Epiphany 2017
January 8, 2017
Isaiah 60:1-6/Matthew 2:1-12
The Frankincense of our Love
Joy Douglas Strome
Prayer for Illumination: Bring we the frankincense of our love, to the feet of the holy Child, Ever
remembering God’s great gift , of a love that is undefiled. Our gift of time and reflection is before you,
O God, with all good hope that we will be blinded by your heavenly light. Amen.
Last spring I had a visit with a person who stopped by and identified herself as a prophet. She
was convinced that she had been sent by God to warn me and the world about the future. I listened
carefully and patiently and at one point she said…By now, most people have called the cops. I said I
wasn’t going to do that and we had a wonderful conversation. I won’t tell you all she told me, but
suffice it to say what seemed fairly preposterous at the time, doesn’t look near like that today. I don’t
know if she was a prophet but I had another experience literally as I was writing this sermon. I
received an unsolicited email from Helena S. It was addressed to Lake View Presbyterian Church
and read this way: Dear Sir or Madam, with this email from Brazil we are sending you an important
eBook related to Biblical prophecies that are being fulfilled, and we feel sure you will want to know
about this. yours faithfully, Helena S
You will be relieved to know that I did not open the
attachment but I was sorely tempted. As I am tempted to tell you more about my visit with the
prophetess mainly because a lot of what she predicted has actually come true. Because who doesn’t
want to be the owner of prophetic wisdom, right? Let me just leave it to say that there are “prophets”
afoot in our time too. Uncertain times like ours have us grasping for certainty and since truth has
become such a relative idea, who knows how to filter meaning from the scads of information thrown
our way. We are adrift a bit in a sea of input that smacks and slaps and shakes the ground upon
which we have before now mostly reliably stood.
I won’t sound dire about it. All times in history have their drama. And in all times we’ve had to
sort out our place, our purpose, our part. What makes our Biblical prophets any less “kooky” than
someone today who walks in making wild claims? Well, maybe it is the multi-thousand year test of
time that their words have stood. Enough ruminating, let’s dig in.
It is Epiphany Sunday or actually Friday was Epiphany, we are just celebrating it today. The
arrival of the magi at the manger has been the part of our Christmas story that turns political and
prophetic and is the liturgical device we use to talk about the Winter Solstice, the increasing of the
light, the claim that Jesus is the light of the world, and that no amount of darkness can ever snuff him
out. The pairing of Isaiah 60 with the Matthew 2 narrative seems obvious. Arise, shine, for your
light has come. Matthew seizes the well-known prophecy and makes it his own, with the arrival of a
baby king, brought on by a great “light”, complete with kings, camels and gifts of gold and
frankincense. He throws in myrrh for fun, I guess. But I want you to hear a couple of other
translations of the Isaiah 60 before we turn to Matthew. (Find Isaiah 60 p. 690) First, BBT steered
me in the direction of this translation from the Jewish Study Bible, which gives us a bit of a different
flavor, here goes:
1 "Arise, shine [Yerushalayim], for your light has come, the glory of ADONAI has risen over you. 2 For although darkness covers
the earth and thick darkness the peoples; on you ADONAI will rise; over you will be seen his glory. 3Nations will go toward your
light and kings toward your shining splendor. 4 Raise your eyes and look around: they are all assembling and coming to you;
your sons are coming from far off, your daughters being carried on their nurses' hips. 5 Then you will see and be radiant, your
heart will throb and swell with delight; for the riches of the seas will be brought to you, the wealth of nations will come to you.
6Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels from Midyan and 'Eifah, all of them coming from Sh'va, bringing gold
and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of ADONAI.
And then of course Eugene Peterson provokes another response in The Message version:
1 "Get out of bed, Jerusalem! Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight. God's bright glory has risen for you. 2 The whole earth is
wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, But God rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks over you. 3 Nations will
come to your light, kings to your sunburst brightness. 4 Look up! Look around! Watch as they gather, watch as they approach
you: Your sons coming from great distances, your daughters carried by their nannies. 5 When you see them coming you'll smile
- big smiles! Your heart will swell and, yes, burst! All those people returning by sea for the reunion, a rich harvest of exiles
gathered in from the nations! 6 And then streams of camel caravans as far as the eye can see, young camels of nomads in
Midian and Ephah, Pouring in from the south from Sheba, loaded with gold and frankincense, preaching the praises of God.
