, it comes to
you. You don’t have to go find it, you
don’t have to make sure you have enough money to buy it or shop for it on sale,
you don’t have to do anything, other than to receive it. Jesus has come, and nudged each one of you in
some way, because otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Whether you consider yourself a believer, or
if you’re just in here this morning wondering, in some way you have noticed
that Jesus has come. Even if it was not a conscious decision, you’ve come here
in response, to worship him, just like the magi. Your light has come. You don’t have to grope in the darkness
anymore, or hide in the darkness, or stay in the darkness. Light has come, just as it came on the first
day of creation when God said “Let there be light,” and there was light.[7] It’s
rather fitting in that way for the first Sunday of a new year to also be about
light. Light has come, without you
having to do anything about it at all (kind of like how Christmas came for the
Grinch).
Because
“in the beginning, God.”[8] All things start with God. In the beginning was God, and God takes the
first step towards you. God creates the
light that comes towards you and invites you to step into the light, to follow
Jesus, the Son, so that you won’t have to walk in darkness anymore. “The people who walked in darkness have seen
a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has
shined.”[9] And this light, this star, we know by the
name, Jesus.
And
you’re probably thinking “yeah, yeah, yeah, we know all this, Pastor
Heather. Tell us something different. Now it’s a new year, now that it’s not
Christmas, we want something different.”
And the verse that spoke to me and that all this is building up to and
based around is that first verse we read from Isaiah, “Arise! Shine!
Your light has come.” It’s light
like the morning light, that comes whether you’re ready for it or not, whether
you want it or not, whether you’re anxious for it or not. The night always ends. The sun always rises, morning always comes. Some mornings you’re up and at ‘em. Some mornings you want to put the pillow over
your head and ignore the sun. It comes,
regardless of how well you slept the night before, regardless of how much sleep
you got, regardless of how many times your three year old woke you up the night
before, whether you’re ready to face the day or not. The light comes, Jesus comes, and you have to
get up. The choice is to receive him or
not. You can get up on the wrong side of
the bed and be cranky and grumble and complain and gossip and generally be
miserable and make people around you miserable.
Or you can get up on the right side of the bed, you can “rise and
shine.”
What’s
interesting about shining is that the source of the shine, the reason for
shining, isn’t you. You can’t make
yourself shine and you can’t produce light all on your own. We shine with Jesus’ light. “Arise!
Shine! Your light has come.” We rise because it’s morning, it’s time to
get up. We shine, though, because our
light has come. We don’t shine because
we’re morning people or to reflect our own stars. We shine with Jesus’ light, we reflect his
light, because he is the light that leads to life. We don’t lead to life. We can’t do anything on our own, even keep
our new year’s resolutions. I think
March is the longest I’ve ever lasted on a new year’s resolution, maybe
April. With God’s help, with God’s
light, we can follow the path that leads to life and maybe even invite others
to that path.
“Arise,
shine, your light has come. The glory of
the Lord is shining on you!” That’s the full verse. The Lord’s glory is shining on you. And that’s how you can get up, and rise, and
shine, too. Let’s make that our theme
verse for this year, to guide us and encourage us. “Arise, shine, your light has come.” Jesus is here, and because he is here, we can
get up and share his light with those who still walk in darkness. 1 John says that “We love because he first
loved us.”[10] Well, we shine, because he first shined on
us. We receive and we reflect out his
light. How? It may be as simple as a
kind word or biting back a harsh word.
It may be sharing food or a blanket.
It may be giving an honest answer when someone asks why you shine, and
not take the credit for yourself. As a
church it means that we work together and build each other up and build up the
body. It means being helpful and not
hurtful. It means that our actions and
words are ones that are life-giving and we refrain from ones that are
life-draining. In order to rise, we have
to build each other up and build up our church.
In order to shine, we have to receive and reflect Christ’s light out to
our neighbors. Jesus’ light leads to
life, and so as you participate in the ministries of the church over this next
year, ask yourself if what you are doing, even what you are saying, is
life-giving and actually enabling and strengthening us to rise and shine. It may mean some light gets shined in places
we don’t want the light to shine. It may
mean some things come to light that have been in the dark for a long time. Those are ok.
We will get through the tough times, as long as we focus on what gives
the church life and refrain from what drains the life of the church. This is our year to arise, and shine, and
with God’s help, we can do it.
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