Sunday 3 January 2010

The Epiphany

ST MICHAEL’S. 3rd JANUARY 2010. EPIPHANY. ROBERT.

Ephesians 3: 1 – 12 Matthew 2: 1 – 12

Today we celebrate Epiphany – a Greek term which has at its heart the word LIGHT. It was the light of a star which guided the wise men to the newly born Jesus, and Jesus was to be himself a ‘light to lighten the Gentiles’ as Simeon discerned when – in the temple – he took this baby into his arms. The magi represent any wise person, of any race, from any part of the world, who perceives a light that they believe may lead them to the ultimate truth of God, and then has the persistence to follow it by whatever route and through whatever hardship, until it leads them to find its source in Jesus.

When Paul had seen that great light on the Damascus Road and understood that it was Jesus himself who was the true light, he made it his lifelong mission to tell the whole world that the light they were seeking (consciously or not) was to be found in Jesus – the light of the world. Hence our first reading this morning from Ephesians chapter 3.

It is the light of truth – emanating from Jesus - which is revealed firstly in a helpless baby; then in words of wisdom and acts of mercy and healing; then in sacrifice; and finally in victory over the power of sin and death. It is the light that comes, not from books (ancient or modern) or some vast store of human wisdom, but from a person, Jesus, who is ‘the way, the truth and the life’.

In the wonderful prologue in John’s Gospel chapter one, we read (1:4,5) that Jesus was the true light who was coming into the world. John writes: “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not ‘overcome’ it – or in most modern translations – ‘understood’ it.”

It’s worth just pausing a moment to consider why there are two different words in English in that verse, which seem at first glance to mean rather different things. Does John mean that the darkness has never conquered the light that comes from Jesus, or that the darkness has never understood it?

The Greek word essentially means to seize, take hold of, or take possession of something or someone. So if I were to march down the aisle and take you by the scruff of the neck and throw you out, that word would fit. I would have seized control of you.

But if it is the case that you are sitting in your pews, not understanding a word I am talking about, that word would fit there too. You have not ‘taken hold’ of my meaning.

But we have the very convenient word in English to ‘grasp’ which I think fits very well in this context. You can grasp a person (as in a wrestling match), but you can also grasp (or fail to grasp) the meaning of what someone is saying. So my personal attempt at a translation of this verse in John 1:5 would be: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not grasped it.”

If you go into a dark room and switch on the light, the darkness cannot take control of the light, it has to give way. But it is also true to say that the darkness cannot understand what light is, because they occupy different realms, always in opposition.

As we enter a new year, it seems to me that we are surrounded by much darkness which seems to have no grasp on any true light. Our world is threatened with the lethal effects of climate change which threatens not only our children and grandchildren, but our brothers and sisters across the globe. But Copenhagen produced very little light which neither truly grappled with, nor even really understood the darkness.

Christmas Day nearly witnessed catastrophic death through terrorism, as well as divine birth. More and more safety measures will never secure a more peaceful world. The darkness in the heart of a suicide bomber cannot begin to comprehend even ordinary daylight.

We face economic darkness, because the blind greed of the world of finance cannot begin to comprehend poverty, or the everyday needs of ordinary people, or the concept of a lifetime’s hard work to secure a modest pension. Again, darkness cannot grasp what light means.

And below the radar of newspaper headlines lie huge dark clouds of anxiety for countless people, who await hospital consultations, face family breakdown, debts beyond their ability to pay, threats to job and livelihood, and those for whom a new year heralds all the problems of age, health and indeed life itself.

Where is the Epiphany light which all the surrounding darkness can neither conquer nor understand? Perhaps it’s significant that the wise men did not find some great solution to our economic woes, nor a winning lottery ticket to mask our true needs. Instead they found a baby. Small and very vulnerable, but a bringer of joy and hope.

We receive many circular letters at Christmas-time, many now with photographs. And it seems to me that this year more and more of them have joyful pictures of babies, smiling at the camera, or being proudly held up by parents or grand-parents so that we may all share their happiness and hope for the future. The baby is the most important gift they are taking into 2010.

It is usually in the small things that the light shines through the darkness. I am a great admirer of the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, and he wrote an article in the Saturday Times on 19th December, part of which I want to share with you. He writes:

“As the new year approaches, with the recession still in force, I find myself giving thanks to God for all the things that cost nothing and are worth everything. I thank him for the love that has filled our home for so many years. Life is never easy. We’ve had our share of pain, but through it all we discovered the love that brings new life into the world, allowing us to share in the miracle of birth and the joy of seeing children grow....

“I thank him for those rare souls who lift us when we are laid low by the sheer envy and malice by which some people poison their lives and the lives of others. I thank him for the fragments of light he has scattered in so many lives, in the kindness of strangers and the unexpected touch of souls across the boundaries that once divided people and made them fearful of one another....

“I thank him for the atheists and agnostics who keep believers from believing the unbelievable, forcing us to prove our faith by the beauty and grace we bring into the world. I thank him for all the defeats and failures that make leadership so difficult, because the hard things are the only ones worth doing, and because all genuine achievement involves taking risks, making mistakes, and never giving up.

“I thank him for the gift of faith, which taught me to see the dazzling goodness and grace that surround us if only we open our eyes and minds. I thank him for helping me to understand that faith is not certainty, but the courage to live with uncertainty; not a destination but the journey itself. I thank him for allowing me to thank him, for without gratitude there is no happiness, only the fleeting distraction of passing pleasures that grow ever less consequential with the passing years.

“Oscar Wilde was right when he defined a cynic as one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. The richer Britain became, the more cynical it grew. It put its faith in a financial house of cards. It looked at house prices and thought itself rich. It created the religion of shopping, whose original sin was not having this year’s model or must-have, and whose salvation lay in spending money you don’t have, to buy things you don’t need, for the sake of a happiness that doesn’t last.

“Rarely was a faith more seductive or addictive. The wake-up call, which is what the recession is, came just in time. So next year, let’s enjoy joy itself, which – unlike its gift-wrapped, instantly obsolete substitutes, is given freely to all those who bid it welcome.”

Thank you, Jonathan Sacks – you’ve got it exactly right! Those are wonderful examples of the light we can give the world this year and which the darkness all around cannot grasp. But we have one vital thing to add to make our light shine even more brightly this year. In Bach’s wonderful Christmas Oratorio, in the section for Epiphany, there comes the visit of the wise men. And the chorus sing their insistent question as those wise men come to Jerusalem: “Where, where, where, where is the new born king?” And the alto soloist simply answers the question with the words: “Seek him within my heart, for in me he consents to dwell!”

No matter how dark the future may appear, with that affirmation we can venture forth into this new year with a joy in our hearts that no darkness can quench.

DISCUSSION

1. Describe your feelings as you begin another year. Use as many descriptive words as you can. What do you fear? What do you hope for?
2. In what ways does your Christian faith help you to face the future?
3. What do you think the priorities for St Michael’s should be in the coming year? How can we make them happen? Do you feel hopeful and optimistic about our Church in 2010 or.....what?

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