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January 6, 2008 The Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ 360 Days The Rev. Dr. Lawrence S. Hunter
Today is one of those happy occurrences when a major feast day falls on a Sunday. Today is the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ and today we find ourselves still at the manger in the stable that we thought we had put away with the rest of the crèches just after Christmas. But wait a minute, this story, the one in the gospel reading today, is part of the Christmas story, isn’t it? Well, sort of. We can look at the visit of the wise men to Bethlehem as the wrap up of the Christmas story. We can also see it as the beginning of the Epiphany story. We can, of course, see it as both.
A great deal of mythology has arisen surrounding this mysterious visit by these mysterious visitors bearing totally mysterious and seemingly inappropriate gifts for new baby born into a poor family in Palestine. Were they kings? Astrologers? We don’t know. We only know what the Bible tells us – they were wise and they followed a remarkable star from it’s rising until it led them to Bethlehem. Were there three? We don’t know; the number is traditional, perhaps from the number of gifts they brought. The Bible story doesn’t mention a number. Did they have names? Of course, but the traditional names of Gaspar, Balthazar, and Melchior seem to have arisen spontaneously in the sixth century. What about those gifts? Well, that we do know. They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Now gold is good, especially for a poor family. Frankincense is a little less useful, and myrrh is an aromatic gum used as a perfume for garments and in embalming. Nice enough, but I’m sure Mary would have been happy to have had a case of Pampers or a year’s subscription to a diaper service. Oh, yeah, they didn’t have those so Mary got gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And all we really know about the wise men is what the Bible tells us: they followed the star to find the child who has been born king of the Jews. They first went to Jerusalem, where King Herod, fearing for his own power, attempted to trick them into revealing where they would find the child. They continued on to Bethlehem where they found they child and Mary, his mother.
They paid him homage, which is really worship, gave him gifts, and then went home, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod.
Why is this part of the story important to both the Christmas story and the Epiphany season? To know that we have to return to one of the foundational stories of our scriptures. The story of Adam and Eve is a foundational story of the Jewish religion, and also of our Christian faith. It attempts to poetically explain how we all got here, and why we often do not act in the way God intended us to act. The story of Adam and Eve and their disobedience and rebellion against God ends with their banishment from the Garden of Eden.
However, there is an ancient Christian legend told in the Cave of Treasures that ties the story of Adam and Eve from Genesis with the story of the visit of the Magi that we heard in today’s gospel. It goes like this:
When Adam and Eve, at the beginning of the world, and before the fall, lived in the Garden of Eden, Adam had many beautiful and precious treasures. After the first parents sinned, but before they were forced to leave Eden, Adam pleaded with God that he might be permitted to take some of his treasures with him. God graciously granted his request. Many years later, when Adam’s soul flew to heaven, his family buried his wealth in a cave. This cave, like the entrance to Paradise, was guarded by an angel, so that no one might enter and take Adam’s property. And there the treasures rested throughout the ages. But in the fullness of time, a star arose in the East, and three magi, in response, went on a long voyage to follow its light to the newborn king of the Jews. As they were making their way, the star led them to the ancient, hidden cave of Adam, and the angelic sentry gave up its guard. There, among the riches, the magi found gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and they took some of each so that they could honor the royal Jewish infant. This then was how the three wise kings came to offer their gifts to Jesus in Bethlehem.
This legend does not need to be factual in order to reveal to us a profound truth. That is, in the birth of Jesus, God began the process of reconciliation that would fix the break between human beings and God. That break is symbolized by the story of the disobedience of Adam and Eve.
The Christmas part of the story is of a baby born into a Jewish family, including the chosen people in God’s work of reconciliation. This feast of the Epiphany begins a season in which we celebrate the manifestation or “showing forth” of who Jesus is, who this baby was to become. Today, we celebrate the arrival of the three kings. And why does that matter to us? What difference does this make to us? It makes a huge difference and it matters a great deal. You see, the three kings were gentiles, that is, not Jewish. Before this, the special relationship with God was thought to exist only for the people of Israel. With this epiphany, or showing forth, to these outsiders, we believe that the special relationship with God was opened up to all people – including us.
Now that Christmas is past and we have entered the season of Epiphany, we are really setting off on a great adventure. Our adventure will take us to many places and show us many things. It is rather an armchair adventure, because in order to enjoy this adventure, all you have to do is show up in church. From the relative comfort of the pews, we will travel all over Palestine, following the gospel writers as they show us some of the formative events in the life of Jesus. For this is the season that unfolds the story of Jesus, who he is and what his life and ministry means for us.
But more on that later. For now, like reading a tantalizing travel brochure, or browsing an evocative travel website, let us look ahead at our future destinations during this season of discovery. The adventure begins today, at the side of the bed of a baby and his mother, and a visit by exotic wise men from the East, bearing gifts fit for a king.
Next Sunday, we will find ourselves at the side of a river deep within mountains – a river flowing from north of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. Somewhere a little north of the Dead Sea, John has called people out to the wilderness to be baptized as a sign of repentance or turning away from lives that have become distorted by sin. Into these sin-soaked waters of the river Jordan, Jesus comes to his cousin to receive the same baptism.
The following Sunday, we are back near that river in the wilderness, and John, the baptizing cousin of Jesus tells of his experience as he baptized Jesus.
Next, we travel with Jesus to Capernaum, where he made his home after John was arrested. Hear the words of Jesus message to the people: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” See him call two pair of fishing brothers, Peter and Andrew, and James and John, to leave their nets and families and to follow him. Watch in amazement as he travels throughout Galilee, teaching the good news and healing the sick.
Our Epiphany adventure ends in week four. We will walk, with Jesus, and Peter, James and John, up a high mountain. There, we will witness something happen to Jesus that will show us his true nature, something hard to believe, something dazzling to behold. On that cloud-shrouded mountaintop, we will see things meant for angels; we will hear the very voice of God
Now, I have told you these things not so that you won’t need to come to church for the next four weeks, but so that you will. It is a great adventure that we are about to embark upon, and it is also a formative adventure of our faith tradition. In these next four weeks, we are witnesses to the gradual unfolding of the true nature of Jesus, the one in whom we have come to believe that God was uniquely and fully present. From low-lying riverbed baptism to mountain top transfiguration, this season gives us a basis upon which to plant our faith.
For it is our faith that will sustain us through whatever the year to come will hold for us. There are 366 days in 2008. We are at day 6.
On this day, we celebrate the making known of Jesus and the beginning of a season of revealing of the true nature of Jesus, this Son of God. We also recognize and celebrate that by the visit of the wise men to Jesus, by his being revealed to them, that we are included in the family of God. And remember that those wise men found what they were seeking in the most unlikely of places!
There are 360 more days in this year. During this year we will learn many things.
For certain we will learn;
Who the presidential nominees will be.
How high a gallon of gas can go.
Who will be the next president of our nation.
What will happen to housing prices.
Which direction the stock market will go.
What will be the direction of our policy in Iraq.
Who will be the next American Idol.
So many things to learn.
There are 360 days left in this year. 360 days of adventure. We believe that God also has much to reveal to us. We can and we will learn more about God, if we stay open to that revelation and remember to let God be God. We can also expect that we will find God in both likely and highly unlikely places.
360 days. Days of adventure. During your adventure, I wonder what God will reveal to you. Don’t you?