2011! There’s a shocker. Not that we would make it to 2011, I’m not talking apocalypse here or anything. Just that it is time to make the switch. It catches us all by surprise, no matter how closely we watch the calendar. Bankers will tell you they get plenty of misdated checks in the first week of the new year. Kids will go back to school and write the wrong year at the top of their tests. We just have trouble making the shift.
We just need to pay attention more, I know that. But it is hard. There are so many things swirling around in our heads and before our eyes that we have trouble focusing. Add to that the frenzy we’ve gotten ourselves into at the end of the year, and its no wonder that we aren’t paying attention to the little detail of writing the correct year when we write the date.
In fact, our first Sunday of the new year is all about paying attention. Being aware of what is under your nose seems like a “duh” kind of message, and yet it is an appropriate one for the beginning of a new year. Now, for those who have been following along the past couple of weeks, you might wonder at the narrative flow. Last week’s passage began with the statement “after they left...” The they in question are the wisemen. But then this passage is about the wisemen arriving. Did they forget something and have to come back. No, we are jumping back in time.
The reason for this is simple. Uh. It’s Epiphany! Actually, it isn’t Epiphany this Sunday, Epiphany is the 6th of January. Which is 12 days after Christmas. Yeah, that’s right, those twelve days of Christmas. They were the countdown from Christmas to Epiphany. In the early church, it was Epiphany that was the big celebration. Yes, there was the Mass of Christ’s birth - or Christ’s Mass, but the big party took place twelve days later on Epiphany. That’s when the gifts were exchanged, that’s when the families gathered, that’s when the big meals were eaten.
Epiphany comes from two Greek words that translate as “the light shows forth” or “the light comes to.” In other words, Epiphany is when we figured it out, when we saw the light. In Matthew’s story, the Christ event is a pretty quiet affair. No multitude of heavenly hosts, no flocks of shepherds crowding into a barn out back of the inn. It’s just Mary and Joseph and a bunch of dreams.
At least until chapter two. In chapter two the doors get blown open. The wise men from the East show up. And turn everything upside down.
Matthew 2:1-12 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" 7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
When word gets out, it gets way out. We don’t know where these guys come from, to be honest. The speculation looks at Persia (Iran) or Babylon (Iraq), or maybe further East, Asia or who knows. But Matthew’s point here is that those who are paying attention are the foreigners, the strangers. And those who are supposed to know - the ones who have heard the prophecy - didn’t know, almost missed it. It nearly just passed them by, if it hadn’t been for the kindness of strangers, they would never have known.
We have seen his star, they said. A star is not something hidden, but something evident. Have you ever tried to show someone a star, though? Right there, you say, and they look everywhere but where you are pointing. Right there, see that tree? The little one? No the big one over there. Over where? Right there, beside the house, next to the street light, its right above that tree? What tree? Never mind.
It is hard to get people to see what we see, and hear what we hear. And yet we keep trying. We want to share what we have seen. People often wonder why the wisemen showed up in Jerusalem anyway. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to just keep following that star? Well, perhaps it was a political necessity, or diplomatic protocol. Or maybe they just wanted everyone to know. Go, tell it on a mountain. And there was no mountain higher that Jerusalem. Notice how the bible always says they went up to Jerusalem, no matter what direction they were going? That is partly a theological statement, but also geological - Jerusalem was a high spot in the nation of Israel. It is where you would go to make a proclamation you wanted everyone to know. Maybe they didn’t know Herod’s reputation. Or maybe they knew better than he did just what he needed.
This week, because of the kindness of Bill and Lynne Doctor, my whole family got to attend the Boars Head and Yule Log Festival at Plymouth Congregational Church. I’ve heard about it for years, but have never attended. We thoroughly enjoyed the program. There are two parts, one is a old English setting of the Christmas feast, the other is a Nativity pageant. And then at the end the blend together in one whole. It was simply beautiful.
At one point during the presentation of the Christ Child, and the various visitors made their way to the manger and the angels danced, I found myself with tears in my eyes. This time I was not in charge of the service and I was free to acknowledge that my heart longed to worship the child. We are created with this need to worship, or to pay homage as the wise men say in our passage. That is what brought the wise men so far, however far it was. That was why they went to Herod and anyone who might help them find their way. They longed to worship, as do we all.
That is one of the things we forget to pay attention to, our need to worship. And not just need, but a longing, a deep longing that nothing else will fill. We are incomplete without it, we are missing something of significance. Epiphany is an opportunity to fill that void, to make us whole.
