Richard Davenport January 6, 2019 Epiphany Text: Isaiah 60:1-6 (NIV) The Glory of Zion A Light Shines in the Darkness 60 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. 5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. The stories about life in the early days of the United States are pretty interesting and are a pretty major part of our culture. There are all of the notable figures that have colored our past with their own lives and works. There s the famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River, leading the revolutionaries in the war. There are the portraits of men like Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and John Quincy Adams, all of whom played a major role in uniting the people under one banner, giving them a government, and, more importantly, an identity. That we put their faces on our money is just an acknowledgement of the pivotal
part they played in making our country what it is. Without them, who knows what our country would look like today? They built the country on an ideal. The United States as a city on a hill, a beacon of light and freedom. The rest of the backward world would stream in to this country seeking freedom, a new life, free from tyranny, free from oppression, a life free to seek out every opportunity. The Statue of Liberty, dedicated a century after the United States declared its independence, has a plaque with the famous poem, The New Colossus, the second stanza of which says, "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she. With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" The French recognized the founding principles of our country and wanted to honor them, principles that had been in place for a hundred years then, and are still in place over a hundred more years later. A beacon of light in a dark world full of oppression. We look at the state of many other nations and are aghast. Much of central Africa is run by warlords who rule unchecked. Iraq and Libya were each under the boot heel of a dictator who crushed the people down and cared little for their misery. The United States stepped in to free the people from that oppression. The US gets a lot of bad press at times for sticking its nose into other people s business, but we re continuing those founding principles. The world can come to us and see how democracy should be done. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as a whole are a monument to the refuge that others have sought here from all over the world. The migrant caravan that showed up at our border at the end of November came here following that same idea. Americans debate what our role is and how we should carry out those founding principles in the changing times. But, overall, we aren t surprised when people flock to our borders to escape their old life. How well does that actually work out? There are a lot of countries out there that are much poorer that America is. Many countries don t have real functional government and things are generally run by warlords or gang bosses. We have a great deal of opportunities to do all kinds of different things with our lives. There are many different places to live, many different
jobs to do. All of that is available to us here as citizens. Is that all there is to it? If our country were truly the best it could be, there would be no poverty. Everyone would be able to work and put food on the table. We wouldn t have homelessness in every major city. Everyone would have a place to live and call their own. Crime would be gone. No one would steal or slander. No one would disregard the laws of the land for their own gain. Everyone would be orderly and everything would be peaceful. No one would use their influence or wealth to bring down the wellbeing of others. The only things that we d still have to deal with would be things we can t control, disease, injuries, natural disasters and that sort of thing. But none of that is really true. There are homeless people and folks who can t afford to put food on the table. There are others who abuse the system designed to help people get food and shelter. Crime is found all over the place. People use their fame, wealth, and authority to take what they want, regardless of the consequences to others. Gangs run rampant in many urban areas. Drugs ruin the lives of rich and poor alike. For all of the good things we have here in our country, there are a lot of terrible things that go on here too. The Gospel reading for Epiphany is rather an amazing event. The magi from the East come to visit Jesus. We don t know much about these specific magi. Medieval tradition holds that there were three of them, but there s no historical basis even for that. We don t know exactly where they came from either. We do know some things about what sort of people they probably were. Magi were typically court advisers. They studied many different topics in order to help their king or emperor rule effectively. Some would study government or economics. Others would focus on hard sciences like biology or geology, such as they were in those days. Still others would delve into various forms of divination, trying to discern the truth of current and future events. Most advisers would study several different topics as a way of trying to help make sense of the world and why thinks work the way they do. These magi looked up and saw a star in the sky that stood out and didn t belong. In ancient China and Japan, comets, eclipses, and all sorts of other stellar events were considered signs and omens of important supernatural things taking place. They were not to be ignored. Seeing a star suddenly appear in the night sky, one
that was brilliant and shining, but didn t move like a comet or a planet, would have gotten a lot of attention. For those in the Far East, events like this were often thought to be the sign of a new emperor. Only a person that important could garner such supernatural recognition. With that, they pack up and set out on a journey to find this person so important that a star forms and sits there just for him. It s a little weird though. These guys already had a ruler. They served in some court somewhere and they had a job to do there. Instead, they gather together some gifts to take with them, gifts worthy of a ruler, and they set off to find him. We don t know how long exactly it took them to find Jesus, probably a year or more, but they eventually do find him. They stop at King Herod s palace to talk to him, surely he would know about something so important going on in his territory. But Herod isn t looking for the messiah. He s only concerned about holding on to the power he worked so hard to attain. They describe him as the King of the Jews. A sign of this magnitude could only be for one destined to rule over the whole nation. They find Jesus in spite of Herod and they deliver their gifts and they bow down before him. They honor him even though they serve another ruler in a far off country. They give gifts to one who clearly doesn t live like a king. They don t act like emissaries or diplomats. They don t come to establish treaties or trade relations. They don t come to live in Judea either. Instead they return home. Epiphany is one of the bigger festivals in the church year. We already heard people worshiping Christ when we read the story of Christmas and the shepherds who came to find him after he was born. But, Epiphany doesn t involve Jews. The magi had no reason to know anything about Jesus, yet they dropped everything to trek across the countryside for months or more just to find this one man. Jesus is already beginning his work as he brings Jews and Gentiles together, one flock under one shepherd. Jesus is already establishing himself as ruler over all creation. The passage from Isaiah is God speaking to the Israelites about the future. He tells them people will flock to them from all over. The world will be covered in darkness but Israel will be a beacon of light. They will joyfully bring their wealth and all that they have. They will come to escape the darkness of their life before. But none of that will be because of Israel itself. The
good news they will share will be the praises of the Lord and it is his glory that everyone will see. In Isaiah 59, God is lamenting the evil that fills the land and how even innocent people that try and avoid trouble still get caught up in it. He responds to this by saying, He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. It is God who makes the place fit for people to live. It s God who takes care of the people. It s God who brings glory to the nation and saves them from evil. Israel was meant to bring people in, but the intention was that the newcomers would learn about God and worship him too. The magi from the East didn t come to see Israel. They came to see a person. We don t know exactly what going on in their minds when they left home, but they knew Israel wasn t what brought the star. It was a person whose life would be beyond compare. Epiphany shares with us the story of Christ s life coming to the entire world. If even these men, who were very likely pagans, can see the light of Christ in the darkness and come to worship him, then we see what God intends for the world. Where you live will not bring you salvation. You may enjoy more peace and prosperity. You may have many opportunities that you wouldn t find elsewhere, but none of that will take away sin or death. The light that brings salvation isn t a place, it s a person. John s gospel recalls, The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Leave behind your dependence on worldly things, places, even people. Leave your trust in wealth, opportunity, even freedom behind. Ask for forgiveness for trusting what is in the darkness instead of the one who brings light and who is light. He drew the magi from far off lands. He draws you as well. It is not the church that saves. It is Christ, the one who we gather around and the one who has called us here. He lights the path out of darkness. He brings you out from wherever you live to the place where forgiveness and salvation may be found, at the feet of Christ himself, the head of the Church, the Lord of the nations, the King of all creation.