This Week We Continue with Our Discussion of Epiphany

EPITHANY

Sunday 11th January 2009

This week we continue with our discussion of Epiphany.

'Epiphany' means the showing forth, or revealing, of the glory of God in Christ. It means the Word made flesh. Epiphany also relates to our challenge as Christians to continue to make Christ known to those who have not yet seen him.

Epiphany is the commemoration of the manifestation of Christ ‘to the three wise kings. This was the manifestation of God.

For Christians, as Elaine informed us last week, Epiphany primarily commemorates the coming of the Magi, or the three wise kings; the essence is the manifestation of Christ to the world and the Mystery of the Incarnation. It reminds us of the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, and who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King.

Our worship should be like the Magi’s Epiphany, a realization of God’s divinity that deserves pure and solemn exultation and a genuine expression of faith.

When we read short stories often we are working towards a single moment of discovery, of revelation . . . an Epiphany; an instant of ‘radiant insight’. All of a sudden the fundamental secret of things is made accessible and ordinary circumstances are transfused with significance.

We all know the short fiction convention of the character of Epiphany. It is the “ah ha!” moment, the “and so I realized, at last,” the lesson learned, the big step forward, perhaps even the culmination of the story. The moment when Harry Potter discovers who his real enemy is. Or James Bond finding out who the double-agent is. And in a ‘whodunnit’, at the end of the story we discover ‘whodunnit. Perhaps even when the Prime Minister announces that he is the one who has “saved the world” from economic chaos. Well, maybe not the latter.

To the reader, though, Epiphany doesn’t involve the character realizing something; it implies the reader coming to understand something he/she could not have understood before. The “ah ha! moment” belongs entirely to the reader. This is why such a revelation is often termed as an ‘Epiphany moment’.

Epiphany cannot be forced. Here is a story about a lottery hopeful to illustrate.

A man prays fervently every night, “Please, Lord, let me win the lottery tomorrow.” After twenty years of waiting, a heavenly voice responds to the man, “When are you going to buy a ticket!”

There are many stories related to Epiphany. The Legend of La Befana is a Christmas tale from Italian Folklore.
La Befana was an old woman who lived in a small village in Italy. She was known throughout the village for her wonderful baking and the cleanliness of her kitchen. She was often seen sweeping the area in front of her home. And many had heard her say that she was so busy baking and cleaning that she rarely had time to do anything else.

The name Befana is said to be a mispronunciation of the Italian word epifania which stands for epiphany. La Befana is believed to still visit the children of Italy on the eve of January 6, Epiphany. She fills their stockings with candy or a lump of coal. It is also believed that she sweeps the floor before she leaves. Many households leave her a small glass of wine and a small plate of goodies.

The story goes that one winter day, while La Befana was sweeping in front of her home, three travelers stopped to ask her for a drink of water. They told La Befana that they were following a star to the birth place of the Christ child. She kindly gave them water and invited them to dinner.
After dinner the men prepared to continue their journey and asked her if she would like to come with them to see the Christ child. La Befana shook her head saying that she could not possibly take the time needed for such a journey. She was secretly itching to get back to her cleaning and cooking. She stood at her door and watched them leave.
La Befana went back to her sweeping. But hours later she began to feel that she had made a mistake. Maybe she should have gone with the 3 men to see the Christ child. La Befana decided to follow them.
She quickly grabbed a basket and filled it with baked goods of all kinds. She then put on her shawl and with her basket and broom hurried off into the night practically running to catch up with the men.
La Befana traveled through the night but never caught up with the wise men. It is said that she ran and ran until she and her broom were lifted up into the air!
Ever since that night, La Befana is believed to fly through the night or run over the roofs in Italy on Epiphany eve. She stops at the home of every child, leaving them treats in their stockings if they are good and a lump of coal if they are bad.
She hopes that one of the children she visits will be the Christ child. It is a forlorn hope of course; La Befana has missed her opportunity. In Russia a very similar story of an old woman is told, using the name Babushka.

The question we must all address is - will we miss or will we take our opportunity?

On this second stage of the Epiphany journey, we encounter the glory of God revealed through the baptism of Jesus himself. John proclaims repentance and the coming of one who will be greater, and a voice reveals his identity. We too must answer the call to repent, respond to the Spirit and seek God's revelation.

We learn from Mark 1. 4-11 that Jesus was baptized and affirmed at the very start of his earthly ministry. The descent of the Spirit and the voice which declares him to be 'The Son, the Beloved' further reveal the nature of Christ’s identity.

