A sermon on Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-6 & Ephesians 3:1-12 by Nathan Nettleton

Epiphany
The revelation
The unveiling of something long hidden
The moment when the lights go on
The moment we finally see what we couldn’t see before
The “ah ha” moment
The Apostle describes it as the revealing of the mystery not made known to us in previous generations
Epiphany

As the prophet said, Arise! Shine! The light has come.
Darkness covered the earth
Thick darkness hung over the peoples
But the Lord has risen
His star has shone forth
His glory lights up what was previous hidden in mystery

Lift up your eyes and look around
Everyone is gathering, coming to you
Your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice

You shall see and be radiant
Your heart will thrill and rejoice
Won’t it, King Herod?
Won’t it?

Do you know what it is like to see the Epiphany through Herod’s eyes?
I reckon you do
I know I do
Herod’s story is our story too, though we don’t like to face it

You lift up your eyes and look around
Everyone is gathering, coming your way
People are arriving from far away
Something is up
Something is going on
Strangers from far off lands arrive asking questions
They seem to know that something is going on
They’re not nobodies either
These are people of stature and learning, of position and influence
They seem to know that something is going on
Something right under your nose
How come you’re always the last to know?
Somebody is failing to do their job if you haven’t been informed
How dare they keep you in the dark?
Someone has been planning something behind your back
How dare they?

Your eyes narrow and your ears prick up
No one’s going to get anything past you
What did they say they were looking for?
The new favourite?
The new number one?
The new go-to man?
Some new upstart who thinks they’re going to rule the roost?
Not bloody likely
You’re not about to take early retirement
You’re not about to be pushed down the pecking order
You’re not about to let someone else steal your limelight
Credit where credit is due
You’ve worked hard for what you’ve achieved
You deserve the credit and honour that has come your way
There can be no harmony or stability if the hierarchy is not clearcut and respected
Your authority must be maintained
The good order of things depends on it, doesn’t it?
Your eyes narrow and your ears prick up
No one’s going to muscle in on your rightful turf
You’ll make sure this upstart, whoever he turns out to be, amounts to nothing
You’ll make sure of it
You’re staying right where you are

Part one of the Epiphany is like that
It’s not a pretty picture
It tell us things abut ourselves that we’d rather not hear Epiphanies are always like that
When the lights suddenly go on in a dark place,
you can see things scurrying for cover in all directions
Unpleasant things. Nasty things
Things whose natural habitat is the darkness
Things that can’t bear exposure to the light
Things that are a whole lot more true than we’d like to admit
There are sides of ourselves we always try to keep facing the other way
Away from the light
When the light suddenly comes from an unexpected direction,
Epiphany strips us naked

But Epiphany doesn’t leave us there,
exposed, afraid, wounded and dangerous
Epiphany invites us to step back and take a wider look at what the light reveals
Epiphany invites us to see ourselves through God’s eyes
not just through Herod’s eyes
Epiphany invites us to see what’s going on through joyous laughing eyes
And perhaps it is only joy and laughter
that could ever break through the snarling defensiveness of our Herod sides

There is something of a divine cosmic joke going on here
It’s not that it is not a serious matter
There are harsh political realities at play here
There is an angry ruthless king, death squads, secret inquisitions
There are religious experts colluding with a totalitarian regime
There is a new born baby whose life is on the line
There is no end of reason for caution, for fear,
for feeling joyless and weighed down

But in the midst of it all, God seems to be skipping around like a divine trickster
Singing, dancing, joking
Eyes twinkling
Constantly chuckling

Here is a whole nation who have been waiting and yearning for their messiah for centuries
And when he finally arrives, who notices?
Some blokes in far off Iraq
Anyone closer to home?
Nope

And here are all these religious experts pouring over their sacred texts
They know their scriptures
They’ve got PhDs in biblical prophesy
They can tell you straight off which town the messiah will come from
But when he actually comes, when the prophesies are fulfilled, who picks it?
The prophesy experts?
Nope
Some wise guy astrologers who don’t know the Bible at all
They read it in the stars
Or was it the tea leaves?
Or did they see it in the horoscope in a stray copy of Women’s Day at the dentist?
Somebody is taking the mickey here!

And then there is Herod trying to look all devout to the visiting wise guys
“When you find him, let me know, so I can pay my respects”
Neither Herod nor the religious experts have taken their story seriously enough to go with them
But just in case, “If you find something, come back and let me know”
Subtlety was not what Herod was known for

But the wise guys do find the baby
And what do you do when you visit a new baby?
You bring presents of course
It used to be the case, and in some countries it still is,
that today was the present giving day
in honour of these wise guys and their present giving
What do you give a baby?
A bunny rug?
A bottle and dummy set?
Some squeaky toys and one of those things that plays Greensleeves when you pull the string?
No, how about some gold, frankincense and myrrh?
Babies love that kind of stuff
And it will be so useful while fleeing to Egypt as refugees
Not!
Funnily enough you don’t ever hear of those presents again
Does Mary ever say, “Jesus, get out of the kitchen and go and amuse yourself with your frankincense set”?
I know, I know, there are some theologically significant symbolic meanings in these gifts
But really?
There is a joke going on here too, isn’t there?
God is having a laugh for sure

Well, thank God for the joke
If God is chuckling here, that’s pretty good news
Because just a few minutes ago we were realising what the light showed about us
We saw that when the light came on suddenly
we didn’t look all that much better than Herod
We wanted to dive for cover
What would God do to us when the truth was known?

But the answer seems to be to laugh
It’s not that God doesn’t take sin seriously
Or that none of this matters a bit
It matters very much, and God cares a great deal

But it probably is pretty funny watching us scurrying for cover
as though the light were showing up something that God didn’t already know
And the divine jokes all seem to be about pricking holes in our balloons
whenever we start taking ourselves too seriously
Yes, sometimes we even take our own sin too seriously
As though we were so important that our sin deserves all God’s attention
All God’s anger
And we get all religious and declare that we know how God deals with such sin
We know the rules and God will deal with this the way our reading of the Bible says
And God rocks with laughter
and sends along three wise guys with funny names and funny presents
and not a bible verse between them

The outcomes are still serious
Even deadly serious
Jesus escapes the death squads this time
but every other little boy in Bethlehem cops it for him
and it is only a matter of time before Jesus’ number is up too
The stakes are high
God is deadly serious about breaking through our defences
and exposing our Herod-like selves to the light of love and mercy

But in the midst of it all
God can still laugh at you and with you and for you
because that is the nature of the kingdom that is coming
a kingdom that the Herods could never understand
It is a kingdom of joy and dancing and laughter
It is a kingdom where our jealous rivalries and defensive hostilities
are not scourged from us with punishment and retribution
but melted out of us with the shining light of love and laughter and joy
of mercy and welcome and dancing
of useless gifts and cosmic jokes
And everyone is invited
everyone is welcome
Even Herod
Even some wise guy religious weirdos from the East
Even you
And when that picture begins to fall into place,
when the penny drops and you know yourself beloved,
when the lights go on and you laugh and rejoice
the Epiphany will be fulfilled.