THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD A

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“Epiphany,” the name of today’s liturgical feast, is usually defined as disclosure, manifestation, realization. In the gospels’ infancy narratives, Epiphany marks the significance of the fact that non-Jewish nations, represented by the Magi, recognize Christ’s presence as the Redeemer. Today’s first reading and gospel passage emphasize that dimension of this feast.

But the second reading, from Ephesians 3, emphasizes that a more specific mystery is also revealed: “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and co-partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” From this perspective, this feast reminds us that God has come into the world to redeem not only for those who consider themselves chosen, but for those who were traditionally excluded by those who think of themselves as chosen.

The message of the Epiphany is about universal inclusiveness.  There’s no ambiguity in the story, no one at the door checking ID, no Point of Entry, no test of orthodoxy, no loyalty oaths. It appears that the only requirement for “chosenness” is a longing in the human heart for the Holy One.

If you go back to the Old Testament, you can trace the story of Salvation History as the story of a God who continually tries to broaden the divine embrace. This God teaches, cajoles, bribes, interrupts sleep, bargains with…does anything to get our attention, to convince us of that embrace and to bring us safely home.

If we still need convincing about God’s Epiphany agenda, the last couple of lines in Matthew’s account provide the exclamation point.  The magi were warned in a dream about Herod’s ill will toward the Child.  Yet, as God has done from Genesis to that moment to this moment, God shows up – sometimes with divine theatrics –to make sure we all get home.

 Even if they had taken the same route, it wouldn’t have been the same, because they themselves were not the same. They were changed by their walk to and with and for the Light.

Let us be part of this Light that has come, that is now and will come again. Let us be watchers in our time, finding the places in need of the star. Let us be followers of its guiding light once its presence has appeared. Let us acknowledge the places inhabited by Herod-speak and double messages while working to usher carriages of hope in the places that need it most. The Epiphany celebrates the arrival of the Wise Men to worship the Christ Child, but in so doing, the feast also signals the universality of the salvation that child is destined to bring – a salvation that will encompass all peoples, all cultures, and all times, represented by the Magi. How will we know it?   Isaiah tells us. Our hearts shall thrill and rejoice. There will be sharing of riches across borders. Shalom and welcome will be shared. “Welcome to our world” won’t be said with irony.

This season of Epiphany, let us go forth to create spaces in our homes, our churches, and our communities as wise people. Let us have eyes to see places of double message and oppression in the stories of our time. Let us perceive small glowing moments of Epiphany possibility in the stories we hear and make ourselves ready to respond. What gifts of courage, hope, and solidarity might you and your family have to offer, from closets, attics, basements, or hearts, that have the power to do a workaround of the double messages of oppression to reveal God’s Light? You don’t have to be able to defeat an army. You just have to help one child of God.

The unsearchable riches of Christ have been given to us so that we might give them to others, that all persons everywhere might be reconciled one to another; and that the glory of the Lord might shine throughout all the earth.