Epiphany means revelation, we might call it an aha moment. These moments sometimes come from nothing, but much more often, they come after long buildups, periods of learning and exploring and paying attention. Coming back to something again and again until finally it hits you, the path is revealed.
In Video games, it’s pretty common to try and beat a level over and over to no avail and then finally figure it out, a trick that shows you how you have been going about it the wrong way.
Scripture is one means by which God and God’s Word are revealed to us. And sometimes these revelations come right away. Sometimes after years with the same text. And often, there are many levels of revelation in a text. So we study scripture. We read and hear it again and again. We steep in it so that our faith and trust in God gets stronger and bolder. We say and pray this language in our liturgy. We sing the language of scripture in our songs. We interpret it in sermons and Sunday School lessons.
This new year is another great opportunity to tune into what God is up to, to listen for the Word dwelling among us, to steep ourselves in scripture.
We’ll hear the gospel of God’s love for the world in Christ. We will be reminded of the free gift of God’s grace that accepts us as we are and forgives and transforms us to live new and abundant life. We will be surprised as God is revealed to us in new ways.
This epiphany story may be familiar, yet as we spend another time with it, pay attention. We don’t hear where exactly these magi are from, we don’t even necessarily hear that there are three of them, just multiple. In fact, there isn’t even enough in the text to tell us they were all men.
Maybe these things are surprising to us who always picture them as men, who know by heart the song we will sing during Communion, we three kings of orient are.
And I’m not saying that isn’t one way to interpret this. What I am saying is that it isn’t the only way, and what we have in scripture might not be exactly what we picture in our heads from tradition and culture.
Just as spending time in this scripture reveals something new to us, our time growing in faith will reveal God and God’s ways and will to us anew this year.
It’s texts from the osprey like this one that call us to see God revealed. To pay attention to people who are not like us, immigrants and travelers from different lands who lead the way to Christ, who point us to and teach us about God in ways we could not see on our own. These magi from the east, probably Iraq and Iran who come to encounter and worship and give gifts to the prince of peace.
They are led by a star. We are led by the same shining light of Christ. We will see Christ revealed this year. Even in places and among people we don’t expect. It is crucial, as we head into a presidential election year that we remember who we follow, that our platform is on of love and shalom and wholeness, that those who see things differently may help us see the fullness of God.
It is vital that as we escalate military tension with other countries we do not lose sight of the truth that Christ calls and reconciles people of all nations, that we are to love and serve and treat our neighbors from every place and background as ourselves for they are beloved bearers of God’s own image also.
Christ, who dwells in our midst and is revealed in the word and bread and wine and community here today, has given and continues to give his life for the sake of the world. And reveals to us day by day how unfathomably deep, how extravagantly abundant, how cosmically wide God’s kingdom is, and invites us to live in it today and forever.
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