Is
60:1-6 Ps 72 Eph 3:2-3,5-6 Mt 2:1-12
Today is the feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany is a great word - it means “manifestation,”
or “to be made known - to be revealed.” It’s a wonderful word. Today is the feast day where we celebrate the
manifestation of God through Jesus Christ.
Matthew presents the story of the Epiphany - the revealing of the birth of the Messiah
in a fascinating way. Matthew is the
only gospel to tell us the story of the magi and the star of Bethlehem. Throughout the centuries people have wondered
about this story of the magi and the star - it is so unusual. Some cynics - both inside the church and
outside - will try to tell us that this story is some kind of early Christian
myth to prove some theological point - and that it has no basis in historical
fact.
But God manifests
himself in real ways, for those who have eyes to see. God reveals his presence to us so that we may
believe in him and accept his gifts of grace and salvation. The Holy Spirit is not a made up fantasy - the
Holy Spirit performs real works to stir up our faith -- but only for those who
will have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts willing to believe. It has always been this way and it will
always be this way.
Notice two groups of people in the story. The first group is the Magi. They saw something happening in the movement
of the stars and planets that compelled them to make the long journey to
Jerusalem to seek the newborn king of the Jews.
Theirs is the story of faith and fulfillment.
The second group is the court of King Herod and all the chief
priests and scribes. They were greatly
troubled by the news from the magi. They
did not see the signs. But when the magi
reported the signs to them, they were greatly troubled. Theirs is the story of rejection and
treachery.
Matthew says some very specific things about the celestial event. Notice the details as presented in
The details are like data
points about the occurrence.
1. They saw the star from the East.
2. They
saw the star at its rising
3. It
signified a newborn king of the Jews.
4. It
was subtle. King Herod and the chief priests
and scribes did not notice it.
5. The
star had a definite time of appearance.
6. The
star preceded them on their journey to Bethlehem.
7. The
star stopped over the place where the child was born.
Matthew gives us a lot of information about the event. These signs must have been what impelled the
magi to ride from the east to give homage to this newborn king. What we can believe is that this manifestation
did in fact occur in the way that Matthew describes it here. In this day and age we can explore the
celestial signs in this way. The math that is used to calculate the
movements of the stars and the planets is very precise. Therefore the position of the stars and
planets can be calculated for any given day in the past, present, and in the
future. The cosmos is like a giant
clock, very precise. Software exists
that makes the calculation and gives really great computer graphics about what
the planets and constellations do on any given date.
There is a wonderful website - www.bethlehemstar.net
that provides incredible detail about this phenomena and also offers a
wonderful video about the event. The
website is worthy of a visit and the video is worth watching. Things such as this helps us to understand
that sacred scripture really is the inspired Word of God. It shows, from a verifiable scientific
perspective, that the astronomical phenomena occurred in precisely the way that
Matthew describes it.
God announced his coming in the incarnation in a way that is
absolutely, jaw droppingly astounding for those who have eyes to see. The Magi, foreigners from the east, had the
eyes to see what God was announcing in the heavens about the Messiah. And they had the faith to follow the signs to
see what God was doing in their day and time.
God continues to announce his presence among us today. God is made manifest in really wonderful ways
for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts willing to
believe.
How can we do that? How,
in this day and time, can we see the manifestation of God? Let’s use the example of the birth of the
Messiah. It was not at all spectacular
at first glance. Stars are always in the
sky. Who is going to pay attention to
their movements to see what they announce?
At the birth of Jesus, in all the world, only that small group of Magi saw
the signs and understood the message.
Whereas the people of Jerusalem, the chosen people, missed the
sign. So it must have looked very
ordinary for those not paying attention.
Jesus himself was born in a stable, not a palace. But Jesus, the Bread that Came Down from
Heaven, was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger. That didn’t
look very spectacular either unless one understands the significance of Jesus
the Messiah as the Bread of Life being placed in a feeding trough. A spectacular sign when understood. But in all other respects completely ordinary.
And so it is in our lives.
So many things look so very ordinary.
The Holy Eucharist, looks like simple bread and simple wine. There is nothing extraordinary about its
appearance. But this is what God is
like. God comes to us in humble and
simple ways. The secret is this. When we pray - when we meditate on the signs
of our time - when we ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes,
it is then that God opens for us the treasury of His revelation. It is then that we see with new eyes. It is then that we perceive the events of our
lives with a spiritual understanding.
The spiritual world is unveiled for us and we begin to understand that
earth is crammed with heaven. This is
epiphany - the manifestation of God - Emmanuel - God With Us. And it is truly marvelous for those able to
see it.
For those who have eyes to see -
let them see. And believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPHKg0M3mEo
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