Today is the
celebration of Epiphany in the Church year.
This the day which marks the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child in Bethlehem. They were magi or wise men – no they were not
kings but I wouldn’t want to change the words to the carol – We three Magi just
doesn’t do it.
The event is
called Epiphany. However, that has a broader
meaning than the event celebrated. The definition
of epiphany means, among other things:
(2): an
intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple
and striking
(3): an
illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure
In the case of the Magi, it is the revelation of the Christ Child, the long-awaited Messiah, to
the Gentiles – the non-Jews from the East.
The concept of epiphany is significant for the idea of being open to
revelation from divine sources however it is made manifest. I was intending to explore a different topic
this morning but was inspired to write on this subject after hearing the homily
preached yesterday by Rev. Sherry DeJonge.
Rev. Sherry, who is the new incumbent in my parish, explored the
Epiphany of the Magi in a way I hadn’t heard before. She noted that there were two groups of wise
men in the story. There were the Magi
from the East bearing gifts. There were
also wise men in Jerusalem where the magi stopped to inquire of king Herod “where
the “Messiah was to be born.” This did not please Herod at all. He called together another group of wise men,
the chief priests and the scribes to find out about this event that would threaten
his rule. They answered that it had been
written by the prophet, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of
Judea.
The question raised
by Rev. Sherry was why didn’t these scribes and chief priest go with the magi
to find he long-awaited Messiah? They knew
their scriptures and knew what had been foretold by the prophet. This is a very good question and one that has
implications for us. On reflection, I believe
that one of the reasons that the other wise men
- those clergy and holy people of the day – did not go to find the Messiah
was that they believed it was beyond the realm of possibility that the Messiah,
who would rescue the Jewish people, would
be born in such an insignificant place as
Bethlehem. He would have to be
born in a palace or at least a great house.
They probably didn’t know that he was born in a lowly estate in a stable. But that would only have made it more impossible. So, they missed their opportunity to seek and
worship the Messiah and bring his gifts as the Magi did.
So, what is the
lesson for us today, or one of the lessons for us? IT is very easy for us to fall into the trap
which caught the Jerusalem wise men.
They missed the manifestation of the divine – that epiphany which had
occurred right on their door step – almost right in front of their noses. They had the knowledge and information necessary
to know and respond to this divine event.
However, they dismissed the possibility that the prophecy was being
fulfilled because it didn’t fit their concept, their belief in how it would be
fulfilled.
How often do we
close ourselves to the way that God is speaking to us today? We can believe that God is not going to be in
our lives in this way – God would only do it with fanfare and drum rolls and
trumpets blaring. It must be a Road to
Damascus experience al a Paul in which we are figuratively knocked off our horse
and blinded for three day. God probably
does work in that way sometimes but in my experience not often. God speaks to
us in ways we don’t expect or can’t imagine.
And we dismiss those ways just as the Jerusalem wise men could not imagine
the Messiah being born in little, insignificant Bethlehem.
God speaks to us
in more ways than we can imagine. Our mistake
is to put limits on God – to create God in our image rather than the other way around.
Blessings on
your Journey to find the Messiah wherever he or she might appear.
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