St. Andrew’s Pictou, EPIPHANY, January 9^th 2005

 

EXILE OVER!

 

Isaiah 60:1-6

Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

 

Epiphany: Jan 6^th church festival where the church celebrates the journey of the Magi (also known as wise men, astrologers, & kings) where they go to pay homage to the infant Jesus; an intuitive spiritual grasp of a deeper reality through an event, usually simple and striking.

 

There is no doubt that we all have great difficulty with rejection. It is painful for all people to be personally rejected for who we are; to be treated as “damaged goods.”

 

In 1936 King Edward VIII abdicated his rights to the throne in favour of marrying an American divorcee named Wallis Simpson. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor , as the former king and his wife were to be known, then went on to live most of their lives in a kind of exile in France. Out of the royal circle, they lived a life of irrelevance, trying to find relevance, but never did. Yet people are still fascinated by the story and many books have been written, about very little. The Windsor’s flirted with Hitler, but the people of Britain mostly felt that they were better off without him as king.

 

Personally I think people are intrigued by the story because it has enshrined the two perennial human themes: one: “the abdication of responsibility” and two: that of “exile.” The Windsor story allows all to see and observe: abdication and exile.

 

How many of our families have an individual who has abdicated their role in the family and live in a sate of exile for years, or like the Windsor’s, for the rest of their lives? The years pass and there is never a reconciliation.

 

Maybe even you, yourself live “in exile” from some of your family. You may long to return, but anger and resentment on either or both sides may hinder that process. They want you to come back, but you won’t. Maybe you want to come back and they don’t want you to come back.

 

The prophet Isaiah writes about what may seem like the impossible for some. He is writing to the people about their return to the Promised Land: returning from exile in Babylon.

 

The message from this text, loud and clear is that the exile is over!

 

“Arise, shine; for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”

 

With phrase after phrase, the prophet exalts in joyful jubilation over the happiness of the return and what it means to the people of God and to the world.

 

“Nations shall come to you light,

and kings to the brightness of you dawn….

You shall see and be radiant;

Your heart shall thrill and rejoice,

Because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,

The wealth of the nations shall come to you…

They shall bring gold and frankincense,

And shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”

 

From this text alone, we see that “the word of the Lord” for humanity is the hope that we shall not live in exile; it is God’s will that estrangements be healed; that we return from exile should exile occur. If you and I ever live in exile it is God’s hope that the exile be over!

 

There are millions of people in the world who know this story from Matthew; the story of the three magi seeing the star in the east, and paying homage to the infant Jesus with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. For almost 2,000 years the church has celebrated this event as Epiphany on January 6^th .

 

As part of the God’s journey with humanity this moment of Epiphany shows new direction in several ways:

-the event celebrates the glory and divinity of Christ, by the appearance of the star, and then the following of the star by those who studied the heavens for any new occurrences,

-the royal significance of Jesus is emphasized by Herod’s interest being threatened by a new baby king, Jesus,

-gifts are given and received to mark the occasion.

 

But the apostle Paul shows us what is the most outstanding significance about Epiphany.

 

Paul calls it “a mystery.”

 

The mystery is about the relation between God and humanity. “In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it now has been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.” The favoured nation status of the Jews has been expanded to include all humanity.

 

Previous to Jesus Christ, the perception was that humanity has been exiled from God to varying degrees. We just could never get that close to God.

 

Now according to Paul, with the coming of Jesus Christ, THE EXILE IS OVER!

 

In Jesus, God came to us, as one of us. Emmanuel: God with us.

 

No longer is there this distance from God. No longer do we wait, hope and pray with our questions. No longer do we have to travel to the temple in Jerusalem or Mecca. No longer do we have to go into a confessional. God, in the form of our King Jesus came intimately to us; he did not come to us in a royal place with us waiting at the gates, God humbly came right to us, as vulnerable as a new born, in a borrowed barn, with a feeding stall used as a cradle.

 

The mystery is over, the gates are open; the possibilities with Christ are limitless.

 

Let us recreate the epiphany experience that the magi had that we might have it for ourselves!

 

First: we observe the star or what that “star” may mean for each of us. It will be different for each of us as we are all different, but for certain it will be a light in the darkness. Times might be tough. In fact you can’t see a star unless it is night. The star marks a new point of reference that changes our direction and breaks the cycle of our usual routine.

 

Second: we have to respond. One translation says, the Magi “set out.” We have to follow the star “wherever it went,” as the carol says. Journey and risk is involved. We have to be prepared to search. We have to move from one place to another. As the Magi had each other, we need our support system. Don’t go it alone.

 

Third: There are “the Herod’s” we must face who or which try to derail our course towards the witness of God’s life-giving birth in our lives. “Herod’s” are the destroyers, the saboteurs, the ones who seek to destroy the innocent. There is sometimes danger, the threat of violence, and malicious motives from other people. Like the Magi, knowing the possibility of danger is there, with calculated determination we must go around and past them.

 

Fourth: There is the encounter with Jesus at an unlikely place; the manger: the place of humility, light, peace, safety, birth, and God. Joy is experienced there. The experience is intensely sacred, poignant, emotional, life-defining, and transforming. This encounter gives us the opportunity to be more than we were; to grow spiritually as men and women. We become more strongly authentic with integrity of character. This change allowed the Magi to see Herod for who he was and the power to ignore the King’s direction.

 

Fifth: gifts are given and received. Personal cost is involved as is homage to a higher power. Value is expressed and gratitude is honoured, in this case as praise to God.

 

Sixth: Warning from a dream. We must be intuitively open to messages from God for our safety, so that we each might return to our life’s journey and continue as a result of being enlightened from our encounter with God. We must be aware of danger and respond accordingly.

 

As the Magi of old, the challenge is for each of us follow our star, to have the courage to make the journey to the place where God in Christ gives birth in our lives, where we witness the light and experience that joy, so that epiphany encounters will embolden us to make our mark in history and each to be more that we ever thought that we could ever be!

 

AMEN                        Rev. Alan Stewart