When a child is born, it comes into the world as a complete stranger. Though the parents have been looking forward to this arrival, no one knows anything about the child until it is born. Yet if we think again, there are certain things which we do know or can anticipate.
We have celebrated the birth and, in the Epiphany story, we perceive that something extraordinary has come about. But we only have clues and the trail seems to run cold as the child and his mother are sent off to safety in Egypt by Joseph.
So when Jesus returns, initially it is as a stranger. John the Baptist confesses (in John 1.31) 'I myself did not know him.' He is acknowledged by his Father, (in Mark 1.11) who says 'You are my son, the Beloved.' As we get to know him, we seek the source of the features we recognise. A great deal is revealed in his Jewish ancestry and, in a sense, it is a double inheritance. One source is the Father, who has inspired and guided his people for generations. But there is also a cultural legacy. Jesus learns and prays the Scriptures, and discovers who he is.
In recognising Jesus, and the sources of what they see in him, the Gospel writers search the Old Testament for these defining features. Here, indeed, for those with eyes to see, are the qualities which will mark the true son of David, the long-awaited Messiah, who announces the kingdom of God.
With this journey and its discoveries come the lessons of the three Rs: revelation, repentance and restoration. With the coming of the Magi, Christ is revealed to the Gentiles, and the kingdom is restored to those whom the Scriptures seem to suggest are outside God's promises.
John preached a baptism of repentance and it is for this that Jesus comes when he is revealed to those who witness the event. We next encounter John's account of the call of the first disciples, and here we might add a fourth R, for their encounters with Jesus are characterised by a realisation that Jesus is at the very least someone worth following, and rather more than that: for Nathanael declares him to be 'the Son of God, the King of Israel'. Mark's characteristically terser account of the call is prefaced by Jesus' arrival in Galilee, saying 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.'
There follow three healings. Restoration is clearly at the forefront of what Jesus is about for it is uncompromisingly and very publicly effected.
We are treated to a revelation which mirrors the baptism. Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain. There they experience a stupendous transformation and hear a voice like that at the baptism: 'This is my Son, listen to him.' With the appearance of Moses and Elijah, the link with the ancient Scriptures is confirmed and though Peter wishes to stay there, it is clear that the real work is yet to be done, for the three are to tell no one else.
So in the Epiphany journey we share the excitement of the disciples as they pieced together their observations with their history and began to recognise this stranger who came to the Jordan as the promised Messiah. We see how they quarried their Scriptures to find matches between the man they knew and his spiritual ancestry. He is the heir to all the prophets, and also revealed as the true Son of his Father.
Although our own journeys in life may lead us into unfamiliar places, the surprising revelation is that God is there right under OUR nose all the time. Although an encounter with God inevitably involves some kind of transformation, Christian teaching doesn't suggest that we change into someone else. One of the paradoxes of the gospel is that whereas in order to have this relationship of love with God, we have to change, at the same time we stay exactly the same.
It is a misunderstanding of the gospel to think that we can be so ruined, so far from God that we are entirely beyond redemption. It's true that it's only through the grace of God that we are saved, but it is also true that we are made in God's image.
The theologian Athanasius, who lived in the fourth century, tells us that we can, in fact, find the direction to God right inside our own hearts - precisely because we are made in God's image. 'The Kingdom of God is within you', said Jesus; and Athanasius takes this to mean that even though we are flawed and imperfect, the likeness of God is still there within our hearts. What is required is not a re-fit, but a clean-up job; not to change us fundamentally, but to restore us.
Sometimes we journey far beyond ourselves, trying to find God somewhere 'out there', when in fact he's as close to us as the next breath. God doesn't want to take away our dreams, our lives, our hopes, - what he wants is to bring them to life. Far from turning us into someone else, the discovery of God makes us more authentically ourselves - more fully human.
The Epiphany is not about something Jesus did. We associate Epiphany with the wise men. But this holy day is not so much about the things we usually associate with the wise men—their arrival in Bethlehem after following the star, or about the gifts they brought, or even about their inspired trip home. The Epiphany is about what happened to the wise men in the manger. The Epiphany was the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. It isn’t Jesus’ Epiphany we celebrate on this day; it is the wise men’s Epiphany.
Let’s return to the definition of the word "Epiphany", which means sudden recognition or insight, a revelation. What we celebrate with The Epiphany is that moment in the stable when the wise men said, "My God…", and meant it. The Epiphany happened when those pagans from a distant land looked upon the baby Jesus and said, "My God." Their Epiphany was when they had the sudden recognition that right then and there they were in the presence of God. The culmination of their journey had brought them not into the presence of a king, but into the presence of God.
And they recognized in their hearts that the God born in that little baby was their God, even though God was not the God of their fathers, not the God of their culture, not the God of their prophecies or expectations. Still, in that moment of revelation they knew, and would never forget, that they looked upon the face of their God in that baby in a manger in Bethlehem.
We have just heard of the Baptism of Jesus. It’s not the baptism that makes this an Epiphany story; it’s the voice that speaks as Jesus comes up out of the baptismal waters. "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." It’s not clear in the gospel accounts who heard that voice in addition to Jesus, but we may be quite sure John the Baptist did.
As Jesus walks among the people along the dusty roads of Galilee, he said to Andrew and Simon Peter and James and John, "follow me." These are Epiphany stories not because Jesus calls, but because those men follow. In Jesus’ voice they hear God’s voice. When Jesus says, "follow me" they recognize their God calling them. In that moment they recognize that their own God stands before them and invites them to join him. In total wonder, they must have thought, "my God." An Epiphany. When we acknowledge the wonder, the power, of that revelation, that Epiphany, it is not so odd that they immediately drop everything and do follow.
They and others follow the voice of their God to a mountain somewhere in Galilee where Jesus sits down and begins to teach, "Blessed are the poor… Blessed are those who mourn… Blessed are the meek… Blessed are the merciful… Blessed are the peacemakers…" Wise and comforting teaching, memorable and thought-provoking words, but then Jesus says to the people; "Blessed are you. Rejoice and be glad. Blessed are you." We might imagine that the words were no longer just words, but that the people knew they were blessed. In that moment, they were no longer just listening to words, they were feeling and experiencing God’s blessing being given to them. God blessed them. Their God was there with them and God blessed them. And they knew that they were blessed. An Epiphany.
Epiphanies still happen today. The presence of God, the words of God, the loving touch of God are around us and offered to us every day. Certainly one place to meet God is in the Scriptures. They are the word of the Lord. But do we just hear them as words or do we experience them as God’s voice, speaking directly to us?
I’d like you to listen to the Lord’s words from Isaiah. Imagine, not my voice, but a voice that carries the wisdom of all time within it.
"You are my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon you. I am God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a light to the nations. I am the Lord, that is my name."

Let us end this message with a short prayer: