Epiphany : All things kingly

There was a minister in a really big Church who often said in the middle of the service, or his sermons, or the prayers, ‘The Lord be with you’, and the congregation would dutifully reply, ‘And also with you’. He said it much more than was usual and it became such a habit that many people didn’t really listen to a lot the minister said, but whenever there was a slight pause they would assume the minister had said, ‘The Lord be with you’ and respond, ‘And also with you’… One day the minister was having trouble with his microphone and said, ‘I think there must be a problem with the microphone’, after a slight pause the congregation replied, ‘And also with you’.

Sometimes we don’t know what’s going on – but we just accept things without questioning.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Epiphany, the day on which we remember the Magi visiting the baby Jesus and bringing him their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We know the story well, so well that perhaps we can take it for granted and not think of the lessons it offers us… Actually we know very little about the Magi – we don’t really know how many of them there were, or even whether they were men – although as they have taken on the title of ‘Wise’ I suspect that they were male rather than female !.... Some may disagree….

But regardless of how little we know of the Magi they represent an important part of Christian history. They were the early evidence of people searching from other lands and other backgrounds for the Saviour who is Jesus. The gifts they brought were a little strange for a baby – I suspect many parents or grandparents would have strange looks if thy brought such gifts for a child today but those gifts brought by the Magi were gifts that represented everything Jesus came to bring.

The gold represented the kingly humanity – this was a king born into a secular world. A king who would see only this gift as a sign of what an earthly king would normally receive, but nevertheless a king who would change history. He would not see all of the worldly riches often associated with kings. He would not exercise the sort of power that some may use. But he would influence history more than any other king has ever done – in fact more than all the other kings put together…

The frankincense represented his divinity – the magi in this gift were recognising Jesus as more than just someone to change the world, but someone who was God, and someone who revealed God to people. They may not have understood the full implications of what happened on that night in Bethlehem but they knew that somehow the birth of Jesus meant God had entered the world as a human – he had closed that gap between heaven and earth, and in doing that he had closed the gap that had developed between God and humanity…

And the final gift of myrrh was the oil that was used for embalming a body – again the Magi may not even have understood what they were giving but this gift was given to show that this was a child who would ultimately face death, not as a normal ending of a human life, but a death which would be brought about by others, and a death that had meaning for everyone.

And so these 3 gifts offer us an example today. Over Christmas a lot of time will have been spent giving presents, and that’s a wonderful thing to do. We will also probably have received gifts, but at the heart of Christmas is us receiving the gift of Jesus. At the heart of Christmas is the recognition that Jesus was born to change the world for each one of us.

So often the Christmas story seems so distant – but the birth of Jesus should be just as important for us today as it was even for his mother 2000 years ago, as we open up our hearts and our whole lives to someone offering us unconditional love, mercy, grace, tolerance, abundance of life…

And so the gifts were remarkable and we are challenged to think about the gifts we have from God, and use for God, in our own lives. When we think of gifts we very often think of the gift of money but giving is about far more than money – that may be tremendously important but what is even more important is the gift of ourselves to God…

So back to the gifts of the Magi, not just the physical gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but the gifts they also gave in terms of time and effort and trouble and I think there are 4 important things we can pick up from them. 

Firstly the magi followed their vision in the form of the star. Each one of us must have a vision of where we are in our lives, and where God is – a new year is a wonderful time to think through those things again – where are we putting God in our lives, what are we offering him, and what are we prepared to accept from him.

The Christian vision is something that we can be bold about, something that we can be ambitious about, because we know a God who we are told in the Bible can do all things. God blesses people of all backgrounds, but if we go back though the history of Christianity we often find it is those who have taken huge steps of faith that he blesses most of all. So the more we lay open our lives to God, the more he will get involved in our lives.

We now have a Diocesan vision – a vision that is not about sustaining the church as an institution but sharing the love of God and growing as a family. It is a vision that needs to be at the heart of churches here and everywhere – it is a vision that offers the idea that the church should be a place that is relevant to all, not a members club for the select few.

Secondly the wise men sought the Messiah. There are many for whom this search is still ongoing – and for those of us who know Jesus as the Messiah, it is our task to help point people to him. One of the popular songs played a lot around Christmas is the Johnny Mathis classic ‘When a child is born’. It was even mentioned in a book I’ve been reading for advent – but the last verse actually declares that it is not a Christian song at all, in fact, quite the opposite – after the pretty music and wonderful words about a child being born, there’s a bit of talking for the last verse which says, ‘It’s all a dream, an illusion now, it must come true, sometime soon, somehow…’

It is a song by someone still looking for a Saviour, still looking for the Messiah – as so many people are. But though as I’ve said we know little about these wise men (or women !), one thing that is certain is that they had all of the worldly riches and power – they were important enough to be seen by King Herod and they were wealthy enough to give expensive gifts to the child Jesus. But they knew they wanted and needed more in their lives – they knew that there was more to life than just the riches and the comfort – they sought and they had found the Messiah. Their lives would never be the same again.

Thirdly they brought Jesus these special gifts, and one of the great challenges for all of us is to question ourselves about what gifts we are bringing to God. What gifts has he given us that we are using for his glory ? Is it money, is it talent, is it hard work, is it a gift of being prayerful, or a combination of these things, or something else all together… All of us have something to give to God and to use for God for his glory…

Each of us are equipped by God to serve him and serve others and in doing so find true and lasting fulfillment in our own lives. God didn’t make us to stand by and be observers of the world or the church but valuable participants in the family of humanity…

And the final thing about the magi is that they went home another way. They knew the perils that faced them if they went back the same way they came – they knew Herod would be ready to interrogate them, and so they chose another path. And as Christians we have chosen to walk another path from the rest of the world.

We have chosen to walk a path of compassion, of love and service, but we’re not alone in that. The thing that separates us out is that we do these things in the knowledge that God is with us – we do these things as a form of devotion to God and his people everywhere. We have chosen to follow the life of Jesus, a life of caring for others, of fighting for justice and righteousness, and peace. A life of sharing good news and hope for everyone. A life of uncontained love for all people, even those who would seek to kill him.

Today we follow Jesus who still does all of those things, and he calls us to do them as well. To love as he loves us, to care as he cares for us, to pray as he prays for us, to fight for others who are unable to fight for themselves as he does… And we do these things firm in the knowledge that he is walking with us, and he is loving us unconditionally, wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

And so as we celebrate this Epiphany – and the revealing of Christ to the wider world, may we cherish his love and his power, may we allow him to enter our lives again and change us, and may we offer ourselves to be used by him, not to build a bigger church, but to continue to build the family of the kingdom of God. AMEN