Epiphany is a word that means discovery, revelation, the penny dropping, the eureka moment: to have an epiphany is to realise the truth of something in a way you haven't before, to discover something new about yourself or about the world. Today, January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrates Jesus shown to the world, as he is shown to the wise men from the east who came looking for him; and the Epiphany season that begins today goes on to tell of many more revealing moments - at his baptism, his first miracle, and more besides.
The man Jesus was born a Jew, and raised in the Jewish faith. He called fellow Jews to be his disciples, and he taught in Jewish synagogues and the Jewish temple. He had some critical words for some of his fellow Jews, like the Pharisees, but he was never critical of the Jewish faith itself. The prophecy which suggested that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem told of the man God would send to 'rule over my people Israel'. And the wise men from the east, with their star charts and their observations of the night sky had come to find the one born to be King of the Jews.
So that is where Jesus belongs, culturally, historically, geographically, linguistically. In Palestine, and in the Jewish nation, and in the Jewish faith. So we might ask - how come he didn't stay there? As we begin to consider that question, one fact to note from the outset is that these men from the east weren't Jews but Gentiles; and the story of their visit is told to symbolise this vital piece of good news: that here in Bethlehem God has done something new to change the destiny not just of the Jewish nation but of the world. And the gifts offered by the travellers are symbols of this new act of God: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Sacred gifts of mystic meaning, as one Epiphany hymn puts it. Gold is obvious enough - the child is a king, and gold is a king's coinage. The child the wise men came to see will take authority and exercise power; he will rule over his people - though his route to kingship and the throne he claims are very different from the story of King Herod. But still, Herod would have seen the point of gold, and frankincense too he’d have understood, for there's always something priestly about becoming a king. Monarchs are anointed as they are crowned, as a sign their kingship is held in sacred trust from God. The role of a priest is to stand between the people and God, God and the people, and one word that describes this is pontifex, meaning bridge builder. Jesus is pontifex maximus, our great high priest, and he will rebuild the bridge we've broken.
But for me a chill falls across the proceedings when the third gift of myrrh is offered. Myrrh makes for a costly and special gift, but there’s no escaping the fact that it's also the stuff of death. For me the words quoted by Paul in Philippians chapter 2 stand at the heart of my understanding of discipleship and service: 'He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.' This was what it would mean for Jesus to be king and priest: not the acquisition of status and power, but the letting go of these things. In the Letter to the Hebrews we read that Jesus is both the perfect priest, and also the perfect sacrifice. He offers himself for the sins of the people, to die so that they - that we - might live.
So gold, frankincense and myrrh are gifts with power and symbolic resonance, but it's the myrrh that most deeply expresses the crossing of human boundaries and the breaking of human barriers. For myrrh stands for the self-giving love that can break into our hearts, and for the God who in his gift to us places no limits on his love, loving as a Father loves even the most wayward of his children. The wise men bow before God’s only Son, who will reveal himself as the living expression of that boundless love.
So how come he didn't stay in his Jewish setting? However precious the birth we've just celebrated, it was his death that led those who saw him and heard him and followed him, and were changed by him, to conclude that what this man had done was for the whole world, and to acclaim him the King of Love, whose kingdom has no human boundaries. The Church founded in his name has the holy task of enabling that love to take root and grow and flower in all cultures and climes. This child the wise men hailed with gold, frankincense and myrrh can never be the a possession of any one race or culture. He's a Jew but he's not contained within what is Jewish; he sometimes feels very western and European, but he's not ours either to keep for ourselves. When the Gospel is made an instrument of imperialism or colonialism that gospel has lost its truth. Jesus is ours as a gift, and his Gospel must shared as a gift, humbly and lovingly - a gift to set all people free.
And wherever the Church may be, it should always bear the symbols of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold because we too are kings - Jesus shares with us his royal state and authority, and the secret of his throne, when he tells us: 'Let the one who would be greatest among you become the servant of all.' And wherever the Church is a servant Church it claims its share in the kingship of Christ.
Frankincense because we're all priests: for all who serve and follow Christ share a holy call to speak of God to the world, and to speak for the world to God. We are to pray without ceasing, and to witness with constant zeal. To listen to God, and pass on what we hear; to listen to the world, and to make our neighbour's need our constant prayer. And wherever the Church is doing this, in any language or culture, it's sharing and communicating the priesthood of Christ.
But myrrh too must be our sign, for we're called to die daily to sin, and to take up our cross as we follow our Lord. Our baptism joins us to the death of Christ and joins us also to his risen life and to the new wine of his Holy Spirit. Discipleship requires of us a dying, a laying down of the old things, so there can then be the rebirth that is Christ alive within us, as we promise and pray 'Lord, you only will I serve; you are Lord of all my life.' We may never manage to achieve what we intend or resolve, but we must always aim to offer all we can. As Christina Rossetti wrote, 'What I can I give him - give my heart'. Wherever the Church is really striving to be Christ-filled and Christ-centred, setting aside any desire for worldly status or security, then the death of Christ is being proclaimed, until he comes again.
And sisters and brothers, the amazing and wonderful thing is that our Church that is so often so broken, so unsatisfactory and even so sinful nonetheless is doing all these things in so many places: African places and Asian places and South American places, and even European places too. The wise men were right - the birth of this child was something very special, that could not go unmarked; they trekked across the desert to lay their royal gifts before the one whose love can transform every human heart, for in Bethlehem they found God's free and loving gift to the world he can never cease to love. May your heart and mine receive that love tonight, and may our lives proclaim it in the world.
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