Sermon: Epiphany - 2021

3 January 2021

Text: Matt 2:1-12 (Isa 60:1-6, Eph 3:1-12)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”

Today, we are celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany.   

Epiphany is a Greek word that means “showing.”  It has the sense of taking something invisible and making it visible.  And the only way to do this is to shine a light on something.

In the ancient world, light was a bigger deal than it is for us.  We can make artificial light and turn it on or off with the flick of the wrist.  Light is so abundant for us that we don’t even think about it.  We walk into a dark room and we flip the switch.  The only time we really notice it is during a power outage, when we still flip the switch out of habit and no light appears.

The word “light” appears in the Creed, describing Jesus as: “God of God, light of light, very God of very God.”  In our Christmas reading from the first chapter of John, the apostle testifies about Jesus: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

To see anything, dear friends, requires light to shine on it – whether it is the sun by day, the moon by night, or a lamp in the darkness.  The Psalmist calls the Word of God a “lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” 

And the very first thing that God created by means of His Word, on Day One of creation, saying “Let there be…” – was light. 

Light is pure radiant energy.  Nothing in the universe travels faster.  It behaves like a wave and like a particle.  And so, dear friends, Jesus is the uncreated light who created light; He is the Word by whom all things were made, and by Him, light was the first thing in all of creation.

But what does this have to do with today’s feast and the season of the Church year?  Today we reflect upon the coming of the “wise men from the east.”  They were not of the people of Israel.  They were Gentiles.  But even they knew about the coming of the Messiah, the Word made flesh.  And they “have come to worship Him.”  For Jesus came to take away the sins of the world – not for the sake of the Jews only.  All people, regardless of race or tribe or language have salvation by the coming of the Light into the midst of the darkness.  And what guided these wise men to their destination, to the child Jesus?  A star.

Of course, we don’t exactly what the star was.  Some say it was Halley’s comet.  Some say that it was a supernova.  Others say that it was a conjunction of Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.  But whatever it was, it led the wise men, these astronomers from the east, to the child Jesus.  It was by light that they were led to Him who is “God of God, light of light, very God of very God.”

But darkness hates the light, dear friends.  Evil hates the good.  Chaos seeks to overturn the created order of God.  Hatred wishes to destroy love.  Satan sought to extinguish the light by means of a man whose heart was enrobed in darkness, by the sinister King Herod.  For Herod loved his power, and he allied himself with the devil, the prince of darkness.  He tried to trick the wise men into revealing the child of light to that he could extinguish that life and that light through murder.  But the wise men were enlightened by an angel “not to return to Herod.”

The wise men followed the great light in the heavens, and they found the Christ child.  They offered Him expensive gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  They “fell down and worshiped Him.”  For Jesus had shown Himself to them, and thus to the world.  Jesus gave them the great Epiphany: taking the hiddenness of the Creator of the universe and making Him visible to their eyes, making Him manifest to the nations of the world, whom Jesus will save by the greatest Epiphany of all: His sacrifice upon the cross.

The coming of the wise men was prophesied in our Old Testament reading from the prophet Isaiah, who begins by saying: “Arise, shine, for your light has come.”  He points out the “darkness” that “covers the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.”  But “the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.  And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

Even the gifts that the wise men brought was mentioned by Isaiah: “gold and frankincense.”  And they brought gifts back from the Christ child, the light of the world: “good news, the praises of the Lord.”

The pattern of light all throughout the Bible – from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation – is there, and it is always associated with Jesus.  For He and He alone illuminates us and frees us from stumbling around in the dark.  He shines forth in our lives and leads us just as surely as God led the wise men by the light of the star.

And even in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, it is impossible not to speak of our Lord’s ministry to the Gentiles in terms of light, dear friends.  For the apostle speaks of his own ministry to “preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.”  And St. Paul goes on to say that it is the mission of the Church to bring the light of Christ, the “manifold wisdom of God” to “rulers” and “authorities.”  And what do we know by this light, dear friends?  It is revealed to us in the great epiphany of Jesus that in Him we have “boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.”

And by this light of the world, we learn another “mystery of Christ” that is “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” 

So, dear friends, whether your background is Jewish or Gentile; whether your ancestors came from Europe, Africa, Asia, or were native to this land; no matter what language you call your own –

the light of Christ shines upon you even as the Star of Bethlehem illuminated the entire world.  Jesus has come for you and to you.  He shines the light of His grace and mercy upon you.  He dies on the cross for you, and He rises from the grave for you.  He comes to you in the Lord’s Supper, where the words “for you” are repeated each and every time bread and wine are consecrated by His own enlightening words.  And our Lord will come again for you, to guide you safely to eternity, where it is revealed in the Book of Revelation that “the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.