Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Wisdom Wednesday: Epiphany

Grace and peace to you and Happy New Year, I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Today is Wednesday, January 3, 2024. I’m standing in our church narthex, next to one of the nativity sets we have here at the church. I have a great collection of my own still on display in the pastor’s office and at home. Most of my nativities like this one have Mary and Joseph, Jesus, the angels, the shepherds, the animals and the magi all together at a manger. Many of our Christmas hymns also have us sing about shepherds and the magi showing up at the manger with angels singing in the sky and a guiding star shining above. But that’s not the way the Gospels tell us about the birth of Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel, and only in Luke’s Gospel, beginning with the second chapter do we hear about shepherds in the field watching over their flocks and an angel of the Lord announcing to them the birth of Jesus, who will be found wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. Luke’s Gospel and only Luke’s Gospel tell us that the shepherds find Jesus in the manger with his parents and then the shepherds go back to their lives sharing the good news. The next scenes in Luke’s Gospel are Jesus’ naming and then his presentation of the Temple. No stars and no magi are in Luke’s Gospel. It's in Matthew’s Gospel that we have a guiding star and Magi. Chapter 2 of Matthew’s Gospel begins, In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, magi from the East came to Jerusalem, asking where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star rising and have come to pay him homage. The magi learn that the Messiah is to be found in Bethlehem, and so they travel from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and keep following the star until it stops over the place, the house, where the child is. They find Jesus there and present him their three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. No mention in Matthew’s Gospel of shepherds, angels, or mangers. NO mention in Matthew’s Gospel of how many magi there were, was it three, ten, twenty? We are only told they brought three gifts. So, we have two separate stories pushed up together in our hymns and in our nativity sets. Angels and Shepherds in one story. Magi and the star in the other. Legend has it that it took 12 days for the magi to travel from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and to find Jesus, which is why the season of Christmas lasts 12 days beginning with the celebration of the birth of Jesus with the angels and shepherds on Christmas day and ends 12 days later on Epiphany Sunday with magi finding Jesus. This Sunday we at Peakland are celebrating Epiphany Sunday. Epiphany is a realization, an insight. And we celebrate the magi realizing that the Messiah is not in a palace or sitting on a throne, but he is found in small town Bethlehem. This Sunday in worship, we’ll talk about the significance of the magi’s epiphany and what it means for us today. This Sunday is also communion Sunday, we United Methodists realize that all people of all ages are welcome at the Lord’s table. Those who are worshipping here in person and those who join us online. If you looking to follow Christ, if you are looking to live more peacefully and lovingly with those around you, then you are welcome to take communion. Those of you worshipping online, you need a cup of grape juice and some bread to participate. All are welcome at Peakland. Our vision is reaching out, serving all, and extending God’s Table. If you’d like to learn more about life here and finding your place here, contact me at Peaklandpastor@gmail.com Thanks be to God!