Epiphany Sermon

This sermon was preached for Epiphany in the Ecumenical Centre Chapel January 7th 2008.

Bible Texts:
Isaiah 60.1-6
Matthew 2.1-12

A light for all peoples

How did the writer of Matthew's gospel dare to write the extraordinary story of the Magi?

We of course are so used to the story - from countless Christmas cards and carols and pageants - and so we can no longer really tell how strange, daring and shocking this narrative of the wise bearers of the three gifts would have sounded to Jewish believers hearing it in first century Palestine.

What sort of king or messiah is this, visited and fêted by astrologers, fortune tellers, soothsayers, the epitome of Jewish non-believers, bringing highly inappropriate pagan-style presents for the child (well apart from the gold of course, that can always be useful but the gifts are hardly "spiritual").
You're telling us we're supposed to believe like those strange foreign characters who thought it was a good idea to follow a star?

Truly somewhere in the telling of this tale an epiphany occurred.
The foreign bearers of the three gifts become "wise" in Matthew's tale.
The story of their long, searching journey to bear homage to a newborn has borne meaning across the generations.

Yet, though these wise, erudite travellers could supposedly read the signs in the skies
They do seem to have lacked an ability to read the earthly socio-political context of the province of the Roman empire they were entering.
And if Matthew's narrative is to be believed they don't actually seem to follow the star that is guiding them;
Instead they head straight for the seat of dubious power
And spill the beans to the arch-collaborator turned dictator Herod.
I'm sure those wise travellers and mappers of the skies thought they were doing the right thing going to the palace…

Despite theologians and interpreters often saying that these bearers of wisdom represent “reason”
Perhaps no intellectual reasoning could foretell the wailing and lamentation in Ramah that would result from Herod being told the name of the town where the child was to be born
In the gospel the massacre of the children of the holy innocents comes after the story of the magi. Yet the western church's marking of that date coming as it does on December 28th seems almost to hide this story away – almost as if it would be rather bad taste to have such a sad unpleasant story spoiling the celebration of Christmas.
Yet the story of the glorious homage bore the marks of violence from the beginning
- the gifts included not only frankincense for praise and glory rising to the skies but also myrrh as preparation for death.
The only throne this king would reign from was a cross.

Perhaps I am being unfair, maybe the Magi were seeking to be diplomatic in visiting Herod first, perhaps their telescopes and maps had got damaged on the long journey, making it difficult to follow the star
(As we pray this week among other countries for Iraq in the ecumenical prayer cycle, I can hear the former prime-minister of my country Mr Blair saying “I believed I was doing the right thing” - in going to war – as if the beautifully honed sound of sincerity with which he utters such words is more important than the thousands of dead bodies telling another and more sincere truth.)

Matthew's daring, radical entrée to his gospel was certainly a great way of grabbing attention and it challenges us to think about how we communicate and receive the good news.

Do strangely clad travellers with dubious beliefs have anything to say to us?
Have we in this international setting, so used to trying to communicate unity in diversity, sometimes become rather blasé - oh we understand all there is to know about difference?
In the age of the global village – when everyone knows everything and when strangeness may just be a new marketing ploy - is there actually anything new or different left to know?

Epiphany cuts across all of our sense of reasonableness, of having seen it all before, of knowing all there is to know about new things, of wanting to show that we of course understand.

In TS Elliott's poem the journey of the Magi
one of the Magi reflects years later on that strange journey following a star and says this:
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we lead all that way for
Birth or Death?

Epiphany sets faith in Christ within an age old narrative
each one of us, though infinitely precious, is not the centre of the universe,
our certainties and way of perceiving things
can be upset by a simple visit from strangers we may never see again

The promise of epiphany is that incarnation and revelation are one
That the light of justice and hope and peace and reconciliation is for all
And not just for those who think of themselves as the holy or the believers.

The biblical tale of those bringing gifts to the promised child
was set in troubled earthly times of political upheaval and terrible violence.

As a result of their visit to the Christ child in Bethlehem the Magi do finally become wise
- travelling home they listen to the angel of their dreams, taking another route,
and this time they avoid telling all to the violent despot in Jerusalem who is so fearful of the future he seeks to kill the present.

We don't know which way they go on their travels.
We do know that one precious child of light will escape the terrible massacre and the spears and lances of the soldiers.
And the family will flee, not eastwards but to Egypt.
Perhaps the visit from exotic strangers convinces them that a welcome in a faraway land is possible.

As the new year assaults us with news of violence and repression
from Pakistan to Kenya
from Burma to Naples
From Afghanistan to Bolivia

As we remember an old year which for many of us has had its share of upheaval and tragedy,
the light of epiphany is promised to us,
even to those of us in international organisations who seem often to constantly be travelling to new places.

As we gaze in wonder on the Christ child
may we also like the Magi receive wisdom
The promise is of wisdom
Wisdom to see
Wisdom to be
Wisdom to learn
Wisdom to pray

And may we carry the joy and light and peace of the incarnation of Christ with us as preciously as gold on all our travelling in the coming year.
Amen



Copyright (c) World Council of Churches