The Epiphany and Divine Inspiring
The Epiphany | Matthew 2:1-12
For Christians, our liturgical year usually begins in late November with a season we call Advent. And during this season, our job is pretty clear. Prepare, wait, and anticipate. Because Jesus is coming.
Then we come to the night of Christmas Eve and we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the incarnate God. Messiah. Savior of the world. And then we celebrate him for twelve days.
Some of us get militant about it. People wish us a happy New Year and we’re like and a Merry Christmas! Everybody’s back to work, all the candy’s clearanced out, but we’re still out there saying You know, it’s still Christmas, people! We’re only at the drummers drumming!
Until we come to January 6th. A day we call The Epiphany. And much like all those people on December 26th or 27th or whenever the family goes home, we too are wondering what we’re supposed to do now.
Our job on The Epiphany and in the season after it is a lot less clear. Now, technically, it is Ordinary Time. So our job is essentially “follow Jesus more”.
But I think this relative confusion is as much about the day and what it means as anything else. Because we aren’t all on the same page.
The whole story
This gospel story, which often gets folded into Christmas, takes place a lot later. And it is full of elements that complicate our feelings. There are, at once, images that bring joy, and moments that bring menace.
Here’s a recap of the story in Matthew with the whole context.
- An angel comes to Joseph in a dream, asking him to stay with Mary and raise this boy as his own.
- Jesus is born.
- Non-Hebrew Astrologers see a sign in the stars and are drawn to pay homage to someone else’s would-be king.
- They head to the halls of power to find out what they know about Jesus. Which is nothing.
- The King consults the scholars of scripture.
- Then sends the astrologers to go check it out and let him know.
- When the astrologers leave, they look back up to the sky and see a sign to follow.
- They find Jesus and bring expensive, kingly gifts.
- Then, warned in a dream about Herod, the astrologers sneak back to their home country. [They don’t want to get into that mess.]
- Joseph, meanwhile, is warned by angels to flee to Egypt.
- Herod commits genocide, killing all the infant boys in the region.
- And after living as refugees in Egypt for years, Herod dies and the Holy Family returns, but settles in the north for fear of Herod’s son.
That’s a lot.
It’s a dark story about the evil ambitions of the most powerful man in the region and his fear of the threat Jesus poses. Which is probably why the rest of the story doesn’t make it into Christmas pageants.
But what might we hear in this story now? And how does this relate to The Epiphany as a holy day?
We think of epiphanies as sudden bursts of inspiration. And today, we’re being invited into experiences of divine inspiring.
Divine Inspiring
We heard about Joseph’s experience with the angel in the fourth week of Advent. And similarly we heard on Christmas Eve in Luke’s narrative about the angels appearing to the shepherds and inspiring them to visit Jesus.
Here, these people we call Wise Men have no obvious connection to Jesus. He is not their hoped-for king. They aren’t dignitaries representing another nation. And they aren’t visiting scholars from England teaching on a fellowship.
These people we call “the Wise Men” are akin to astrologers. They look to the stars for guidance. They’ll read your horoscope.
God gave the world a sign only they would recognize. And they decided to trust it.
God guided people outside of the family to take notice of what was happening here.
So the astrologers see the sign in the stars, travel to this other land, and then what do they do?
They stop looking up.
Instead, they go to the capital, to visit the Very Important People. Surely they know what is going on in their own community.
Of course they don’t. But just as significant is that the King of Israel doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what has happened. And he doesn’t know what the Scripture says would happen.
In the U.S., this isn’t shocking in the least bit. It is what we expect from power. And that whole separation of church and state thing. But I think we see this backward. The ancient king of Israel wouldn’t be a figurehead like King Charles, mainly rubberstamping bishops as his main duty to the church.
He, not the Archbishop of Canterbury, is the religious authority. He is never to be more secular than sacred.
Herod’s ignorance is a sign of his spiritually-impoverished state.
And this tremendous mistake by these “wise” men to stop looking at the stars and instead consult the deadly hubris of Herod will lead to the murder of hundreds or thousands.
But they look up again.
And an angel reappears to Joseph and he listens.
These experiences with the divine are opportunities to engage with the divine! This is truly remarkable: that God would offer this to us. Share with us. Invite us in.
And yet we might still miss the message. As Diana Butler Bass writes:
“The wise men awaited a sign in the sky — a star — to guide them on this journey. Revelations break in, light shines forth, and glory appears. Such things are from the realms of mystery, awe, and wonder. They surprise and disrupt the normal course of existence. Epiphanies are not of our making.
“But it would be a mistake to believe that we are only passive recipients of epiphanies. We need to be alert for their appearance and search out the trailings of their presence. Revelations can be missed if one isn’t attentive or attuned to the possibilities of sacred surprise.”
-Diana Butler Bass, from “Active Epiphany“
This is the dance found in The Epiphany: that God’s agency is no more significant than our responsibility to attend to it. God creates and we graciously receive. It is a partnership.
Our job, then, for this season is watchfulness, attentiveness. To look where we are called to look. Some to the sky. Others to the streets. Some to the hospitals. Others to the encampments. Some to the churches. Others to the bars.
Where does God speak? Anywhere. Everywhere.
So then, where are we called to look for the signs? Anywhere. Everywhere.
Each of us has a place to look, and an opportunity, in divine partnership.