PROPERS: FIRST
SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR B
TEXT: MATTHEW 2:1-12; ACTS 19:1-7
PREACHED AT ST.
PAUL’S, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 2018.
ONE SENTENCE: The message which God has sought to convey through
Salvation History is still in need of realization.
If you blinked, you missed it.
Yesterday, January 6, was one of the
great feast days of the church year: The
Feast of the Epiphany. Its more full
name is the Manifestation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.
It marks the beginning of the season
of Epiphany – the season between Christmas and Lent. We also know it, more commonly, as Mardi
Gras.
The most famous image of the
Epiphany, though, is frequently confused with Christmas – the Three Wise Men.
The story of the Wise Men appears
only in the Gospel according to Matthew.
In the gospel lesson from yesterday’s feast, we are told of their visit
and of the gifts they presented to the Christ child – gold, frankincense, and
myrrh.
Tradition has given these three wise
men names, though scripture does not: Balthazar, Melchior, and Gaspar. We are told they came from the East, and that
is typically associated with the ancient kingdoms of Arabia and Persia.
We are also told by scripture that
they visited Bethlehem during the reign of Herod. That would have been prior to 4 B. C., by
which time he had descended fully into madness before dying of what polite
company would call a “social disease.”
Joseph was a dreamer. He had
profound dreams – messages from God. In one dream, warning signs prompted the
father to take Mary and the newborn child to safe refuge in Egypt. There, he and the Holy Family stayed safe
until Herod was dead and gone. Later, he took his family to Nazareth in
Galilee.
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There is an interesting undercurrent
in this story which probably escapes notice.
First, as an important foundation: Understand
that the event of Jesus’ birth for those of us who are Christians is a radical
intervention by God in human history. It
is the Incarnation – the beginning of a major chapter in what we could call Salvation History.
My understanding of the sacred story
told in scripture is that God is again-and-again seeking to show us his way
toward the fullness of life which he offers us.
He tried to do so with the Law.
He tried to do so with the Kings.
He tried to do so with the prophets.
As Eucharistic Prayer C says, “Again
and again you called us to return.
Through prophets and sages, you revealed your righteous law.”
But, sadly, human beings did not get
the essence. We missed the point. Yes, in some cases and
at some points in history, we got the details.
But God sought to give us the spirit
of the Law. That is where Jesus came
in.
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Travel back in time a bit with
me. After Jerusalem had fallen and been
destroyed in 587 B. C., the Jewish people saw those devastating events as God’s
judgement on a rebellious people. Even
more so, they saw the exile in Babylon – and their decades’ long separation
from the Promised Land – as God’s additional retribution.
It was a low point in Salvation History.
But think for a moment: What was the nation, and who was the king,
which allowed the Jews to return to their homeland? Who allowed them to rebuild the Temple – the
very Temple where Jesus would walk and teach 500 years later?
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Hold those thoughts for a moment.
Let me ask you this question.
If
the Wise Men came from the East, what nation did they come from?
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The answer to the first series of
questions is known for certain. It was
Persia and King Cyrus who allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild
the Temple. Persia is modern-day Iran,
and Cyrus was the king of that nation.
And what about the Wise Men, coming
from the East? They were coming either
from Arabia or Persia – modern-day Saudi Arabia or modern-day Iran. Most traditions hold that they came from
Persia.
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Twenty centuries have elapsed since
the time of the Wise Men. Twenty-five centuries since the return of the Jews
from Exile.
Iran
now poses an existential threat to other nations in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is a dominant and threatening
military force in that volatile region.
Israel is being criticized by nations around the world – I might add, somewhat
appropriately – for “separating the sheep and goats” of Jews and Arabs in their
land.
We needn’t go beyond the Middle East
to know the world is torn by conflict.
As a world, we still have not gotten
the message – even considering the lengths to which God has gone to get the
point across.
What’s
more: In our own homes and lives, we are separated from those we love. We carry resentments that burden our
hearts. We have broken spirits which
seek joy and peace in our private trials.
We seek to find meaning in behaviors, places, and substances which
provide only temporary solace.
The need for progress in Salvation History is still strong.
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A contemporary translation of the
Bible into Spanish is named, “Dios Habla
Hoy”. That means, “God speaks today.”
He does indeed. Years ago, there were signs of hope – olive
branches, if you will, or movements from the Spirit – from nations that are now
in conflict with others. But those
stories from so long ago need to point us toward the spirit which God seeks to give us.
It is the Holy Spirit – the
willingness to love, forgive, comfort, welcome, reconcile, and die to self.
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In the second lesson today, from the
Book of Acts, the apostle Paul asks some disciples in Ephesus if they had
received the Holy Spirit in their baptism.
They replied that they had only received John the Baptist’s baptism, for
the repentance of sins.
Paul laid hands on them and they
received the Spirit.
The full gift of the Spirit is what
God seeks to give the world today.
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