Get out of bed Jerusalem! Isaiah is trying to wake up his own community to the power that
resides within each of them to shine like people that God has claimed! BBT writes: God’s glory is
completed in the glorification of God’s people. Their radiance is essential to any bright future of
God’s own imagining. If they hope to sit on the sidelines while someone else shines instead of them,
then they have missed their central role in God’s vision. They are not God, but God’s presence will
be seen over them. They are not kings, but kings shall walk by their shining radiance. (Feasting on
the Word) So with this as a backdrop, the prophet propels us into Matthew’s future, where his
agenda includes lifting Isaiah’s prophecy and reclaiming it for his own time. Isaiah was talking about
Jerusalem being a shining light. Matthew is talking broader. Of all the other reasons we care about
the magi, most important to Matthew is the fact that they were Gentile, wise ones from the East,
who follow a light, the light that once might have shone alone on Jerusalem, now shines on Jesus
who will open God’s glory up to the entire world.
What makes the presence of the Magi political? Magi were priests from other traditions, they
aren’t really kings, though they have access to kings in their own countries. Borg and Crossan
describe them as religious figures who have wisdom by being in touch with another reality, a kind of
wisdom not known by ordinary people, but more than earthly wisdom. (The First Christmas). Some
have called them astrologers. So, we know what kind of response that would have triggered, right?
Well, our scientific minds would say----they are not of sound mind, they are spouting jibberish.
Our
fearful minds would listen to what they say and wonder how they know such things? With no internet
to back them up, they figured out about an infant king who is a threat to Herod and his vast empire?
Not logical, but don’t want to discount it completely. King Herod would not have been immune from
that same kind of anxiety.
So they have the added effect of destabilizing power with predictions that
make the status quo nervous and defensive.
These magi bow down before the Christ child and pay him homage. not Herod. Not Caesar,
but a baby. Think that isn’t political? Think again.
Truthfully I don’t know anywhere else we ever
hear this word except with the kings. Homage. Definition: to offer a special honor or respect shown
publicly….or in the time of these magi, this definition makes more sense: formal public
acknowledgement of feudal allegiance. This is such a slap to Herod. Of course he goes on a
rampage. Gentiles from the East, who don’t even know anything about Isaiah 60, show up to offer
homage to a newborn in a manger in a cattle stall? Powerful. Full of power. Allegiance rightly
offered.
All times in history have periods of bleakness where it feels as if God’s power and presence
have gone silent. Epiphany is our chance to negate that, to pay homage to a different reality, the
one that claims that as the light from our sun increases each day til summer, so does the opportunity
for God’s vision to burn inside of us, to glow from within us, to increase in witness and to grow in
spiritual maturity. So then, living through the bleak midwinter gracefully becomes something of an art,
not just a chore to endure.
Apparently, it is all the rage in churches these days to turn Epiphany into Star Gift Sunday.
The star plays a prominent role in the story. Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty
bright…..westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. What kind of guidance do
we need to get on course? To be bold to speak truth to power? To let go of our own ego enough to
bow down before the Christ child and offer our own allegiance---whole heartedly. Star Gift Sunday
passes out a star to each person with a word for the year to ponder. Each word is different. It
becomes the word that guides your thinking and growing and it receives a prominent place in your
home where you will be reminded to think about it and let it lead you in this new year. Let’s give it try
and join all the cool churches doing this.
I’ll pass out these stars, don’t choose a word, let it choose
you….they are all face down. Let the word on the star guide you in the next year as you look for
direction through these uncertain times. Let the word on the star guide you when you feel yourself
faltering. Let the word on the star be a faith connection to your brothers and sisters around you all
doing the same thing. We may return to them from time to time in the coming year, to ask how your
particular star has been a help, a nudge or a maybe big pain to you.
Our Christmas narrative is coming to a close. I am sorry to see it go not because I am
nostalgic about the story, but because I believe it to be the story that has the gravitas to carry us into
the future if we don’t just box it away with the Christmas decorations.
Ann Weems writes powerfully
about putting away Christmas and the danger of losing the power of the message…I close with a
couple of her poems (Kneeling in Bethlehem) that seem to keep the power dancing and the message
before us.
Not celebrate?
Your burden is too great to bear?
Your loneliness is intensified during this Christmas season?
Your tears have no end?
Not celebrate?
You should lead the celebration!
You should run through the streets
to ring the bells and sing the loudest!
You should fling the tinsel on the tree,
and open your house to your neighbors, and call them in to dance!
For it is you above all others who know the joy of Advent.
It is unto you that a Savior is born this day,
One who comes to lift your burden from your shoulders,
One who comes to wipe the tears from your eyes.
You are not alone,
for He is born this day to you.
IT IS NOT OVER
It is not over,
this birthing.
There are always newer skies
into which
God can throw stars.
When we begin to think
that we can predict the Advent of God,
that we can box the Christ
in a stable in Bethlehem,
that’s just the time
that God will be born
in a place we can’t imagine and won’t believe.
Those who wait for God
watch with their hearts and not their eyes,
listening
always listening
for angel words.
Merry Christmas to you all and may your Star Gift lead you to a place we can’t imagine today,
but a place that you have discovered by watching with your heart……a place that will bring you peace
and empowerment for the year ahead. Amen.