January 5 2020
The Epiphany of the Lord
Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.
Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.
Raise your eyes and look about;
they all gather and come to you:
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.
Then you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow,
for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you,
the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.
Caravans of camels shall fill you,
dromedaries from Midian and Ephah;
all from Sheba shall come
bearing gold and frankincense,
and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.
Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13.
R. (cf. 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Brothers and sisters:
You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace
that was given to me for your benefit,
namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.
It was not made known to people in other generations
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,
and co-partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod,
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”
When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people,
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea,
for thus it has been written through the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.”
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them,
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star,
and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed for their country by another way.
Epiphany is the counterpoint of Christmas: a new baby in the family, intimate, warm, fragile, Emmanuel - God With Us... and the world knocking at the door to get a glimpse of God With Us, or to kill the little bastard if we can. For all their display and colour, all their songs and rich mythology, neither Christmas nor Epiphany is terribly important. In the New Epoch, we are moving beyond observances and ritual celebrations into a new phase of personal involvement and responsible commitment. We don't think of ourselves as actors in religion's drama, attending the services, proudly wearing the badges, proclaiming "You're All Wrong and We Are Right". We don't think of ourselves as God's chosen people: we just try to be real people.
This is the simple meaning of God With Us, that when I am most real, most authentically my self, most genuine as a member of the family of humankind, then I am God In Our Midst.
My respect (I am wary of using the much abused word "love"), my basic honest respect for you in all your individuality so different to mine is the making real, the embodiment of "GOD" in our here and now.
The story about a little group of Magoi from the mysterious, exotic East, turning up to pay their respects to the new-born "king" of the Jews, is Matthew's way of setting down in the introduction to his Life of Jesus Messiah what will be the burden of his closing words: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Mt 28:16-20) This is not just a late development, this revolutionary abolition of the walls of discrimination against the gentile world, it is from the start the mission for which Jeshua is anointed. It will be the burden of generations of disciples to make effective the Isaiah sign, Emmanuel: God Is With Us All.
The question is: How do we translate this from grand ideal into the concrete reality of experience?
Our New Epoch sees a seismic shift from institution to individual. We have become aware deep down that no one may just use us. I can make myself your willing servant attending to your needs and responding to your whims, but I may not allow you to take me for granted, to use me, to abuse me, to manipulate me, to enslave me, to deceive me or to despise me. If I'm black I want the same respect you give a whitie, and vice versa; if I'm simple minded I want the same respect you give a genius; if I'm a child, a woman, a cripple, a doddery old fool, I am still one you respect - and if not, you are offensive to me. Justice - "Rightness" - requires of me to challenge you and get an apology or have you punished.
At it's worst this accent on the individual is called Narcissism - unbridled love of self, but at its best it is an individual's personal commitment to the truth. It is the courage to demand respect and justice; it is refusal to collaborate in the lies of society; it is holiness; it is God With Us. The God of Truth. The God of Love/Respect.
The seismic shift of the New Epoch is simply the next phase of our growing up. We all know by now that we can't live by law alone but must live the values which the law protects. Driving carefully out of respect for anyone who may be in our path - the other car at the intersection, the cyclist, the truckie wrestling her 40 tonne behemoth through the long lonely night - it's not to avoid a penalty that I must be careful; it's for their sake. It's my way of respecting these others, and protecting them from harm.
We are moving from the stage of belonging to God's chosen ones and proclaiming to the world: "We have the truth and you'd better listen!" to a situation where we make a difference by our own personal self. "You give them something to eat", Jeshua told his friends when they reminded him it was time to send the people home. DIY.
Religion is worn out and ready for the bin. Churches are empty and will soon be gathering dust. Our institutions are showing their weakness, giving the lie to our proud Modernity. Democracy is teetering on the verge of collapse. Education has become a race for an empty prize or a ticket to a job.
Of all the wonders of Progress from the steam engine to the space rocket, the most wonderful must be the harnessing of Electricity. It first brought light, communication, heat and power, and now in the age of the PC and the Internet it brings knowledge to us all. Soon we will be drawing all our electric power directly from the sunlight as the plants have always done to provide the food of life, with no more burning up of scarce resources.
God is with us in all this. The Anointed One whose birthday we've been celebrating is God's pledge of this. Emmanuel. The ancient readings of the liturgy of the day tell of a city built on a mountain as God's dwelling place among men, and people flocking there to worship, bearing gifts. Matthew's quaint story of the magoi with their gifts, so colourfully elaborated over time, is the echo of that pride in institutions and our dependence on them - nations, churches, in-group and outsider. Paul sees it differently. He says it was a secret to past ages that was given to the disciples of Jeshua to reveal: there is no 'them' and 'us', no city where God dwells high above an alien world, no foreigners against whom we lock the door. We are all one.
There is no institution, no chosen people, no elite corps; there is only me and you, and we are powered by the Sun to give divine Light to every Other we ever meet. God With Us is the Holy Spirit of Truth and Justice and Love/Respect empowering me and you.
In our street I respect our flashy neighbours with the same warmth I give the lad who brings my pizza to the door on a cold wet night. On main street the shoppers may push their way through the crush to get a bargain; I give them no less respect than I give the weary worker at the checkout, or the manager/owner who tempts the unwary to help themselves and pay not just a price but a penalty, and shame to boot. In living my life with authenticity, in treating every Other with respect, in being there for any one in need, I am revealing God With Us, Emmanuel. It is not that I am skiting, vainly showing off my superior standards. It is my contribution to the power of the grid; it is God's way of reaching through this crowded world to warm every heart and inspire every mind.
It is the electric power of our nature. You don't mess with electricity, and you never take it for granted.
The gospel Jeshua taught is often summed up as "'Love your neighbour the way you love yourself for God's sake." What is less often noted is the authenticity this requires. We must be true. We must be real. We can't lie to ourselves or to the other. We can't have envy or resentment secretly nesting in our heart. We cannot harm or betray or steal or tell tales about them or want to take them down. (You might recognise in this list the values of the commandments 5 to 10.) No community of church, no creeds, no theology or sacramental system can do more than show us the way to be authentic persons, and if they don't do that they're worth nothing.
Epiphany sees the end of Twelve Days of celebrating Emmanuel. It launches us into the ocean of life. The current of time carries us all the way from primitive clan and national identity through this "catholic" institution to personal involvement as the true and only Way. Only insofar as I am convinced, true, honest and sincere can I be an influence for good on someone else. But if I am that, then that's all that's needed for the Spirit to flow through both of us and the whole humanity be the better for it by the power of one plus one.