What's Epiphany?
January 8, 2006
Matthew 1:20-21, 2:13B, 19-20
Jesus had a hard time getting born.
Mary was pregnant and not married, Joseph had decided to dismiss her quietly. She could have been and still might have been stoned at the gate. Stoning isn't reverseable, it's to death. She would have been dead. The baby would have been dead. Jesus dead before he even started. Jesus had a hard time getting born.
But, God intervened, and sent a messenger to Joseph. Hey! Joseph! This is God's will this child of Mary's. This is God's son. You must take Mary as your wife and adopt this child as your own. This is God's will, and you will name him Jesus. Hurdle averted and Joseph takes Mary to be registered, Joseph names the child as his own. Jesus had a hard time getting born.
Mary's time comes and Jesus is finally delivered and named by the time the wisemen show up. These foreigners come bearing gifts for him. They'd been traveling for quite some time following a new star. The star that legend said would stop over the house of the new messiah. The star is over this house they tell Joseph. Is there a newborn here? Joseph brings the strange men to his new child. And they fall to the ground kneeling down and giving thanks for this newborn one. They give the gifts to Mary for him. But, in doing so, these strange ritual men tell a tale of getting permission from Herod and immediately Mary and Joseph realize, this newborn one will be feared. Jesus had a hard time getting born.
And, God intervenes, again sending a messenger. Joseph get up and go, take Mary, Jesus and go to Egypt. So they flee as Herod orders death for all those two and under in hopes to exterminate this newborn king. Jesus barely escaping again. He had a hard time getting born.
Once again after the death of Herod Joseph is approached by an angel in a dream saying, Herod's dead, come home. Bring Mary and the child and come home. So Joseph packs up all his things again. Even though he would have had work with his carpentry. He would have had clients and a reputation by now. There life would have been settled into this new place. And yet, it is time to go again. Jesus had a hard time getting born.
You would think that if you are to be the metaphor of Messiah. You would think that if you were to be God's son. You would think it would not be so hard to be born and live in this world. But, that's they beauty of our story. The living, even for those who choose this living with God, even for God's children is hard. It's hard to get born. It's hard to grow in the families we inherit. It's hard to live through the events that our freewill spins into reality in this world. Life is hard.
And this regular everyday living is exactly where the Epiphany story comes in. When we're just working on getting up everyday and making it through. When we're paying our bills and having dreams and trying to make our lives a bit better than when we stepped into it.
Some scholars think this entire sequence of events from Jesus' birth would have taken eleven years to unfold from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth. What kind of story is this? That we might be called by God. And, in spite of our history, our education, our experience we are asked to do something that seems quite out of the ordinary. But, in spite of how crazy it seems, it fills you with a strange sense of peace each time you think about it. And, it keeps nagging at you all the time and pulling you to jump in and get going. So you do. You feel this thing is all about God and you jump in. Wouldn't you think that if God calls you, and you jump. In spite of the illogical timing, the strange use of our gifts, the ways the neighbors are going to look at you, you jump. Wouldn't you think it would all be good after that? That because we choose this life centered in the great Creator, life would be easier? Nope. Life is hard. The living of life is hard.
I caught a few minutes of some show on TV the other night and it was some sort of show with clergy as the main characters. The main character is an Episcopal Priest and he sees and talks to Jesus all the time. He was whining about how hard this living is. And, Jesus says, “That's why there's such a big reward waiting later.” And, the priest says, “I know that's supposed to be comforting, but it's not. I thought this would be easier.” And Jesus scoffed, “Where did you read that, Jesus' guide to a comforting life? My Tuesdays with Jesus? Or my personal favorite, I'm OK You're Demonic?” The priest laughed and Jesus said, “That's what you should do more of.”
Jesus had a hard time getting born.
