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The Epiphany of the Lord
Isaiah 60:1-6
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
R. 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.
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.
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.
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.
Ephesians 3
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 copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Matthew 2:1-12
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.
The first chapters of the gospels of Matthew and Luke are a puzzle to many. Are they historical? Where could the writers have found those accounts so personal to Joseph and Mary? And the shepherds being the first to receive notice from heaven of the saviour's birth: why so? What's the point of astrologers from the mysterious East, the 'magi', following a star to Bethlehem?
It is generally accepted today that these stories are made up, but why? I see them as an introduction to the mysteries unfolded in the gospels, a Preface. They set the scene with two major fundamental principles to be kept in mind as we work always to understand the accounts of Jeshua's life, his teaching, his healings and his tragic death.
First, both gospels insist from the start that this is all God's work. Mary's virginity is a sign and symbol that the saviour is of God and not of human endeavour.
The second principle is that the good news is for the whole world. The preferential identity of the 'chosen people' must come to an end; the exclusivism of barriers being ruled out forever.
Both of these are still hard to believe, if one might judge from the problems the church continues to have in putting into practice their consequences. Through the centuries the Jews have been rejected and vilified, heretics have been cruelly persecuted, the Muslims attacked and slaughtered, and people in 'newly discovered' lands across the seas treated as something less than human, their beliefs and practices stamped out in the name of the one true religion.
Yet Matthew says that the first to be called to acknowledge the Saviour of the world are three gurus from 'the ends of the earth', following their scientific reading of the stars.
When Paul, the fanatical pharisee, came to this awareness it knocked him off his high horse. The idea was so revolutionary that he had to fight the twelve appointed leaders before they could even entertain the idea. Later he spoke of it as a mystery (see today's reading) and a secret kept hidden from ancient times. The prerogatives of the chosen people were no longer to allow the exclusion of others. The barriers, the walls, have been broken down so that now there are no longer insiders and outsiders, a privileged elect and the 'others'. All are one in Christ. All are called to the same inheritance with the same promises. Everyone is a child of the Father, equal in every way and to be respected in themselves, in their cultures and traditions, in their spirituality and in their understanding of God.
Many years after Paul's untimely death the gospels as we know them were compiled from the oral teachings, different stories circulating in different communities. The infancy narratives could well have been devised as a subtle, gentle way to introduce key values that would cause many Jews to reject the gospel out of hand. How badly we have misused them, like little childen playing with the wrapping paper unaware of the treasures in the box. We dolly up the shepherds with romantic nothings. In fact they were illiterate, smelly yokels who would scarcely be recognised as citizens of a town community. The simple gurus from alien cultures are presented as kings bearing exotic gifts.
Every preacher and teacher would know the balancing act demanded when we try to explain gospel elements like these. You have to say that everyone is invited, all peoples are potentially christian, all cultures destined to express the love of God as we know it in our culture. In fact the walls that Paul said were broken down have been raised again in the name of the Christ of the churches, baptism as a ticket of membership has replaced the inclusiveness of the gospel, and a plethora of exclusive sects has grown up in the kingdom that was promised to be open to all people of good will.
Could it be that the time of different churches and sects is coming to an end, that exclusivism is no longer acceptable? Is this thought more difficult than that confronting the apostles when they were challenged to see Jews and Gentiles as equal in Christ? Is it right today to worry so much about restoring the credibility of the church that we neglect our role as heralds and witnesses of hope to a despairing world?
May we on this 'Manifestation Day' open our minds and our hearts to welcome in communion all who seek the truth with love.