I must admit to you that I am always a bit saddened to come to this feast of Epiphany, because I know that it marks the solemn end of the Christmas season. Most of your decorations are probably packed away already for another year. The house is cleaned; the tree is gone. There is something special about Christmas. Even amid the rush that business and buying places upon us, there is gentle joy and lightened spirit that seems to be present in people.
The feast of Epiphany, which we are celebrating today, is often referred to as the solemnity of Christmas. The magi have been added to the Christmas story. While little is actually known about their identity, their place in the Christmas story is meant to emphasize the universal extension of the gift of Jesus Christ to all people and nations. The magi clearly were not Jews and that makes them important for the telling of the story. Their place in the nativity story is that they are seekers, who come from foreign lands and they bring gifts. Their gifts to the Christ child remind us of how important is the gift that we have all received in the birth of Christ. Jesus Christ is God’s great Christmas gift to the world. Jesus is the human embodiment of God’s love for us all. We move then from the gift that the Father gave the world in the birth of his Son, to the gifts that we ourselves give to one another. Think about the action of giving and receiving gifts that you have experienced over the years. I recall as a boy I would search and shop so carefully with my few coins to buy the perfect gift for my mom at Christmas. The best gift I got was the look of joy and happiness on her face when she opened it. There was something between us as mother and son which gave a greater value to the gift that was given. Recall a Christmas in your own lives when you gave a gift and it meant something special for you to give it, and recall a Christmas when you received a gift and it meant something special for you to receive it. We’ve all received some strange gifts over the years that may have ranged from jelly glasses, cognac, music boxes, rings, shawls, paintings, dollhouses etc. Every square foot of the department store has been represented. Although the reason behind the gifts was all-different, the reason they were special was the same. They symbolized a relationship where knowing and being known, loving and being loved, were going on.
Christmas storytellers have played with this dynamic over the years. The Little Drummer Boy is poor, he has nothing of value to give the Christ child but he can play his drum. Objectively worthless, but highly personal, his ra, pa, pa, pom, brings a smile to the face of the Christ-child. What does all this talk mean on this feast of Epiphany? We have all been given the greatest of gifts in the birth of our Savior. God has taken on human flesh and he continues to be enfleshed in our lives and in our world. As we begin another New Year ask for a special gift today from the Christ-child. Ask for a pair of new eyes and new heart so that we can see the blessed good in our lives. Ask our God to help us to stop marginalizing people we do not like, to stop putting them into boxes and labeling them, to forgive us for prejudices. If we truly believe as the feast of Epiphany suggests to us that the universal love of God has now been extended to every man and woman, then why can’t we model that gift in our own personal lives? If God loves everyone and we are all created in that divine image, then each of us has an incredible and equal value before God.
I often wonder how after two millennia since the birth of Christ, why the whole world cannot see and appreciate the Christ event. I think that the answer just might be that we, his followers often get in the way. We try and point our world toward Jesus Christ but all the world can see is our sins and failures to live and love as Jesus did. The world says to us your actions speak so loudly that we cannot hear your words.
Perhaps with this New Year we might have a change of heart. Let it begin for you on Epiphany, 2012. May each of us be in the manifestation of Jesus Christ to other, this year.