Epiphany Sunday 2013
January 6, 2013
Rev. Kathryn Ransdell
I'm so excited that Epiphany falls on a Sunday this year! It is a cause for liturgical anxt of whether you celebrate Epiphany when it doesn't fall on a Sunday and if you do, it throws off the lectionary cycle...things you might not care about. This year, for most of Advent, the way Matthew's gospel told the birth story kept calling to me; I kept wanting to sneak-it-in to services and Darryl would gently remind me that the Christmas story for most people is the angels and shepherds, not the crisis of a pregnant teenager and then some wise men from the east showing up, as told in Matthew. From a text-criticism perspective, it is a useful exercise to say of today's text, "if all i had were this story, what would i know and believe of the gospel story?"
Well, according to Biblical scholar Reginald Fuller, you would know very little fact. Symbolism, however, might lead you to deeper belief.
"All these factors contributed to the shaping of the Magi story. The only certain historical facts behind the narrative are the names Jesus, Joseph and Mary; the dating of the birth; and perhaps the location of the birth at Bethlehem, although that tradition may have originated from Mic 5:2 and Jewish expectation about the Messiah, The significance of the story is almost entirely symbolical." -- Reginald H. Fuller
We read the passage from Isaiah this morning to draw out the Old Testament images that are behind the story of the Magi.
"A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD."
Although Mattew does not cite this passage, it clearly informed his gospel, especially the part about gold and frankincense. This is part of Third Isaiah completed shortly after the exiles return to Jerusalem. It's important to note, though, who is coming to Jerusalem in this passage...it is foretelling the eschatalogical pilgrimage of all Gentiles to the restored city of Jerusalem.
"Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,"
When this time comes that you welcome them, how are you to be? Radiant, thrilled, and rejoicing. Every person around us is a miracle, even if they drive us crazy or we don't understand them or we don't like their political position or their perfume, and we are called to be radiant, thrilled and rejoicing. The message is welcoming to everyone!
So Matthew brings this story into his telling of the birth story as a way to remind us that this child Jesus will be the one who brings people into God's grace. The people you don't expect and the people who just don't get it. It's interesting that the legends that have circulated with The Three Kings are ones where they encounter someone who misses "the event." Almost as if those legends serve as wake-up calls...are we joining the procession of welcoming or staying stuck in our little worlds of to-dos, and anxieties, and borders?
But let's just name it right now...Matthew doesn't have them on camels...that's from Third Isaiah and another Old Testament reference of someone who visited bearing similar gifts. See, the wise men aren't the first. The Queen of Sheba visited Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:1):
"Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind."
Making a big deal of camels being in the story is somewhat due to our infrequent interaction with camels. I'm not saying that I visit a camel on a regular basis, but camels were quite simply their mode of transportation for long distances. We all know from biology that camels can go long distances without needing water...they were the first generation of hybrid vehicles. If this whole Bethlehem and stable thing came about today, car makers would be falling all over themselves to have their vehicle chosen as the official vehicle of the wise men because the advertising they would get for centuries to come would be invaluable.
So the "wise men from the East came to Jerusalem... Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
To quote one of my friends from seminary, may she rest in peace, 'There were not three, they were not kings, and they did not come from the Orient!'
So what matters about this text? No one says it better than Eugene Peterson,
"The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board." (The Message)
The message is welcoming to everyone.
And Paul continues, "This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details."
I've been so happy to have Epiphany on a Sunday that I even incorporated the themes in a beautiful wedding that happened here yesterday. The bride and groom were incorporating candlelight in significant ways in their wedding and reception, and not being liturgical scholars, I suggested to them in their planning that they are actually living out the Epiphany themes of a star shining in the night sky, transformation, and miracles. I shared with them:
Epiphany is all about God making known the miracle of the birth of the Christ-child. Epiphany begins with a star shining, allowing wise men to travel to the manger. Epiphany continues with some of the miracle stories of the Gospels, the baptism of Jesus and the miracle of the water turning to wine at the wedding of Cana. (Let me know if that miracle happens for you today!)
And Epiphany culminates with the transfiguration of Jesus, the miracle of the dove descending and the voice of the beloved saying "This is my son, with whom I am well-pleased."
I want to suggest to you today that the season of Epiphany become the narrative of your life together. The life together begins with light of God and the light of your love shining brightly. People have come from afar bearing gifts bearing witness to this light they see shining in your lives.
And now, the two of you become one, and you journey through this life together, finding your path as God has called you. As you walk that path, your light will shine and spread among those you meet, befriend, and encourage. And the telos of your being as a couple is that you come to the end of your lives, able to affirm what you so clearly know today, "This is my wife, this is my husband, with whom I am well-pleased."
Epiphany is a time for us to look up, look past the end of our noses, focus on the moon rather than the finger pointing to the moon lest we miss the heavenly being. Two of my friends who don't know one another posted the same NY Times article on FB. The article is new research from social scientists who say that across the board, people reflect back in their life and see the amazing amounts of transformation that happen across a decade. Yet when they look forward, they fail to anticipate the transformation that is to come. They underestimate their wonderfulness, the article says, and predict that who they are today, ho-hum and all, will pretty much be constant. The article is a sign that we've lost the hope "that what we shall be has yet to be revealed." I wonder if that applies the same to the modern-day denominational church, whose high-times are certainly in the rear-view mirror.
We will be in high-gear these next few weeks as we practice welcoming the stranger, the person themselves--and the messages they bring--of people and places far removed from the safe enclaves we have built around ourselves. They will open their treasure chests and give us the gift of stories from the National church, from the downtown Eastside, from Bethlehem, from the issues of Homelessness and Mental Health, from the Anglican Aboriginal community, from Vancouver School of Theology, and even from within ourselves, as we will have an opportunity to connect with one another during a just-plain-fun-get-to-know-one-another church social being organized by Diane Jones for the last Saturday of the month.
How will those gifts transform us and spark our collective imagination for what this church will become in the next 10 years? The message is welcoming to everyone. May we embody that message in this season of light, miracles and transformation.
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