Venite Adoramus – come and worship. That is the invitation of the wise men. That is the meaning of Epiphany. That is the gift of God. Come and worship. Come and meet your heart’s desire. Come and be made whole. Come.
We just need to pay attention more, I know that. But it is hard. There are so many things swirling around in our heads and before our eyes that we have trouble focusing. Add to that the frenzy we’ve gotten ourselves into at the end of the year, and its no wonder that we aren’t paying attention to the little detail of writing the correct year when we write the date.
In fact, our first Sunday of the new year is all about paying attention. Being aware of what is under your nose seems like a “duh” kind of message, and yet it is an appropriate one for the beginning of a new year. Now, for those who have been following along the past couple of weeks, you might wonder at the narrative flow. Last week’s passage began with the statement “after they left...” The they in question are the wisemen. But then this passage is about the wisemen arriving. Did they forget something and have to come back. No, we are jumping back in time.
The reason for this is simple. Uh. It’s Epiphany! Actually, it isn’t Epiphany this Sunday, Epiphany is the 6th of January. Which is 12 days after Christmas. Yeah, that’s right, those twelve days of Christmas. They were the countdown from Christmas to Epiphany. In the early church, it was Epiphany that was the big celebration. Yes, there was the Mass of Christ’s birth - or Christ’s Mass, but the big party took place twelve days later on Epiphany. That’s when the gifts were exchanged, that’s when the families gathered, that’s when the big meals were eaten.
Epiphany comes from two Greek words that translate as “the light shows forth” or “the light comes to.” In other words, Epiphany is when we figured it out, when we saw the light. In Matthew’s story, the Christ event is a pretty quiet affair. No multitude of heavenly hosts, no flocks of shepherds crowding into a barn out back of the inn. It’s just Mary and Joseph and a bunch of dreams.
At least until chapter two. In chapter two the doors get blown open. The wise men from the East show up. And turn everything upside down.
Matthew 2:1-12 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" 7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
When word gets out, it gets way out. We don’t know where these guys come from, to be honest. The speculation looks at Persia (Iran) or Babylon (Iraq), or maybe further East, Asia or who knows. But Matthew’s point here is that those who are paying attention are the foreigners, the strangers. And those who are supposed to know - the ones who have heard the prophecy - didn’t know, almost missed it. It nearly just passed them by, if it hadn’t been for the kindness of strangers, they would never have known.
We have seen his star, they said. A star is not something hidden, but something evident. Have you ever tried to show someone a star, though? Right there, you say, and they look everywhere but where you are pointing. Right there, see that tree? The little one? No the big one over there. Over where? Right there, beside the house, next to the street light, its right above that tree? What tree? Never mind.
It is hard to get people to see what we see, and hear what we hear. And yet we keep trying. We want to share what we have seen. People often wonder why the wisemen showed up in Jerusalem anyway. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to just keep following that star? Well, perhaps it was a political necessity, or diplomatic protocol. Or maybe they just wanted everyone to know. Go, tell it on a mountain. And there was no mountain higher that Jerusalem. Notice how the bible always says they went up to Jerusalem, no matter what direction they were going? That is partly a theological statement, but also geological - Jerusalem was a high spot in the nation of Israel. It is where you would go to make a proclamation you wanted everyone to know. Maybe they didn’t know Herod’s reputation. Or maybe they knew better than he did just what he needed.
This week, because of the kindness of Bill and Lynne Doctor, my whole family got to attend the Boars Head and Yule Log Festival at Plymouth Congregational Church. I’ve heard about it for years, but have never attended. We thoroughly enjoyed the program. There are two parts, one is a old English setting of the Christmas feast, the other is a Nativity pageant. And then at the end the blend together in one whole. It was simply beautiful.
At one point during the presentation of the Christ Child, and the various visitors made their way to the manger and the angels danced, I found myself with tears in my eyes. This time I was not in charge of the service and I was free to acknowledge that my heart longed to worship the child. We are created with this need to worship, or to pay homage as the wise men say in our passage. That is what brought the wise men so far, however far it was. That was why they went to Herod and anyone who might help them find their way. They longed to worship, as do we all.
That is one of the things we forget to pay attention to, our need to worship. And not just need, but a longing, a deep longing that nothing else will fill. We are incomplete without it, we are missing something of significance. Epiphany is an opportunity to fill that void, to make us whole.
Venite Adoramus – come and worship. That is the invitation of the wise men. That is the meaning of Epiphany. That is the gift of God. Come and worship. Come and meet your heart’s desire. Come and be made whole. Come.
Shalom,
Derek
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