Aha!
AM Psalm 2, 110:1-5(6,7)
Joshua 2:2-9 • Eph. 6:10-20 • John 11:17-27,38-44
Eve of Epiphany:
PM Psalm 29, 98
Isa. 66: 18-23 • Rom. 15:7-13
Today we have two sets of readings, one assigned for today’s date and the other for the Eve of the Epiphany, one of the most ancient feast days in the church’s calendar. I’m choosing to write about the latter.
In ordinary speech we use the word “epiphany” to describe a flash of insight, an “aha moment.” As used in the early church, “epiphany” came from a Greek word that meant “manifestation,” or “appearing” or “revealing.” As the Feast of the Epiphany came into being, three New Testament stories were taken to reveal Jesus’ incarnation: stories of his birth, his baptism, and the visit to the young Jesus by the Magi.
All three are still important for Epiphany celebration in eastern Christianity, but it’s the visit of the three wise men that western Christians still celebrate on that day. Our gospel lesson for tomorrow (and the January 6 readings for the other two years of the lectionary cycle as well) is Matthew 2:1-12, which provides the narrative for three bearded children and a camel in Christmas pageants. Unlike most pageants, which put the meeting of the Magi with Jesus and his mother in a stable, Matthew has it happening in a house, but I’ve never heard a parent or grandparent object.
In Matthew’s account, these three eastern astrologers arrive in Jerusalem in search of a holy child. Their study of the stars has gotten them this close. They are not part of God’s “chosen people,” but Matthew suggests that they have been guided by God in their study and in their journey to this Middle Eastern backwater. Surely, they have had an epiphany strong enough to convince them that the significance of this helpless baby’s arrival included them, and they should come and worship him.
As we know, the Magi put Herod in a tizzy by referring to the baby as “King of the Jews,” but what kind of king would he be? I think two of the readings for the Eve of the Feast of the Epiphany offer a hint that Jesus—God incarnate—was coming for all people, not just the Jews. In case his audience missed that point, Paul uses the word “gentile” favorably five times in the six verses we are reading from Romans. Centuries earlier, Isaiah has God saying, “I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall see my glory….”
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Every now and then the editors of Christian Century magazine invite a theologian to write an article on the topic of “how I changed my mind.” Not surprisingly, many of these essays described an epiphany, a realization that pushed the author to reconsider a long-held position on some topic or another. Many of these writers confess that changing their minds was difficult, even painful, but that it left them in a better place.
As a young child in Sunday school, I sang “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.” But as I grew older, the culture that surrounded me and sometimes even my own church taught me something different and much less inclusive. Vestiges of that way of thinking took a while to get over, and my epiphany was slow in coming, but I’m so glad it came.
Written by Bob McMath
At the invitation to the Eucharist at St. Paul’s, I am always happy to hear the priest say, “Whoever you are, and wherever you are in your journey of faith, you are welcome....”