The Feast of the
Epiphany, January 6, 2008, Year A
Your Homage is You
The Rev. Robert B. Wood,
St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Alpharetta, Georgia
You may have noticed…or you may not have
noticed. The Wise Men just now made it into our nativity scene.
Yes, brand me a strict constructionist or a purist, but if you go by
the Bible—particularly Matthew’s gospel—it’s clear in verse one of
chapter two that the wise men make their appearance “after Jesus
was born in Bethlehem of Judea.”
That’s a bit different than our glossy,
modernized story that has them walking in with the shepherds the night
of Jesus’ birth. Without a specific day mentioned in the Bible,
tradition has assigned their arrival to 12 days after
Christmas—January 6th—today. We even made their arrival
its own feast day. The Feast of the Epiphany. We rarely get to
celebrate it on an Sunday, so today is a little bit special.
I would be remiss on this occasion, the
Epiphany, to forgo a reminder about the word epiphany itself. An
epiphany, you’ll remember, is like an ah-ha moment for a person.
Sometimes, the epiphany just comes to you—like an apple falling on
your head or the burner being hot. Other times, an epiphany comes
because someone (like God) is trying to show you something—some
essential meaning that before was veiled. Maybe God uses a burning
bush or a star in the sky, and then you say, “Ah-ha, now I see more
clearly. Now I understand.”
So whose epiphany is worth naming a
whole feast day, The Epiphany? Maybe the wise men? If I continue my
strict constructionist investigation and get out a map, these men from
the east could have been from as far away as China, but more likely
from a place like modern Iran, Afghanistan or Pakistan.
I’ve recently read Three Cups of Tea by
Greg Mortensen—book about a westerner going East, first as a mountain
climber to K2, but then as a self-made school builder for illiterate,
impoverished Afghanis and Pakistanis. It’s a great book, inspiring
and encouraging, and I’d bet on its stories making their way into
other sermons. But for today, it is worth mentioning that many of the
rural, isolated people Mortensen helped lived as people must have
about 2,000 years ago—farming and herding without cars, computers, or
electricity.
Reading about their stories and seeing
pictures of them helped me to get a mental picture of what our three
wise mean from the East may have looked like. Not white, not
western—and that also takes away some of the gloss of our more
modernized story.
I was also reminded of the difficulty of
travel along narrow mountain ledges and across dangerous tribal
boundaries. And we are talking 700-800 miles, which is traveling from
Atlanta to New York or to Omaha with camels, or horses, or just
sandals. Strict constructionist or not, that’s a long way. The
resolve of body and spirit is impressive.
They come to pay the one born King of
the Jews homage. There’s a word we don’t use too much. Homage. When
you hear it, you might think “honor”—like at a parade for a World
Series Champion or a reception for someone’s college graduation. But
there is more to “homage” than “honor.”
Homage is what a vassal or servant would
give to the lord of the manor—in olden days. If the Lord of the
Manor—who owned the property you farmed—if he had a son, you’d find
some time very soon to go by and pay your respects to the newborn.
Putting on your best clothes, bringing a gift—and pledging yourself as
servant to the newborn just as you are servant to the father.
With homage, there is humility and
offering and service. Maybe, there’s a bit of duty: you’re there just
because you have to be, and you’ll get in trouble if you don’t. Or
maybe you are there because the Lord of the Manor has been good and
fair to you—and your loyalty is from the heart.
With Jesus as newborn, that’s what you’d
expect the Jews to do—pay him homage. He is their king. But why
these Persians from 800 miles away—who have another king, and who have
likely not acknowledged the God of Israel? Why have they come? They
are not going to get in trouble if they don’t show up, so their
presence and their offering are from the heart.
That’s part of the reason that Herod and
all of Jerusalem were frightened when the wise men show up. They
must be asking themselves, “Who are these outsiders—these foreign
dignitaries—with news we have not heard?” Or more likely, Herod
thought he was Lord of the Manor. These three have traveled all this
way to show someone else homage? The next day, I’d bet Mary was
surprised too—as three Iranians walked though the doors and knelt at
her son’s side.
And there’s The Epiphany. Jesus is not
just the King of the Jews. His kingship stretches for miles and
miles—through danger and distance. By putting a star in the sky, God
sent the message intended for Jews and Gentiles alike. My son has
arrived. Take note; something new has begun. (…and can I get an
“ah-ha”?)
God did…got even more as God showed that
including the Gentiles was God’s plan from the beginning, as tells
Matthew in his gospel. Having gentiles under God’s grace was not just
an epiphany after Jesus’ death or at Pentecost or that Paul and
Timothy invented years later. From the beginning, God intended his
grace and salvation through Christ to extend to the whole world—just
has the star hung over all the whole earth—and just as people from a
far corner of the earth noticed and responded.
What about your epiphanies? Maybe it
was a big ah-ha moment that revealed something about God, which in
turn, brings you here today. Or maybe being here is just a step
toward a moment that God has in-store for you. Consider Daniel,
brought here today to be baptized. He may not “feel” any different
when the day is done, but he is. Maybe seeing him enveloped in grace
and marked as Christ’s own forever will be your epiphany--will give
you a new grasp on your own acceptance by God.
Whatever the circumstance today, you are
on a journey, and your journey will cover miles, dangers, challenges,
joys, temptations, unexpected turns, and people who have their
interests, not yours and not God’s, in mind. And likely, the most
important part of your journey will be from your head to your
heart…moving from rationalization to faith…from pride to humility…and
eventually from homage to love.
And I hope you do something that the
wise men in all their wisdom did not to. Come to the side of Jesus
and stay. Not physically stay by the manger or by the altar here in
church. But stay and be part of the story of salvation not just
making an important appearance and never being heard from again…but
staying, learning, loving.
Homage is good—and there are many gifts
to bring our king—but none better than yourself. Lay yourself at his
feet—and vow to stay.
© The Rev. Robert B. Wood. All Rights
reserved.
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