Sermon  

St. Mary Nanoose Bay January 6, 2019      

Epiphany Matthew 2:1-12

    Arise, shine; for your light has come, lift up your eyes and look around!                          

Today’s readings are about those who seek, notice and find; and those who prefer what’s familiar and stay stuck; we hear about kings who serve, and ones who want to be served; we see that education and wisdom are not the same thing; and how God offers invitations to freedom and love that we often miss.            

In this morning’s gospel reading from Matthew, we hear about wise men who notice an unusual star and are moved to travel a great distance, trusting they are being led to a promise of great joy. When they arrive and see Jesus, they respond by giving a token of their worldly treasure, acknowledging Jesus as a divine leader, a humble ruler who will care for and shepherd all people, not just the Jews            

In contrast, we have Herod and his educated chief priests and scribes, more concerned with threat to power than with the fulfillment of the scripture. They are not moved to seek out this Messiah. They choose instead to obey an earthly king. Their concern seems to be protecting their position and privilege.            

So in this short story, right at the beginning of his gospel, Matthew cleverly sets the stage for what will happen in Jesus’ life – people will choose between divine and human power, light and darkness, and even as love enters the world in the form of a person, the hostility, fear, and deception enters as well – and these conflicting powers will intensify throughout Jesus’ life, culminating in a horrific act.            

Choice is at the root of our free will. So often we feel that we are victims of circumstance, that we have no choice. We get stuck in our story ofour lives, we become rigid and we don’t allow God to breathe into our hearts to open, soften  and change them. We hang on to our limited ideas and get lots of support for doing so.            

Today is Epiphany Sunday. It’s the part in the story of our  salvation when the light comes into the world, and those who are able to recognize that light in the life of Jesus, as a newborn and later, are changed.  One definition of “epiphany” is “when a person achieves realization, awareness, or a feeling of knowledge, after which events are seen through the prism of this new light.”

In other words, when we come to see Jesus as the light of the world, our understanding of life changes…. either in flash; like Saul who becomes Paul; or like most of us, in a series of flashes over the course of a lifetime.            

Over the holidays, I heard a wonderful story from my friend, Alan, about an epiphany he had. And I’d like to share that story with you.            

Alan had a contract to do a job for a prominent person in his community. When the job was finally completed and the final bill submitted, the customer refused to pay it, making all sorts of false claims and basically taunting my friend to try and make him pay. Alan used all his skills to try and work something out with the man. But it got really unpleasant and ended up in court. The judge ruled that the customer was in the wrong and needed to pay the outstanding amount as well as court costs. Sounds like a good ending, doesn’t it? Well, Alan is a Christian and the whole experience left a bad taste in his mouth. He still felt angry and confused and burdened by the experience. Every time he thought of the man, or someone mentioned his name, Alan’s heart would race and the number of nights he couldn’t sleep were many. He just couldn’t understand why someone would do this to him.            

Fast forward to this past Fall. In his morning walks, Alan saw a young woman regularly at the bus stop. They said “good morning” to each other and soon they were chatting briefly every day.  One day, she invited him to an event she was putting on. Not someone to normally do something spontaneous like this, he found himself saying “Yes, I’d love to come.” His wife was equally surprised but agreed to go with him. They didn’t regret their decision. It was a wonderful event. They were having a great time when suddenly Alan spotted the man who he had had to take to court to get justice. The young woman was with him and it was clear they were father and daughter. Alan’s impulse was to grab his jacket, his wife and get out before the man spotted him. But something inside nudged him and he paid attention. He found himself moving towards the man and when he was beside him, he stuck out his hand, introduced himself (because the man looked so bewildered), and said, “Your daughter has put on a wonderful event. We’re so glad we came. You must be proud! I just want to wish you and your family a very merry Christmas, and all the best for the new year.” And then he walked away. He could hardly contain himself. A huge weight had lifted; he felt euphoric! His wife couldn’t understand what had happened. And he couldn’t wait to tell her. So they left the event and celebrated all the way home. They realized that God had created the opportunity for Alan to become free from his burden of anger and confusion. Alan had been invited to see the man he had demonized as a father, someone much more complex than the bad person Alan had come to think of him as. Alan’s heart had been moved, changed and he was free. He didn’t need an apology, he needed God’s gift of love and freedom.            

As Alan told me the story, he said, “I’m so glad I didn’t stick with my story and run out of the place to avoid the man I was blaming for my pain. I’m so grateful I was able to obey the nudge and receive the gift God had in store for me!”            

This is the kind of gift giving I’m talking about. The kind where, if we have our eyes open, God is always inviting us into wholeness and joy – in ways we wouldn’t know how to ask or imagine.            

If we obey God’s nudges and respond to the invitation to lift up our eyes and look around - as the psalmist writes - we shall see and be radiant; our hearts will thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of life” is what God offers us. We just have to let go of our stories, our rigid ideas, our fears, and begin to trust.            

And then we will find ourselves following a star to places we could never imagine, and meeting a God who waits for us, invites and doesn’t demand our love, and who will, if we willingly enter into relationship, guide our feet in the ways of peace, joy and love, And then it will not be difficult for us to bow down, to offer our gifts of love, gratitude, service and joy.            

The more we trust, the more our feet know the way to go. The more we lift up our eyes and see without fear or judgement, the more we will have to be grateful for.            

May this new year be full of epiphanies for each one of us, and for all of us as a community.            

Thanks be to God, Amen.