This is the season of Epiphany. Epiphany is the Holy day when we celebrate the arrival of the wisemen in Bethlehem at Joseph's house. We celebrate their strange call from a far off land. We celebrate their foreign customs and exotic gifts of gold and embalming fluid. We celebrate their different customs of celebrating God. And, that God could break in even in this very different kind of people. That God could call them so powerfully they would pack up themselves and leave their people and lives behind. All in search of something new, a new story, a new beginning, a new understanding. And, as they knelt at the feet of this newborn one. After coming from afar, after being in all sorts of strange lands and meeting people from every class including King Herod himself, they have come all this way to see this king. And this reason they've been traveling this entire way turns out to be for a baby. This tiny newborn baby. An Epiphany moment of new beginnings that come from long journeys. An Epiphany moment that it's not just about the arrival, it's as much about the journey. And, the inspiration that this Epiphany is also about what we do with this learning the action that will follow.
This being a people of faith is the Epiphany story. We don't plan for the future in the same way that others do. And sometimes, in spite of what our logic tells us, in spite of how impossible it seems, we are called, pulled, challenged, reminded until you can take it no longer and you have to do something. You are compelled to do something. It's a lot like that call from the orphans in Zambia, so powerful you stop everything you are doing, ask ten friends for money and buy a ticket to begin organizing some sort of system to get those children fed. And, the project seems overwhelming but this Epiphany there are 50 children walking in and receiving three meals a day, medical treatment, schooling. There are 23 children living on the property, being educated, getting medical treatment, getting fed. And, all of the children that qualified for secondary school application passed their exams this year. And three of them were invited to the most prestigious high school in Zambia. One of the early children is entering college. The generous Canadians are building another wing on the school and three more houses. But, in the midst of all of this miraculous work, in the midst of Kathe Padilla dropping her old life to begin this new life of service to the Orphans of Zambia, a child's life is altered forever and death is imminent. Visits to Zambia are shortened in order to deal with trauma and death. Life seems precarious. How can it be that such a faithful servant should have such tragedy on her doorstep? This living is hard. This calling is hard.
Many places in the Christian Scriptures we are reminded that this path is a difficult one. But, when we take time to create action from our Epiphanies, God is with us. When we take time to jump for God, God is with us. When we take time to groom the spirit within our understanding, God is with us. This living is hard but the presence of the Spirit is so powerful erasing our exhaustion. Meditating on the word fills up our souls. Fasting clears away our experience of first world priority. Worshipping fills our hearts with praise, joy, nurture and zeal. This living is hard but the payoff of being transformed through the presence is priceless.
This is the Epiphany season dear ones. How is it that we have begun to journey? What star is it that we are following? Life is hard. But, how is it we are choosing to make it any different. How is it that we are focused on walking with God instead of on our own path serving ourselves. How is it that we are embracing the challenges and transforming ourselves with humility and grace?
Let's not miss this opportunity. This is Epiphany time. Let's not waste another day with our whining, our hopelessness, our fear. Let's jump. Let's jump in and transform this living. We might give up our list of complaints for a list of action items. Actions done with God at the center. Team leaders employing all of us to do the work of God. Serving this community. The star has risen, it's right over this place. How is it we are going to be so filled with the call of God that we get over the call, and begin to grow a new vision here at First. A vision full of the transformational love of God. A vision that will take us to a new place. A vision that will draw all we meet into this community. This is Epiphany. And, this is the year 2006 that I pray we commit as individuals and as a whole to transform our experience of living. Not just because we've arrived here in Epiphany. But, because we have put a journey into play. We have begun to walk a path. We have begun to put one foot in front of the other. By focusing our breathing in God. By celebrating our blessings through sharing what we have. By becoming the light in all those broken places transforming all who are in our midst, including ourselves through the presence. This is Epiphany, let us not pass it by for Jesus had a hard time getting born and yet, so do we, isn't this the point? This living may be difficult but in the living we can change the world. We can save ourselves. We can choose to step up and in. And, this story of Epiphany is a reminder that it requires our action. It's not enough to show up. We have to stretch a bit. That God calls us to stretch a bit, to go beyond what you can imagine and to do a new thing. A new thing that will bring a new world right here. This is the time. This is the Epiphany time. Step up, step in and own your place in this world. Take responsibility for your call. Take responsibility for your blessings. Take ownership of your covenant. Let's not make this experience by fate, let's take responsibility for our actions and create Epiphanies that call us into a new way of living.