Epiphany | 2024
I did not grow up in a tradition that oriented itself around a liturgical calendar. For us there was Christmas, and there was Easter and that was it. As as adult, I began attending churches that started to lean into the church seasons, starting with Lent and Advent. So I began to associate Advent with the Incarnation, Lent with the Cross, Eastertide with the empty tomb and Pentecost with the Holy Spirit. But it wasn’t until recently that I really started looking into what the Season of Epiphany actually was. The season of Epiphany starts with the Feast of Epiphany on January 6. The word Epiphany means manifestation. It is the day to commemorate the Magi coming to worship Jesus, and the season lasts through Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent. There are traditionally four biblical texts tied to Epiphany
1. The visit of the Magi
2. Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River
3. The wedding of Cana and the first miracle of turning water to wine
4. The transfiguration
Episcopalian priest Fleming Rutledge says “Epiphanies… (are) events of revelation not available to human beings without an act of God.” In other words, we cannot understand God on our own effort. She goes on to say, “Any manifestation that reveals Jesus’ true identity occurs because the power of God is at work upon the eyes, ears and hearts of the recipients.
So these stories of Epiphany are not about human experiences, they are about Manifesting the glory of God. They are showing us the divine nature of Jesus. And today, we are going to look at the story of the Magi.
Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory—this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.”
When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified—and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religion scholars in the city together and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
They told him, “Bethlehem, Judah territory. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:
It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land,
no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader
who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”
Herod then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars from the East. Pretending to be as devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, “Go find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I’ll join you at once in your worship.”
Instructed by the king, they set off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!
They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.
In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country.”
Jada already read us the text from the Message, so I am not going to read it again, but I wanted to note that Matthew doesn’t give a lot of details. And so throughout history we have made quite a few assumptions about the visit of the Magi. We assume there were three wise men because there were three gifts. Later, traditions would offer names for the three magi, assign them different racial and ethnic identities, and even refer to them as kings. And so without a lot of details to go on, I think its important to pay attention to not only what the text does say, but also to what is repeated. And the word star is repeated three different times.
The Magi (different translations of the Bible call them scholars or wise men) either way, the author was referring to people in the ancient world who studied the stars. I saw a quote from Dante in which he describes God as “the love that moves the stars.” I find that so beautiful. God is the love that moves the stars. And that line by Dante inspired James C. Howell to describe the phenomena of the star seen by the Magi in this way:
“God is determined to be found, and will use any and all measures . . . to reach out to people who are open.”
God loved these Magi so much that he set a star in the heavens to bring them to Jesus.
I was recently rewatching Moana, one of my favorite Disney movies. If you haven’t seen it you should, but here is a brief summary. Moana loves the ocean and she doesn’t really want to take over her dad’s role as the leader of the people. But the island is starting to die and she needs to restore the heart of Te Fiti in order to save them. She takes a raft, finds the demigod Maui and they go on an epic journey. On that journey, once it becomes clear that Moana has no idea what she is doing, she begs Maui to teach her to sail, to which he replies, “it’s called wayfinding princess.” Wayfinding is an ancient Polynesian way of ocean navigation using observation of the stars and currents, stating back more than 3000 years ago. But it’s clear as Maui continues that he is referring to more than just learning how to steer a boat.
“It’s not just sails and knots. It’s seeing where you’re going in your mind. And knowing where you are, by knowing where you’ve been.”
And in a similar way, there is more to the story of the Magi than a GPS enabled star and the giving of gifts. Its a story about faith and discovery and God’s relentless determination to be found. God uses creation itself in the form of a star to announce the arrival of Jesus to a people who would otherwise not have heard. The star is a symbol of God’s light coming for all people. The star is the epiphany. It is the act of God revealing his glory through a baby boy.
And some observations about these Scholars from the East:
-They were looking. They were studying the prophecies and the history, they did not just stumble into this. They learned what to look for.
-They did not just study books, they observed the world around them. They saw the star and recognized it for what it was.
-They took action. They packed their bags and went on the pilgrimage. They went based on their knowledge and conclusion, but also on faith that what they believed to be true.
-They were humble enough to ask for guidance (even if they did not choose a very reliable or honest guide in Herod)
-When they found Jesus, when they realized that their journey was not in vain, that their beliefs and convictions were confirmed, they responded with extravagant gratitude.
God revealed himself to the Magi through the star. And their response was to worship. Three times in this passage Matthew uses the greek word for worship. In this last century, we have minimized worship to mean the songs we sing during a church service. But I think worship is so much more than that. The Magi did not sing one song (that we know of). But they studied the sacred texts. That is worship. They looked for divine revelation in the world around them. That is worship. They acted on their knowledge and convictions. That is worship. They were extravagant in their generosity. That is worship.
Our response to the manifestations of God should always be worship.
So what does that look like in our everyday life?
The first step is to open our hearts to the manifestation of God. God is always revealing himself to us—through his Word, through each other, through Creation. It may not be as obvious as an unusually bright star in the sky. It may not be through a dream. But maybe its in reading a passage of scripture and hearing something in a new and different way. Maybe its something someone says in conversation. Maybe its in the beauty of a sunset, or the feel of your body as you take a deep breath. Maybe its in the taste of your favorite food, or the sound of a song. God’s manifestations, big and small, are all around us.
The second step is our response of worship. We can read more about a certain topic that caught our attention. We can pause and pray out loud, or read a prayer or breathe a prayer. We can give away our time, our resources, our knowledge. We can sing or draw or paint or write. When we do these things with a heart full of gratitude toward God, that is worship too.
I would invite us this month to mindful of these everyday epiphanies. When God shows up in both extraordinary and ordinary ways. May we respond in grateful worship.
One of the major themes of Epiphany is light, especially given the story of the star. But what makes this light different than the light in Advent is that in Advent, we talk about the light that is for each one of us, individually. It is personal. The light of Epiphany is to remind us that Christ comes not only for us individually, but for all people.