Epiphany

Collect

O God, who by the leading of a star manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: mercifully grant that we, who know you now by faith, may at last behold your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Creator of the heavens, who led the Magi by a star to worship the Christ–child: guide and sustain us, that we may find our journey’s end in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Lord God, the bright splendour whom the nations seek: may we who with the wise men have been drawn by your light discern the glory of your presence in your Son, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Epistle – Ephesians 3:1-12

This is the reason that I, Paul, am a prisoner for Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles – for, surely, you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace, that was given to me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ. In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow-heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.

Gospel – Matthew 2:1–12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

    “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Sermon on Epiphany

What does the word “epiphany” mean to you? I think it is a strange word in English. We take it to mean the birth of Jesus as it is linked with the magi. However, just as a word it does not mean that – no, it merely means “manifestation”, when something shows itself as it is. Wikipedia says:

Epiphany in literature refers generally to a visionary moment when a character has a sudden insight or realization that changes their understanding of themselves or their comprehension of the world.

And at another place,

Epiphany is an “Aha!” moment. As a literary device, epiphany is the moment when a character is suddenly struck with a life-changing moment of clarity.

Let’s incorporate that newer meaning into our christian understanding of the word – that moment when the magi appeared in Bethlehem. When we put these two meanings together, don’t we get a more interesting understanding of this wonderful feast of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church? When we see these iranian magicians at the manger with gifts so symbolic, don’t we see the story anew? Don’t we comprehend a greater significance because of the whole of this story of the strangers at the birth of Jesus? We are with these strangers and see a new relation with the divine just as they did. We can now understand why Eastern Orthodox christians celebrate the Incarnation more fully on this day than on what was Saturnalia in the Roman calendar, the West’s December holiday.

Christians have transformed that pagan celebration by associating the birth of our Lord and Saviour to the 25th of December. Now we are confronted by the appearance of the divine in the world. It is revelation, pure and simple, as Paul says. We see Jesus Christ as the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Light of the world, the Comforter, the Prince of Peace … and ever so many other names associated with Jesus, the Christ. However, all of these names must be collected into the image we have of our Lord and become what we understand to be God in our lives – Emmanuel. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians tells us that everything he knows about his Lord comes from revelation – that moment of epiphany if we would like to use that term to explain just how radically Paul’s understanding of Jesus Christ had been changed. However, I think we should make use of another word to emphasise the extraordinary nature of this moment of insight which we have on this feast?

I would like to introduce you to a new word, “theophany.” It is the word the historian of religions uses for the appearance of a god in the myths, symbols and rituals of any religion. It is a word which denotes the majesty the believer experiences in the life of faith – whatever that faith is – when there is the awakening  to the wonder of the god amidst the things of the ordinary world, a moment when the world is transformed into a sacred envelope into which the believer is inserted. Can’t we understand how this happens when we celebrate this feast of the Church?

This technical, academic term should help us come to a new understanding of this traditional christian term, epiphany. No longer is it merely a day in the calendar when we remember three persian magicians arriving in Bethlehem because they were led by a star. We have to ask ourselves, does that story make any sense to us today? But can it make sense when we understand that this is one way we might experience how the divine revealed itself to the world? That, I think, is the way we have to understand “theophany”. Theophany is how the divine manifests itself in the history of our tradition. We must comprehend that it has happened. We should celebrate the feast of the Epiphany with a completely new sense of its significance.

We have the notion that God has entered into our world in a very specific way, through incarnation. God manifests himself in the world through flesh and blood. This is what the beginning of the Gospel of John tells us, isn’t it? With the words, “and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld the glory” doesn’t the evangelist reveal this reality? Further evidence of the divine among us are all those miracles attested of Jesus in the gospels and the many traditions that did not make it into the canonical bible. John the Evangelist does in fact say that the whole world could not contain the miracles God has wrought, doesn’t he?

The believers’s eyes are open to see, just as their ears are open to hear. The faithful looks around at a sacred world and sees evidence of the divine everywhere. It changes everything. Since we have experienced the theophany, existence has been made even more real, it has touched the everyday moment and transformed all time into a different sort of time – it is sacred time – and all space becomes sacred space because our God is here with us – here and now.

All our celebrations on the streets and on television can be seen as cute recitations of the story of the birth of Jesus, when we happily see the scrum of our children around a girl we call Mary and her doll on the school stage. They sometimes wear costumes, sometimes they carry their own dolls of sheep, donkeys and cows as they act out their roles. Then for the older children and adults we proclaim the story in the nine lessons and carols services, or watch this spectacle on television as it is acted out at that college in Cambridge. — I would like to say that our Christmass celebrations become the re-enactment of the holy birth and we understand just what the incarnation really is. You might say that we have seen the star and we are making our journey to the nativity with eyes wide open to see the babe. We travel with ears unstopped ready to hear the angelic host. We see and hear the declaration of the divine in all the voices around us, young or old, traditional or completely untamed.

Here we are beginning the new year. We are celebrating the Feast of the Incarnation still, especially as we journey with the wise men to the baby Jesus, the babe who holds the promise of universal salvation. That is the miracle we all long for in our retelling the story of this remarkable event. We make this magi/magic journey for the sake of confirming the reality of our lives. We know we can see it there and then, here and now – in the time which was before and now is. We journey to Bethlehem with the magi and comprehend that we have travelled over half the earth in order to stand by the manger as the poor babe sleeps – the stoic child now awake without crying he bears the world’s suffering for its redemption. This child makes all things new and returns us to Eden, both in time and space. There in the garden of innocence we stand without stain and experience life in all its fullness, a life we should share with, and give to, others.

Amen