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Isaiah 60:1-6, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev'd W. Lee Shaw
Last Sunday and on Christmas Eve we heard the good news from the
angel: I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the
people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is the Messiah, the Lord.
So, let’s look at who gets this good news. First is Mary when the angel Gabriel comes to her and announces that she will bear the Son of God. Then Joseph is alerted in a dream that Mary’s pregnancy is a miracle of God and not to worry. These two people chosen by God are the first to hear the good news.
Then, one evening on the hills outside of Bethlehem some shepherds hear the good news from an angel and they go to see this child. The good news spreads from Mary to Joseph to those on the margins, not to the respectable religious people or temple priests. These shepherds are the first to hear the good news of Jesus' birth. This is the Messiah and the fact that shepherds are the first to go and pay homage carries a huge message about the good news: it is for everyone, even—especially&8212;those on the margins.
Then finally, we hear today about others who come to give worship to
Jesus, wise men from the East.
Up to now it has been limited
to the Jews of Judea, now others come, gentiles. Probably they
were astronomers or astrologers from Persia (Iran), outsiders.
These men represent you and me, the gentiles of the world for whom
Jesus also came.
With the Feast of the Epiphany, the Good News of Jesus is opened to all the world, not just those living in Judea under the Law of Moses. Jesus has come to the entire world and now representatives of that world come to pay him homage and worship. So as we come to the final day of Christmas, 12th night, we see the fullness of God’s Good News for all humanity. The Good News of Jesus spreads from the chosen, to those on the margins, to the gentiles of the world.
Even in the first stories of the birth of Jesus, we see that the old boundaries are being erased. It is not about race or religion or status. It is, rather, about being willing to hear and on hearing going to see. It is about trusting your faith.
This is just as clear with St. Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. Paul knew the boundaries and expectations of being an observant, good Jewish man. This is his background. But, as he recounts his own story, Jesus called him to be a servant and least of the saints as he writes of God working in his life and the life of the world. Again, Paul erases the boundaries between Jews and gentiles, writing that what was hidden has now been shown and now shown, you only need to grasp it.
He writes that what was hidden is revealed to all “so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known.” Ah, it is no longer for the angels to proclaim the good news or wise men from the east to discern it. Now it is up to the church—to you and to me—to proclaim the rich variety of God so that all may know of it.
The old borders and boundaries are wiped clean. In Christ Jesus
we are all one in God. As Paul writes to the church in Galatia,
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor
free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in
Christ Jesus,
(Galatians 3:28). It is this good news of love,
grace and mercy now given to us, so that through the church the
wisdom of God in it rich variety might now be made known.
In
other words, through you and through me.
So on this 12th Day of Christmas, the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord, hear again the blessing of Fra. Giovvanni, a 16th century Italian monk:
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts can find rest in today…No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take Peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it yet within our reach is Joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see—and to see we have only to look.
Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find it a living splendor, woven in love, by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the Angel’s hand that brings it to you.
Life is so full of Meaning and Purpose, so full of Beauty—beneath its covering—that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it: that is all!
And so, at this Christmastime, we greet you. Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you now and forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.