Sermon for the Epiphany

THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Tuesday 6 January 2015

At Saint John's Church, Newport, RI

Epiphany follows logically after Christmas. At Christmas, we celebrate the Incarnation. God the Son came down from heaven and was born in Bethlehem so that he could redeem us by sharing in our human condition, living and dying as one of us, to free us from sin and death and lead us to eternal life.

Yet we would never have known what Christ had done for us, we would never have been able to accept his offer of new life, unless somehow his Incarnation had been revealed to us. Without some clear public manifestations or signs of who he was, Jesus would have lived and died like any other First Century Jewish rabbi, without anyone recognizing his true identity as the Son of God.

So, it was necessary not only for the Son of God to take human flesh and come among us, but also for his divine identity to be revealed and made manifest to those among whom he came. The word Epiphany simply means “showing forth” or “manifestation.” And the Feast of the Epiphany begins a season in the Church Year when we celebrate the signs, illuminations, and manifestations that point to Christ and tell us who he is.

Thus, in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, Christ is not merely born in Bethlehem, but his birth is immediately announced by angels to shepherds in the fields. There’s not only a birth but also an announcement of who’s been born: a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Similarly, Saint Matthew’s Gospel describes the Wise Men from the East who see his star and come bearing gifts for the newborn King. The point of the star, by the way, is to show that even the world of nature, the very cosmos itself, heralds the Messiah’s birth. And the Wise Men from the East signify that the recipients of this Good News are not only the children of Israel, but all the nations. It’s not enough for the Christ simply to arrive: his arrival must be made known to the whole world.

In the coming weeks, we shall be looking at other signs by which Christ’s identity as the Son of God is made manifest to those around him: the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove at his baptism in the Jordan River; his many miracles of healing; his Transfiguration with dazzling light on the holy mountain. All these signs point behind the outward appearance of the man, Jesus of Nazareth, to the inward reality of the Incarnate Son of God.

Christianity is a religion of signs and symbols. We practice a sacramental faith, in which inward and spiritual realities are made known by outward and visible signs: water in baptism, bread and wine in the Eucharist, oil in anointing, rings in marriage, the sign of the cross in absolution, the laying-on-of-hands in confirmation and ordination. These sacramental signs are, if you will, epiphanies showing forth inward and spiritual graces. And like the star that guided the wise men in their pilgrimage, their purpose is always to lead us to Christ.

Epiphany, then, is a feast with a profoundly evangelistic message. It’s not enough for Christ simply to be present as a carefully guarded secret in the most private recesses of our inner lives. Rather, he must be made manifest in us. Those around us must be able to see in us the signs of his life. The wise men from the East were led to Christ by the sign of a star in the heavens; we are called to be signs by which the world may be led to Christ.

The wise men offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. According to the early Church Fathers, these gifts manifest or show forth three aspects of who Christ is: gold as the sign of his kingship; frankincense, which is burned in worship, as the sign of his divinity; and myrrh, the oil used to anoint the dead, as the sign of his cross and passion.

But another possible interpretation of the three gifts concerns what we can offer Christ as we seek to serve him and let him make himself manifest in our lives.

Gold symbolizes our earthly treasure. As Christians, we’re called to serve Christ by giving generously to fund the mission and ministry of his Church.

Frankincense symbolizes our worship and prayer. We serve Christ by our faithful attendance at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, and by our participation in the Church’s daily round of prayer and devotion.

And what of myrrh? In the Bible, the oil of anointing is often used as a metaphor for good deeds and morally upright behavior. And that really completes the picture. In addition to our offerings of earthly treasure, and our worship and prayer, we make Christ manifest to the world by lives of moral integrity and by deeds of compassion and loving kindness towards those less fortunate than ourselves.

So, the Feast of the Epiphany draws our attention once again to the various signs by which Christ is made manifest to us: a star in the heavens; Sages from the East bearing gifts; a ewer of water poured out into a baptismal font; bread and wine changed into his Body and Blood. But if Christ is to be made manifest in our society today, it can only be through us. Our calling as the People of God is open ourselves up to the leading of the Holy Spirit so that Christ may make us his Epiphany to an unbelieving world.