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1 Epiphany: 1 January Matthew 2:1-12 Happy New Year! Happy Epiphany! The dictionary defines epiphany as : the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1 12). 2. a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization.. On Tuesday night, I saw again the Film, 'Chocolat'. What a wonderful, heartwarming film! On a cold winter's night in a tiny village in France, a chilly north wind had everyone shivering against the cold. Shutters banged, doors blew open, and a mother and her daughter, strangers, came to town wrapped in their red capes, looking to hire a shop and the apartment above it. While the good people of the village encouraged by the mayor, were in church, the mother was cleaning the shop, preparing to open. This was in the middle of Lent, when abstinence and purity were encouraged. The woman's shop was a Chocolaterie.."a most inapprpriate place to open in Lent", according to the mayor. The owner had a knack for choosing people's favourite chocolate, and her recipes offered healing, and joy, in great contrast to the Puritanical Mayor, custodian of moral practice in the village, a man whose wife was abroad and seemed unlikely to return.. even the parish priest was afraid of him.. It's a delightful tale, of love, and warmth, and acceptance, pitted against legalism, and shutting down. I want to show you a clip from near the end. The priest has ditched the mayor's prepared sermon, and boldly speaks his heart on Easter Day: We are judged not by our abstinence, but by something else.. how we treat others. You could see in the mayor's face his epiphany, a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization, after an encounter with chocolate! We would do well to mark the priest's words at this Epiphany. 1

2 The gift of the woman and her daughter to that conservative village, was love, and openness and generosity.. Even the mayor was transformed. I wonder, what do you desire at the beginning of this new year? Take a moment to reflect on this. Where is the star leading you? 'The wise ones came bearing gifts, and, when they discovered the child, were overwhelmed with joy. 'The image of the wise men from the east kneeling before the Christ child, offering their gifts, has been an inspiring symbol of worship for countless generations: As with gladness men of old... It offers the structure for prayers of adoration and liturgical movement and dance: We three kings of orient are.. The story, itself, has always fascinated people because it links Jesus to the wider world of the orient and to the mysteries of the heavens. These mysterious figures from the east reflect the aspirations of Israel that one day the wise and the powerful would come to Zion to acknowledge Yahweh. They foreshadow the expansion of the mission from Israel to the Gentiles, to be announced in Matthew 28: The message of the story can hardly be missed: the best of the world s wisdom acknowledges the Christ. The tradition connects also to those passages of the generous prophetic stream which speak of the nations coming together in peace, to beat their swords into ploughs and their spears into pruning hooks and to share in a great feast and learn the law of God. Isaiah 60:6 speaks of gifts of gold and frankincense being brought to Zion. Psalm 72 speaks of kings coming bearing gifts of gold. These threads have been woven into the texture. In the retelling the motif of kingship has been added and the logic of three gifts led to our three kings and legend added their names and origins. Magi (related to magic ) indicates they are learned people from the fabled east. Astrology was an esteemed field of expertise and these experts had pinpointed the rising of the star as pointing to the birth of a ruler in Israel. 2

3 Such legends were told of famous people, including emperor Nero in 66 CE and, perhaps more relevant, before Herod the Great in 10 BCE. Astral phenomena are recorded at the births of Abraham, Pliny, Alexander the Great, Mithras and many others. Such stories were around. Matthew s version is more dramatic still: the star moves across the sky and takes up station above the place where Jesus was born. The created world is being called to bear witness to this momentous event. The heavens declare the glory of God in yet another way. A statement is being made about Jesus ministry and the church: the gospel is to be taught to all nations. As in the subtle additions to his genealogy, which break the pattern by naming women who have been under a cloud, many of them with Gentile connections, so here Matthew wants us to see the deeper significance of the story. This is a celebration of inclusiveness. Another band of threads flows from the wider story of Israel s exodus from Egypt and especially of Moses. Like Israel this child and his family would go down into Egypt and return again to the promised land. The angel s advice to Joseph to return (2:13-14, 19-20) echoes the words of God to Moses in Exodus 4: Herod s slaughter of the innocents recalls Pharaoh s slaughter of the Hebrew children. Jesus is like a new Israel, a new Moses. Such allusions incorporate a claim that God s initiative in Christ bears the same tell-tale fingerprints of God s action found in sacred writ and so have a claim to similar authority. They fulfil a favourite term for Matthew God s intention. Those who stand in Israel s tradition are to kneel alongside the Gentile magi in acknowledging that something recognisably divine meets us here. We need to find our ways of saying this, too. The result of the weaving together of such images is a work of art, a celebration of who Christ is. The threads link Jesus to Israel s past and to the world s hopes. As if to remind us that this is not really a story about a baby, Matthew allows us to hear also the message of the cross. There would come a time when Herod s wish would come true: fate would catch up with the king of the Jews and he would hang on a cross for all to see. This robs the story of any 3

4 sentimentality into which it might otherwise melt. This is a tapestry of hope and of shame, of life and of death.' 1 Howard Thurman ( ) is an African-American theologian, educator, and civil rights leader. His poem, "Now the Work of Christmas Begins" invites us to create meaning in the blessings and gifts of this Christmas throughout the year. When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins: to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild nations, to bring peace among all, To make music in the heart. Sometimes God appears in the most unlikely people and in the most unlikely places. Even Herod showed the wise ones the way to the Christ! A Woman appears with her daughter. She seems like someone on the edge, outside the dominant culture, a foreigner offering a gift, but it is she who brings life and healing, even in the most unorthodox ways. I wonder where we find the Christ child in Sale? There are other people on the edge, people we might like to write off who are seeking, seeking the Christ child in this place. Will we show them the way? The way of love and generosity and inclusive openness

5 What are your hopes for this year- For yourself, for this community, and the world? I invite you to take a piece of paper and write them, then place them by the crib What gift do you bring the christ child? His gift yo you is love. Susanna 5