+Last week the planet Mars was clearly visible
low in the northeastern sky. Mars always catches me off guard because it really
does give off a red glow. Although cold, we found ourselves reveling in its
visibility several evenings last week--- we're blessed, because although we
live most of the time in the city, where the night sky is washed out by the
lights, we do have a country house where the night sky beckons us with it's
ever changing palate of light and wonder.
The night sky is really something to
behold. It certainly was 2000 years ago as the cosmos put on quite a show to
herald the arrival of our new -born king. Quite a show...
But no one really noticed, except a few
shepherds in the Bethlehem countryside and a band of
Zoroastrian astrologers from the Far East. The
Magi were always star-gazing and when they saw that wild star dancing in the
night, they knew something big was afoot.
And once they arrived in Jerusalem, so did
Herod.
Herod is what you call a guy with a
complex. You see he didn't have any real authority. Yes, he was the King of
Judea --the so called King of the Jews--but he was under the thumb of the Roman
Emperor. It's a real recipe for disaster: a man who has a title that suggests
authority but who, in reality wields very little, yet still has a vicious thirst for power.
Initially, Herod had no idea about Jesus....a peasant baby born to an unmarried
and thoroughly unremarkable couple wasn't even a blip on his radar. That is
until he heard about the approaching parade.
As Episcopal priest and author Rick
Morley puts it, the Magi's trek west was a mystical parade of sorts[1]!
With the star in the front and the camels bringing up the rear, these Wise Folk
from the East guided by that star, intrigued by the exultation of the universe
exploding in front of their very eyes, passed through in a crowd of two, three,
tens, hundreds? We don’t how many there were,
but they certainly garnered some attention--- and Herod was all over it. And he
didn't like it one bit.
The birth of the Messiah, the Prince of
Peace? Another King of the Jews? Herod would have nothing of this, There's no
one more sensitive to a threat--- real/or imagined-- than a puppet king with an
inferiority complex. So, reacting out of his fear he ordered the killing of all
male children under the age of three---the edict that drove the Holy Family
into Egypt; Mary, Joseph and Jesus
running for their lives just days after that Holy and Silent night in
Bethlehem.
So, as Joseph and Mary run, as Herod
seeks to destroy any threat to his reign, as the Magi continue to follow that
wild star, it is becoming apparent that this baby is something special,
something really special.
But just who is he? A King, a God, A man, a
Son, a prophet, a preacher, a revolutionary?
Yes. And then some.
Who is he? What is he? Why is he? It's the
question of this season isn't it?
Or are you already past all of this? Has the
tree come down, have the lights lost their charm, have the presents been tossed
aside?
Are we still awash in the wonder of Christmas
Eve?
Or have we moved on, back to the same ol’ same ol’?
But Mary treasured all these words and
pondered them in her heart. We hear this line throughout Mary's journey. She
treasured these words and pondered them in her heart.
Our Epiphany challenge, our Epiphany task is to
do as Mary, to ponder all that has occurred, to open our eyes to what and how
and where God among us is taking shape.
Epiphany is a time to ponder, a time to adjust,
a time to understand, a time to comprehend. A time to notice just how this
whole miracle that just happened manifests itself in our lives.
It’s a really tall order, I know. The stores have replaced the
Christmas and New Year’s displays with
Valentine’s Day, all those
mundane things that demand so much of our attention are nagging at us. Are we
pondering these things in our hearts, or have we already returned to business
as usual?
Folks, something astounding has happened.
God in the flesh has come to live among us, as one of us.
Did you notice? Do you notice, still?
At the moment of his birth, the cosmos, as Rick
Morley puts it, cried out in exultation by flashing that dazzling star.
The heavenly hosts burst into song across the
Bethlehem hills.
The shepherds noticed.
The star gazers in the east noticed.
Eventually Herod noticed.
But do we?
Epiphany is all about the reality of God among
us showing and shining in the world.
Does this reality excite you and fill you with
joy? Or does it terrify you and fill you with fear? Who are you in this story?
The parading Magi, the cowering plotting Herod or the terrified and thrilled,
scared and amazed shepherds? Maybe you’re Mary and Joseph, quietly pondering, silently trusting…
Are you filled with expectation about just who
this Jesus will be and what he will do with us and through us?
Or are you Herod, threatened by anything that
challenges the status quo, leery of anything new, anything different?
When people encounter us, what do they notice?
Do they know that you that we, that they have received the greatest
gift the world has ever known?
The birth of our Savior caused the stars, the
planets, the galaxies, to erupt in shiny exultation, intriguing the Magi, terrifying
the shepherds, baffling the Holy Family,
infuriating Herod.
But what about You and what about me?
Are we bursting with this Good News?
The season of Epiphany, the season of
acknowledging God Among us in the World is a time for shining the light of
Christ on everyone we encounter, in everything we do and everywhere we go. In
this season of God Among Us, may the cosmos of our lives erupt in the
exultation of God Among Us: Emmanuel.
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