Sermon 1/4/04
Didn't Even Recognize You… - Matthew 2:1-12
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Happy Epiphany! Epiphany. Ok, so maybe this church holiday is not on our favorite top 10 list. In fact, maybe we don't even really know what Epiphany is. But here we are, and here is Epiphany Sunday. What will we do with it?
Most of us know what the word Epiphany itself means. Epiphany means a sudden realization of the truth about something. It's the lightbulb moment, the "A-Ha" moment when the pieces fall into place and comprehension succeeds. It's the moment of recognition.
But what does that have to do with today? With church? Sure, we can understand the idea of a spiritual epiphany, a religious awakening of sorts. But our gospel today is about the visit of the Magi or wise men to the Christ child, and perhaps it's harder to see how they fit into the story.
In our church history, the feast of Epiphany used to be one of the great celebrations. You know, perhaps, that sometimes annoying Christmas song, "The 12 days of Christmas?" The song, contrary to popular thought, does not refer to the 12 days preceding Christmas, but to the 12 days following it. Technically, today is the 11th day of Christmas - the eleven pipers-piping day. Epiphany day is on January 6th, but we celebrate in churches today. Perhaps you also remember the Shakespeare play, "12th Night" - this refers also to the 12th night of Christmas, the eve of Epiphany, the culmination of the Christmas celebration. Nowadays, however, we do things a little differently. We barely make it to Christmas day without jumping the gun and celebrating during Advent. We certainly don't make our celebrations last for twelve days after, not unless you try to pass New Year's Eve parties off as the newest form of religious Christmas revelry. By now, our trees are mostly down, the decorations are packed away, and the Christmas cookies are the makings of this year's resolutions. After all, what's so fun to celebrate in Epiphany, anyway? There's no presents left to exchange, the baby Jesus is already born, and though it's a feast day, we're really trying to get through at least the first week of January without breaking our well-intentioned goals for 2004.
Obviously, though, the Christians who for so long celebrated Epiphany as an important part of the church calendar thought it was something worth doing, worth celebrating, each and every year. In church matters, Epiphany means the sudden awareness, the sudden recognition, that God is in Christ, that God dwells in the baby. We read about the visit of the wise men today not just because these visitors were royal, or mysterious, or astrologers, or because they brought Jesus precious, symbolic gifts. The reason these three are important in Matthew's eyes, is because they are not Jews - they are Gentiles. They are the first Gentiles to recognize that God was in the baby Jesus, the first non-Jews to have the Epiphany experience - the recognition of Jesus' divine identity.
And that recognition is important to us because it was the opening of the doors. Long did the people of Israel know that they were God's chosen, special people. But in Jesus, the table was widened - the message was surely for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles - the whole world could receive God in a special way now that God had come in person. This is the great light-bulb, the great Aha! that Epiphany shares with us.
I've been thinking a lot about old friends, history, our past as a church, this past year for me individually. I've been thinking about those year books that I brought in for children's time last week, from elementary school and high school. It's amazing to me the people that come in and out of your life, the people that you were so close to, that you never really see again, and the people that you never expect to see again, that suddenly pop back into your life, in the way that our paths seem to cross in this large world made small again and again. When I showed the children my 6th grade picture last week, they said that "it didn't look like me."
What about you? If you ran into friends from your senior year in high school, would they recognize you? Would you recognize them? Do you remember your best friend from first grade? From pre-school? How would you recognize them, and how would they recognize you? What are the features of your life that let others know who you are, that make you distinguishable, able to stand out against thousands of others?
In essence, the celebration of Epiphany is about recognizing God, even in unlikely places. Foreign men traveled a long way following the star of one they thought would be king of the Jews. When they arrived on the scene and found a baby born to a couple that seemed average and ordinary, the Magi somehow looked beyond the exterior, looked beyond the specifics of the situation, and managed to see God in the small child. That's the Epiphany.
That is what we are called to do as well - to recognize God, even when the surroundings, the specifics, the details that we see don't lead us to expect anything as divine as God dwelling with us. Where do you recognize God in your life? Where is God dwelling today that you never expected?
Once upon a time, "there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler. One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left. Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, "I am your king!" The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn't. Instead he said, "You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the course food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!" (1)
The good king and the poor man both recognized something in each other beyond the outside package - not a good king, but a good man, not a poor man, but a generous man. Are you able to recognize God, when God is standing right there in front of you?
God comes to us in many forms, many places, and many people. Our task is to recognize God in all these various ways, to have our own Epiphanies, to let the light of God turn on in our hearts, and souls, and minds.
But a step beyond recognition is response. We read that the wise men and King Herod had very differing responses once they realized that the Christ-child was God incarnate. Herod reacted in fear, anger, and violence, eventually seeking to have young children killed in a misguided effort to prevent Jesus from challenging him for the throne. The wise men, however, acted to protect the child, fleeing from the country in the secret of night, because they believed what they had been told by the angel in their dreams.
How do we respond when we recognize God? Are we afraid? Are we threatened? Do we continue to mistreat one another, even after we realize that we are brothers and sisters created by God? Do we continue to act out of racism and sexism, even when we find that God is living in those who don't look or seem anything like us? Are we living lives in ways that enable others to recognize God living in us, or do we make it difficult for people to see that we are Christ-filled?
On this Epiphany day, let us follow the words of the prophet Isaiah - arise, shine, for our light has come, and the glory of the Lord is upon us. God is with us, and God is in us. We just have to look a little harder, and see who is there. Amen.
Benediction: Arise, shine. For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Lift up your eyes, and look around, for God is here. Go in peace and praise the Lord. Amen.
(1) Brett Blair, http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=i&whichFile=incarnation