Welcome to a New Year! As this is the first Sunday of a new month we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion this week.
The Scripture Readings for this Epiphany Sunday are:
- Matthew 2:1-12
- Luke 2:25-38
The Sermon title is Seeing the Child
Early Thoughts: What happens when we encounter God? What happens when we see clearly for an instant?
Both our stories this week are about people seeking or waiting to see the Promised One. In both our stories they end up having their quest fulfilled. In one case they "go home by a different way". In another both people are moved to praise and proclaim how God is at work in this child.
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| One of many artistic impressions of the Magi Source |
The Magi are learned people from far away. They read the signs and know that something big is happening so they travel far to find the new king who has been born. Along the way they alert the current king of a possible contender because they are still stuck in a different understanding of where to find the Promised One. They look first among the high and mighty. They find the child in a much humbler space.
The story tells us why the Magi go home by a different road. They do it because a dream warns them to avoid going back to Herod. Alerted by their earlier visit Herod is now seeking to get rid of any possible competition (which appears very much on brand for what we know of Herod the Great). However there have been many over the centuries who wonder if there is something more to that last line. Aside from the very practical political reason, is Matthew perhaps suggesting that the Magi have been changed by the encounter? It is an interesting question. How were they affected by their long journey and the actual finding of the child? These are people with a different spirituality, a different, non-Jewish, understanding of the Divine. How might the encounter with Emmanuel, God-Made-Flesh (as Christians describe this child) change them?
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| Rembrandt's interpretation of that day in the temple source |
Then we have Simeon and Anna. They are both well advanced in years. They are both in the temple when Mary and Joseph arrive with their newborn son. Both of them, on seeing the child, know who he is. Both of them respond with praise and prophecy. What could easily have been described as a pair of chance encounters takes on a whole new level of meaning because God is revealed.
This Sunday we are marking (two days early) the ancient festival of Epiphany. Capitalized the word epiphany refers specifically to this festival where the visit and adoration of the Magi is remembered. But as a word apart from the festival epiphany is something that happens many ways. Dictionary.com reminds us that the word refers to a revelation, either as a manifestation of Divine presence or as a sudden burst of insight. For the next several weeks the Christian Year has us in the Season After Epiphany (which bridges the time until the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday -- February 18 this year). I think that one of the themes of this season is to open ourselves for the possibility that God might be revealed to us. I mean yes, we are supposed to be aware of that all the time but maybe this is a time to be extra aware?
What impact does God being revealed to us have in our lives? Are we really aware of it at the time or only in retrospect?
Epiphanies (not the festival) happen in many ways. God is revealed in many different ways. Sometimes, I think, we totally miss it when it happens. But when we recognize it! When we become aware that something deeply special is happening right her and now! It leaves a mark. Encountering God changes us -- if we let it.
I have learned that many of us have stories of becoming aware, sometimes suddenly, sometimes surprisingly, that God is really present with us in a situation. Many of us can look back and tell how that experience (or those experiences) has shaped us as people of faith.
The Magi were seeking the child. Simeon was waiting for a promise to come true. Anna might just have happened to be there or maybe she too was waiting. They had their chance. Are you seeking or waiting or jus happen to be at the right place at the right time? What happens when you too see the child for who he really is?
--Gord
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