Isaiah 60.1-6, Ephesians 3.1-12, Matthew 2.1-12
Sourton, Bratton Clovelly, Germansweek, Epiphany, 6/2/2013
They left by another road - and no wonder they did, the not-so worldly-wise ‘wise men’ whose search for a king of peace got them embroiled in the troubles of a king of torment, got them entangled in Herod’s nasty vengeful conspiracy. What began as a hopeful journey for the magi ended in an anxious escape.
They left by another road - for their mistake in turning up at Jerusalem, the city of the current king, whilst the star they followed was blinking towards Bethlehem, five miles to the south, the town of King David and place of promising prophecy.
We can see it now, with the benefit of hindsight - that the magi showing up at Jerusalem and excitably telling the citizens that they were looking for the new king who had been born there, was like you or me showing up at the airport of a country with a dictator, stating the purpose of our stay as a visit to the leader of the underground resistance. [1] No wonder Herod reacted as he did, for that was the sort of king he was, a temporal, temporary, vulnerable, volatile ruler. This situation changed everything for him. After meeting the magi and hearing their story, you might say that he left by another road - having to plot a desperate plan to protect his shaky rule, knowing that nothing would be the same for him again.
That’s what we mean by epiphany - a situation which causes one to be transformed, to see things a whole new way, to travel from thereon in another direction altogether. To leave by another road. ‘We cannot encounter the Christ and remain unchanged,’ says David Bryant. ‘The old signposts get knocked sideways, and our thought-forms are fundamentally realigned. This is precisely what happened to the kings.’ [2] That is, the three kings - and King Herod too.
Herod’s epiphany was a hard one. The wise men went on to a stranger and more wondrous epiphany altogether:
[The wise men] had expected to alight on a world of crowns, fawning courtiers, royal robes, and hard cash. The reality was the reek of livestock, a comfortless barn, a crude delivery, and an overwhelming fear for the future. Forget the colourful cards with docile animals, self-satisfied parents, and a handmade cradle filled with sanitised straw. The epiphany scene sends materialism and sentimentality packing. What is left is a profound sense of holiness, an overwhelming current of love, a reverence for all things so deep that the visiting kings (and shepherds before them) knelt, and a poverty that shimmers with prayer. [2]
The crux of the Epiphany story lies in the transformation of the wise men, their worldview altered forever by their encounter with a king like no other. Having realised their mistake in going to Jerusalem they might have expected that King Herod would behave the way he did, for that is the way of all kings. But in finding the child Jesus in the most unlikely of places, in a Bethlehem stable, it dawned on them that this was not a king, this was the king, a king with no position - except the position of complete vulnerability, a king with no power - except the power to fill them and all people with overwhelming joy.
They left by another road - avoiding King Herod, for sure, but more than that, embarking on a journey forwards from a life-changing encounter of joy.
Their story resonates for us today, especially for those who might feel that the road they are on is a dead-end, a road too dependent on things which won’t last; for those who feel at a crossroads in their lives; for those who feel they’ve arrived at their Jerusalem but long to get to Bethlehem. The wise men’s story encourages us to keep searching, to keep asking the question, ‘Where is the King, that we might pay him homage?’
Our faith is that we find that King in the scriptures, as we follow the example of those who have gone before us who spent time regularly reading and digesting the stories of Jesus, and who worked hard to apply what they learned from him to their lives. People like [John Barton / Lillian Morgan], whose life was a great example of this - a faith practiced with great devotion. [Tomorrow at her / this week at his] funeral [he/she] will leave by another road - a road [he/she] has been on for many, many good years, the road that leads to eternal life.
Now, it is essential to the powerful truth of Epiphany, that Herod’s transformation features in the story, as our faith does not evade the realities of history but rather affirms God’s invasion of history. ‘[For] human history is a place where tyrants massacre babies as well as a place where adoring adults shower them with gifts’. [3]
This reminds us that the study of scripture and its application is not just for personal piety, but for the transformation of the world. This is deeply understood by those Christians in other countries who are today being persecuted and killed, for their faith in Christ. It is keenly followed by those who work for change in our own society, motivated by their faith: in running foodbanks and credit unions, campaigning for a living wage, and for debt relief to the poorest people. Each of these our brothers and sisters in Christ have had their Epiphany; and each have left by a road where struggle and salvation travel together, just as those magi did. Our calling and our privilege is to share that road with them.
Notes
[1] Rosalind Brown, Readings: Epiphany, Church Times, 4 January 2013
[2] David Bryant, Returning by another way, Church Times, 4 January 2013, to whom thanks for the inspiration for this sermon.
[3] Robert Hamerton-Kelly, All the world.
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