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The Feast of the
Epiphany
January 8, 2006
Sermon by Rev. Peggy Tuttle, Interim Rector
Readings
As I was looking at the assigned lessons for today, I began to realize that we miss something big if we don’t talk about The Epiphany. In the Episcopal tradition, The Epiphany is observed on a single day, January 6th and all Sundays from now until Lent are called “after Epiphany.”
As with most aspects of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has theological significance for us.
The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal.” It remembers the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King.
The colors of Epiphany are usually the colors of Christmas, white and gold, the colors of celebration, newness, and hope that mark the most sacred days of the church year.
What we would miss is one of the most evocative tales in the Bible. It is the journey made by the wise men to Bethlehem. The Three Kings and the Star are celebrated in Christmas carols, on greeting cards, and with front-yard light displays; all of this springs from just a few lines in the book of Matthew. The story and veneration of the three has grown over the centuries.
Matthew calls the three travelers "magi" and says that they came from the east, having seen a star. After interviewing Herod, "the star which they had seen in the east went before them till it came to rest over the place where the child was.” Having located the child Jesus and presenting their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they departed, returning home by another route so as to evade Herod.
Beyond that, there is nothing. In Matthew, we aren't told their names, how many there were, or even if they were all men. They were not even kings.
The elaborate story that we know today can be found in the Historia Trium Regum, the History of the Three Kings, which is attributed to the fourteenth-century cleric John of Hildesheim.
In this legend, Hildesheim tells much more about the star. He writes: "When the day of the nativity was passed the Star ascended up into the firmament, and it had right many long streaks and beams, more burning and brighter than a brand of fire; and as an eagle flying and beating the air with his wings, right so the streaks and beams of the Star stirred about.” And we are told that the three wise men, named Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar, are the kings of "India, Chaldea, and Persia.” They only met on the outskirts of Jerusalem having traveled from their own lands "in great haste" and without stopping. And so, they reach Bethlehem and present their gifts. When the kings depart, they continue together until they reach the border of India, where the Star was first sighted. There, before departing to their own countries, the three made "a fair chapel in worship of the Child they had sought.”
Having been given names and countries from which they traveled, these three have taken on a life of their own. But what does this story of three travelers and Epiphany have to do with us?
Well, first, the travelers, known to us as Magi, who brought gifts to the infant Jesus were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "King" and so were the first to "show" or "reveal" Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. This act of worship by the Magi was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few.
Second, Epiphany is now observed as a time of focusing on the mission of the church in reaching others by "showing" Jesus as the Savior of all people. It is also a time of focusing on Christian fellowship, especially in healing the divisions of prejudice and bigotry that we all too often create between God’s children.
And so, it is today that we remember the story of the three who came bearing gifts of great value, gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.
Epiphanies of great proportion still occur today. Our gifts of great value, which we bring, are the gifts of bread, wine, our offering of money, our souls and bodies. Every time we come to receive the body and blood of Jesus, we are open to an Epiphany of great proportion. Every time we place our gift of money into the offering plate, we are open to an Epiphany of great proportion. Every time we baptize a baby into the household of God, we are open to an Epiphany of great proportion.
May the gifts of the Magi be ever present today in our gifts of bread, wine and alms. May we reflect the great light that has come into the world. May we shine forth with the love that we have come to know in the great gift of the Christ child. May our gifts be worthy of the gift we have received.
Amen.
The Rev. Peggy E. Tuttle