EPIPHANY
Luke 2:22-24
“On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord’, and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons.’”
One of Luke’s purposes for telling us this story is to demonstrate Mary and Joseph’s faithfulness to God and the Law of Moses. They are not only Jews, they are good and righteous, obedient Jews.
But if Mary and Joseph were such good and obedient Jews, WHYwere they hospitable enough to allow the three Magi into their home? Why were they entertaining Gentiles in their home? After all, Gentiles were considered unclean (even if they were kings!) and coming into contact with them would make a Jew ritually unclean – letting a Gentile into your home would make your whole house unclean! The rituals a Jewish family had to go through to purify their home took days, maybe even weeks to complete. It was a nightmare!
We know that Gentiles were considered unclean because John 18:28-29 says: “Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman Governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them…”
John 4:5-9 reads; “So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well… When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. And do not use dishes that Samaritans have used.)”
It is not until Acts 10:28 that the Jews finally BEGIN to feel free to join the rest of the human race. In this verse, we find St. Peter standing inside the home of Cornelius, a Gentile, and Peter is addressing the entire household.
He said to them; “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or to visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.”
But we are not in Acts, we are reading from Matthew. Peter is not yet an Apostle, he hasn’t yet received his vision of reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles. Yet, Joseph and Mary are already inviting Gentiles into their home… Why? They’re unclean! They’ll make Joseph, Mary and Jesus unclean! They will make the house unclean!
Most of us have heard; the gold, frankincense and myrrh that the 3 Magi bring to present to the King of Israel are prophetic. Meant to show what Jesus will become; gold represents Jesus’ life as King of Kings, frankincense represents Jesus’ life as High Priest before God, and myrrh represents Jesus’ sacrificial life and death as Prophet. Just so, the presence of the Magi in Jesus’ home is prophetic. For Jesus will spend his entire life laying healing hands on the “unclean”. We’ve already mentioned the Samaritan woman at the well, remember?
Then, there is Matthew 8:1-3;
“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately the man was cured.”
Then, there’s Luke 7:11-15
“11Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out – the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the town was with her. 13When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don't cry.” 14Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
And the nerve of this man! After touching all of those unclean lepers, unclean corpses, mingling with despised tax collectors and filthy prostitutes – Matthew 15:1-10 tells us that he had the nerve to eat without washing his hands! And the law-abiding priests and scribes were greatly offended.
Thank God! Christ is still at it, still among us, still reaching out and getting his hands dirty. How do I know? Because you’re here, you’re here, you’re here… Each and every person in this Sanctuary has been touched by Christ, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.
Epiphany. The first definition of the word is; A yearly festival commemorating the revealing of Jesus as Christ to the Gentiles in the persons of the Magi at Bethlehem. The 2nd definition of the word “Epiphany” is; An appearance or manifestation of a god.
Because Christ has reached out and touched each one of us, we have all experienced our own personal epiphany, our own moment where Christ revealed himself to us. Maybe as Shepherd, maybe as Healer, maybe as Liberator – the one who breaks our bonds and sets us free… Tonight I’d like to hear some of your stories.
(Name), will you please get us started? Who is Jesus Christ for you?
Personally, I celebrate Christ as Logos, the active and creative Word of God, found in John 1:1-4; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. What was made had life in union with the Word.”
Do you remember the first time you fell in love? How you would hang on your Lover’s every single word?
When we stop and realize that the word “human” is only one of billions of words that God has spoken, if we love God we are then compelled to investigate the many billions of years of ongoing creation that also constitute God’s talking. We want to investigate and hang on every word. In doing so, we find the Spirit of Christ moving among and dwelling within the whole of Creation, as Word, uniting and holding it all together as One.
This staff, here, is one of my favorite and most unique portraits of Christ as Logos – it is a “Green Man”, the Creator of Vegetation, the Spirit of Christ indwelling his Creation. As the Psalmist says; “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”… Since they breathe, that would include the trees, grass, brush and all green creatures… Suddenly, I find that I’m not only communion with all of you – but I’m in communion with the entire Multiverse! I find that thrilling!
I’d like to close with a short story. Some Taoist monks were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-Tzu’s proverb;
“Those who know do not say;
Those who say do not know.”
When the Master entered, they asked him what the words meant?
The Master said; “Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?”
All of them knew.
The Master said; “Put it into words.”
All of them were silent… Sometimes, the truth is difficult to put into words and can only be learned through experience.
John 18:37-38 reads; Jesus answered “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me.”
“And what is truth?” Pilate asked.
We’ve talked a lot about Jesus Christ tonight. All of it is true, yet, like the fragrance of the rose – we haven’t quite described him. He still eludes us. Christ told us in John 6 that he is the Manna from Heaven – never forget that the word “Manna” doesn’t really translate into the word “Bread”, it literally translates as “What is it?” For all of our talk tonight, Jesus remains the Great What Is It? Why is truth so elusive? Because truth isn’t a list of beliefs or statements or mathematical formulas that can simply be memorized. It’s not a philosophical system or the end of a journey where you can arrive and then be done. Truth is a person – Jesus Christ – and knowing the Truth is a relationship. Just as getting to know a person takes time, getting to know Jesus can happen no faster. It happens day by day, meeting with him, talking with him, listening to him, being with him and obeying him.
