Epiphany 2012
January 2012
Epiphany means a manifestation or a sudden revelation or insight into the nature, essence or meaning of something.
In the Christmas story we are presented with two epiphanies. The shepherds and the Maji.
The shepherds represent the Jewish people; those with access to, and belief in, written revelation from God - the Bible.
The Maji represent those who do not have access to written revelation from God - do not know of the Bible or do not accept the Bible as revelation from God - but are nevertheless searching for God or for meaning in life.
These two classes of people existed at the time of Jesus of Nazareth and exist today.
Both are sincere seekers who pursue meaning and understanding in sacred writings and/or in the world around them and the universe as a whole.
No matter what conclusions they come to or if they can come to no conclusion whatever, both these classes of people are sincere and honest.
People such as these must be close to the heart of God the Creator for to be truly human I must constantly seek and wonder and investigate.
God must be exasperated with people who reach a certain level of belief or unbelief and settle immovably there.
Like the Maji I must endlessly pursue the star and try to fathom its meaning.
It is good to ponder the difference between possessing one grain of wheat, safely tucked away in my pocket and tending a garden of growing and constantly changing wheat.
Systems resist change. Structures, be they political, religious or social, seek continuity and fixed order. Structures, of their nature, are conservative and abhor change. This to some extent is good and can bring stability but it can also resist all change, and we know that without change there is no life, no growth, no future except petrifaction.
The shepherds (being simple folks and not members of any religious or political structure) could accept this little infant as the long awaited saviour.
On the other hand the religious and political elite of the day (the temple priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and lawyers) were petrified within their traditions and structures which had concluded long ago that the Messiah - the Saviour - would be a powerful political and religious leader who would bring political freedom to the Jewish nation.
They just laughed when faced with this uneducated upstart called Jesus of Nazareth.
There were many astronomers and well educated seekers of truth in the East at that time, all of whom had seen the new star and endlessly debater its meaning, but only the three set out on the perilous journey into the unknown to seek the truth of the star.
I too, like the shepherds and the Maji must be open to receive new epiphanies, new insights, new ways of understanding, new ways of interpreting the scriptures.
I must not let myself be straitjacketed for the sake of conformity.
What an utterly astonishing ability - three very wise and very well educated men capable of bowing down and worshipping a little, not very clean, snotty nosed and runny bottomed infant, as the creator of the stars.
Surely they must have known God very, very well.
Do I have the same ability to see my God when it comes to the person sitting next to me now?