Epiphany - by Revd Charmaine

Epiphany
4^th January 2009
Reverend Charmaine Braatvedt

There are some observations I would like to make about Matthew’s version of the nativity story.

Unlike Luke’s version of the story, there are no shepherds in this story but there are Magi.
The Magi were probably not actually kings , rather they were a priestly group in ancient Persia and Babylon.
Their work combined elements of astrology astronomy and dreams.
Contrary to tradition, the Magi did not visit Jesus at the manger on the night of his birth as did the shepherds. They came some months later and visited him as a child in his house.
Matthew gives no indication of how many magi there were. The three gifts may have been a key factor in the popular notion of three magi.
The magi were gentiles and not Jewish. They may have connected this star’s appearance to a Jewish king because of contact with Jews who remained in Babylon after the end of the exile. But nowhere is there any suggestion that the magi are Jewish.

In Matthew the most Jewish of the gospels, this is an important detail: outsiders (Gentiles) have come to seek the Messiah promised by God.

The details of this story illustrate how Matthew’s community understood the events of Jesus’ life as grounded in Hebrew Scriptures.

The threat from Herod echoes the story of Pharaoh and the child Moses who was protected by the civil disobedience of the midwives. In both cases a child is saved from a tyrant’s intent to kill and the child grows up to lead God’s people.

As I was reflecting on the story I imagined the thought and preparations that would have gone into the Magi’s decision to follow the star.

Time and energy would have been spent on planning the trip. Food supplies prepared, finances collected, camels prepared for the big desert crossing. Much attention would have been given to the details of the journey with maps being carefully studied.

One does not embark on a journey of such magnitude without much careful planning .
With each hour and dollar invested there would have been a growing expectation of what they might discover at the end of their journey.

Such a spectacular star! They would have expected it to deliver a spectacular discovery. I can imagine their anticipation and excitement as they drew near to the place to which the star was leading them.

I find it interesting to note that they went straight to the king’s palace, for surely such an auspicious star would herald the birth of someone very important and significant and so it would not be unreasonable to assume that this person would be found in a palace.

But no, not so!

Instead the star leads them to a humble home where a simple peasant woman is looking after an ordinary looking toddler.

Now the Biblical text does not describe their thoughts other than to say that they were overjoyed when the star finally came to a halt and that when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they bowed down and worshiped him. After this they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts.

I can’t help speculating on what their initial response might have been to the paradox that met their eyes. They had travelled all this way at great personal cost only to discover a very ordinary looking scene not unlike a myriad of other family scenes they would have encountered on their way.

I know that if I had been in their shoes I might have been a little disappointed by the ordinariness of the scene.

Yet their faith shines through as we see them,

bow down and worship this child,

offer gifts from their treasures to him,

from what was precious to them

and then the text tells us they departed to their country by another route.

How often this occurs in our lives.

We have great expectations of a course we are on, a journey we are undertaking . We invest time and energy on a project.

We set out with hopes and dreams of how it will be and these motivate and drive us on our journey.

Sometimes, when we reach our destination things are not as we had hoped and then we are disappointed by the outcome.

We may feel let down and a little deflated.

How we respond in such circumstances makes all the difference.

It can happen even as we are on our spiritual journey.
You or I may come to church, go to a camp, attend a home group meeting with enormous expectations of a great epiphany. We come expecting to find God in a dramatic way. We look for the bolt of lightning, the flash of inspiration, the tongues of fire to descend upon you as happens in Acts 2, but no, you get there and it all looks rather ordinary to be honest, quite mundane, nothing much seems to happen.

Where is the spectacular experience of God? You ask.

You, like the wise ones expect to find a great manifestation of power and instead you find a weak, vulnerable ordinary child- like experience.

Does this mean you have failed? Do you give up on God?

No it simply means that you need to accept a time honoured truth that the wise ones encountered,

that God works in God’s own and unique way and that God reveals himself often in the most ordinary circumstances of life. The God we worship and serve is a God of surprises.

Tell the story of Desma

We read in the Biblical text:

“For my ways are not your ways’, says the Lord.

And when we trust God’s ways as the magi did, we are altered and find ourselves going home a different route from the one we anticipated, just as the magi did.

So, As you plan for the new year;

As you make your new year’s resolutions, let me encourage you to dream dreams, to make plans, to have hopes.

But know this, you do so in the greater context that God is finally in control of this world and that his ways may well mean that things may not work out as you had hoped and that your preconceived expectations may not be met. You may well be caught off guard by the circumstances in which you find yourself.

However, know this also,

disappointed does not equate with failure.

Trust in His provision.

The magi found what they were looking for though it may have looked somewhat different from that they had anticipated.

Those who seek will find,

those who knock will be answered.

The answer just did not look like they’d expected it to.

But undeniably they did find the messiah, their savior.

They did find the king of the universe.

Their efforts and their faithfulness were rewarded.

When your plans have to change, when things come at you from left of field, do not hesitate to do what the magi did. No matter what, remain faithful to God’s call on your life. No matter what the circumstances, offer him your treasure, bow down and worship him, the incarnation means he is to be found in every circumstance that you encounter. This is the truth about Immanuel, about Christ coming, about God with us. He is with us in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary, the happy as well as the sad, the expected as well as the unexpected. His hand is present in our lives.

And when God’s powerful voice beckons you down another road, one that is different from the one you expected, never forget it is a call to embrace the gift of Christ for all people and in all circumstances.

When you journey in search of God, know that such journeys may lead to unexpected places and persons and take you down another road a different route from the one you anticipated, but it will be a road that will lead to salvation, wholeness, healing and good, for the God we worship is a God of salvation, wholeness, healing and good and he will use all circumstances for the good of those who trust him.

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