Disciple: A Feast of Epiphanies
By the Rev. Canon David Sellery
Where is the child who was born king of the Jews? For we have observed his star at its rising….when they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy (Matthew 2:2, 10).
These first verses from the second chapter of Matthew are among the most action-packed accounts found in the 66 books of the Bible. A Hollywood script writer would be hard pressed to match the intrigue, the triumph and the tragedy. As a preacher, I’m swamped with the symbolic richness of this gospel. A single sermon hardly does it justice. But let’s try.
Dictionaries define an epiphany as a sudden intuitive insight into the essential meaning of something. This gospel for the Feast of the Epiphany is literally a feast of epiphanies. It is chock full of insights into the meaning of the coming of Christ and the transformation it promises.
Start with the vision of the Magi. They devoted their lives to studying the heavens. Suddenly there was a brilliant light they had never seen before. For all their astronomical knowledge, they were baffled. They dropped everything and set out to follow wherever this strange star would lead them. For mile after mile, over mountains and across deserts, they fixed faithfully on this single, celestial signpost which led them to the newborn Jesus.
The journey of the Magi raises some challenging questions for us: What star do you follow? Does it lead to Jesus? Or is it all about getting and keeping more stuff, filling the hole in your soul with things: a bigger paycheck, a bigger house, season tickets, the best table, an iPhone X, the hippest sneakers? Sure, these are nice to have. But go to as many funerals as I do, and they shrink to insignificance. The Magi got it right the first time. Follow your star to Jesus; his love, his way—they are all that endures.
OUR GIFTS TO GOD
All four gospels have examples of the Messiah of the Chosen People gathering in all the people of God’s creation. Significantly, right from the birth of Jesus, God mobilized the heavens to reach out all the way to Persia. Today, we walk in the footsteps of the Magi. Our home is further from Bethlehem than was the Magi’s home in Persia. But his call is just as strong. His star is just as bright.
We follow Christ from across cultures and across millennia. The gates of heaven have been thrown open to us. No matter how humble our condition, we stand before the throne of God no less noble than the kings, no less beloved than the prophets, no less entitled than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The Magi did not come empty handed. And neither should we. Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, does not need our gold, frankincense and myrrh. All creation does his bidding. But he does want us to give back for our own sake, to demonstrably express our gratitude, to get some skin in the game.
Our gifts, our tithes, our charity, our service - all our good works - they don’t buy God’s love. We have had that from before Creation. They don’t buy redemption. They are gifts outright. The Magi did not bribe the star to lead them to Jesus. They did not pay Mary and Joseph to see their child. Without claim or condition, they humbly laid their gifts at the feet of the newborn king in awe, in adoration, in gratitude, and so should we.
And then there’s Herod. The world has seen his like so many times. In his self-centered soul, the Epiphany is all about him. It is his opportunity to eliminate a potential rival, no matter the cost. Deceit, deception, mass murder: these things afflict other people. To him, they are just an average tyrant’s way of doing business.
Today bullies and tyrants, both foreign and domestic, are not in danger of extinction. We are appalled by their antics. But if we’re honest, haven’t we all got the tiniest touch of Herod in us? How often do we tell ourselves we are the arbiters of good and evil? What we see as good for us must be the obvious good. We do not operate on Herod’s scale, but we do let our egos lead us around by the nose.
Epiphany is a good time to alter that course. It is time to remember that only Jesus is the way, the truth and the light. It is time to recognize our star is the grace of God and it still leads to Jesus.
OUR SPIRITUAL GPS
Here in the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina we have the aid of a spiritual GPS that was first installed by the Most Rev. Michael Curry to help us find our way to Jesus. It is The Way of Love, and it lays out a sequence of practices that put us in step with Christ and leads us in his liberating, life-giving way.
Like present day Magi, we Turn toward the star of Christ’s love in the world. We recognize it, for it burns brighter than any other. Then we summon the faith to follow where the star of his love takes us.
But we do not journey blindly in faith. We continually Learn all we can of Jesus and his teachings, devoting each day to reading and reflecting on Scripture, learning to see him and greet him in everyone we encounter during the day.
Committed and informed, we Pray to stay the course, offering our daily routines, our accomplishments and our disappointments to him. Sometimes our prayer is formal. Other times it is a brief, silent moment of petition, of dedication, of gratitude. And so, we pray always, sometimes with words, more times with action, always with love.
The Magi did not fly solo. They journeyed to Jesus together. And so should we as we gather together weekly in community to Worship, thanking, praising and drawing nearer to God, drawing strength from each other for the journey.
We don’t come bearing the treasures of the East. But we have been blessed with the God-given gifts of time, talent and treasure, knowing they are ours to share. And so, as the Father has blessed us, we Bless others by the gifts of our service, our support, our generosity, our kindness and consideration.
The Way of Love is what we call the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement. Motion, action, progress, dynamism: These are common attributes that describe this approach to our faith. We are disciples, not spectators. Every day we answer Christ’s call to Go and witness his love to the world.
Our journey with Jesus is not a sprint. It is a lifelong marathon. We meet obstacles. We stumble and lose our way. That’s why, just as important as every other step, we need to Rest, to restore our strength and to get reoriented. It’s all part of God’s plan for us.
And for each of us that plan is unfolding with each new day: another joy, another sorrow, another accomplishment, another disappointment, another discovery, another Epiphany as we seek love and freedom and abundant life in Christ.
Jesus is waiting. In joyful praise and adoration, let’s follow his star together. Let’s celebrate this Epiphany on The Way of Love, another year closer to Christ.
The Rev. Canon David Sellery is the canon for congregational mission for the Diocese of North Carolina.
Tags: North Carolina Disciple
