Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

West Point, Mississippi

The Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord (A)

Isaiah 60.1-6 Psalm 72.1-7, 10-14 Ephesians 3.1-12 Matthew 2.1-12

May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that

I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.

 In his poem The Journey of the Magi, T.S. Eliot spends some time describing the hardship of their journey. In the final stanza the poet shifts, however, from a description of a journey to the thoughts of one of the wise men, who says:
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death,
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

I should be glad of another death! Isn’t Epiphany supposed to be an occasion for joy? Are not the magi themselves described in our Gospel lesson as being “overwhelmed with joy” that they have found “the child who has been born king of the Jews”? But listen again to those final lines:

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
 

The wise man, having found the Christ, finds that he can live no longer at ease among an alien people clutching their gods, and so we may well ask ourselves, with what ease do we live in a time and place when many have returned to an old dispensation, to a way of living at odds with how we who have seen the Christ are called to live?

I suppose it wise to define a few terms. By “dispensation” is meant the plan of God, the order of creation. The old dispensation would thus be the world before the coming of the Messiah. What about “alien people” and “gods”? What, indeed. We who claim the name “Christian” have defined ourselves to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and thus never quite at home in this world, a world in which many bow down before gods such as money and power, or “personal fulfilment”. We do not seek death–far from it–but having come to know Jesus we know that at His coming the world changed, changed forever. This child born king of the Jews brought His light, the Light of the world, to all peoples–Jew and Gentile alike–and by this light we see our salvation, and see that we too are to manifest this light.

In the 1990’s the General Convention of the Episcopal Church declared a “decade of evangelism”. The results have not been encouraging, although in fairness we can’t compare them to what the numbers would be absent such a program of evangelism. The results have not been encouraging in part due to some confusion over message, and so as a partner in God’s plan, as one called to share His light in this darkened world, let each of us take a look at the message itself, at what the Good News of God in Christ Jesus is, and how we can best communicate this Gospel.

The Good News above all is that God loves us; He loves us enough to sacrifice His own Son for our salvation, and nothing–not even death–shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Good News is that we live in hope, in confidence in newness of life in the completion of God’s purpose for the world. As those who bear the name of Christ we strive to restore all people to unity with God and with each other in Christ.

Unity with God and with each other in Christ: note that we are not just focused on restoring all people to unity with each other, but also with God, and that this unity–any true unity–is not just among us as human beings but in how we come together as creatures in relation to our Creator.

The message involves a lot more detail, the kind of detail we find in the Creeds, but let’s look for now not at all the ins-and-outs of the message but at how we best communicate this Message. How do we engage in evangelism most effectively, to manifest the Light of Christ to all the world? Let’s make this even more personal by asking, how do I manifest the Light of Christ?

Evangelism, sharing the message of Christ, has less to do with what I say and far, far more to do with what I do, with who I am. This is not to say that I can never be sinless, but it does mean that I must try to mean what I say, and try to do what I mean. Some of this involves what I musn’t do, all those “thou shalt nots” found in the Ten Commandments. By not coveting I honor God above any of the false idols of possession. By not lying I bear witness that God is my judge. By not stealing I honor God’s providence, His provision for my needs. By not commiting adultery I bear witness that my vow in marriage is made both to my spouse and to God, and that I cannot damage my relationship with the one without damaging my relationship with the other. By not killing I honor life as God’s gift. By not taking God’s Name in vain, I honor who He is and confess that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. By not making any idol I acknowledge that there is one God, the Lord, and no other.

Those are the things I am not to do. What about what I am called to do? First I am called to have no other god but the Lord, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and to ignore all the false gods of money and power and of self-fulfillment. I am called also to honor my father and mother, to honor God’s plan of Creation. And I am called to remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

I would be remiss not to point out that that last one–keeping the sabbath–is one that we’re often challenged by. But worship on Sunday is more than just one of a number of options we might have on that day. It is something important to God, important enough to be included in the Ten Commandments, right up there with not murdering, with all those “thou shalt nots”. When we choose football or golf or the Sunday New York Times with a cup of coffee over worship on the sabbath we have chosen to serve an alien “god” over the Lord.

When we stray, when we ignore God’s word and put our own interests first, we fit right in with the rest of the world, and the world does not notice anything different about us. We become just one more person alien to heaven, clutching our false gods. But when the world sees that we love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our mind and with all our soul, and that we love our neighbor as ourself, then the world receives a message, sees the content of the Message of Christ, His Good News manifested in the little epiphany that each one of us can be. The world expects us not to murder or steal, and treats covetousness as just another “hook” by which to sell us something. The world winks at adultery, often rewards lying, and can treat life as just another commodity. The world is full of idols and treats God’s Name as a name only, and not as something sacred. Even those who do not curse can be heard to express a full range of emotions when they exclaim, “Oh, my God!” in the same way they would say “Oh, wow!” or “Oh, woe!”

When we acommodate ourselves to the world, we fit right in, but when the world sees that we serve God and our neighbor; that we worship God and keep His sabbath; that we honor His plan of Creation in our family; that we are faithful; and that we do not make or bow down to the idols of this world, the world notices. The Message is seen, experienced, by those whose lives we touch, and in that evangelism lies our opportunity to evangelize by word as well, by telling people who this Jesus is, what our relationship with God is, and what a difference this makes.

In this season of Epiphany never forget that each of us is called to be an epiphany of our Lord, a manifestation of His grace and love. The magi sought the “child born king of the Jews,” and so this king of the Jews was manifested first to Gentiles, to those who were not in relationship with the Lord. The world remains filled with those who do not know our Lord, and as those whose call it is to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him, let us ever confess Him with our lips as we receive Him in our hearts, but let us be seen to confess Him in how we live, that we may be one point of light to lead all whom we meet to seek the Source of all Light, that they too may pay Him homage and worship.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.