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The Epiphany - January 6, 2008 - Rev. Gary Strubel

An epiphany is a clear manifestation of truth, usually unexpected. We experience epiphanies all the time. They’re the great “ah ha!” moments of clarity. It’s when we see the world and our lives in a whole new way – as it really is. At their heart, epiphanies are neutral, though they do have the potential to change our lives, or at least how we look at life. Whether they are positive or negative really depends on how we perceive them. In our Gospel reading this morning, the same epiphany (the truth that the Messiah was born) is revealed to both the Magi and to King Herod. The Magi approached the Epiphany as a truth to be discovered, while King Herod saw the Epiphany as a threat that had to be destroyed.

Tragically, Herod was a king besieged with PR problems. Though his monarchy was legally valid, he never won the hearts of the people, even after he rebuilt the ruined temple of Jerusalem. The people felt that Herod was king only because he managed to cut a deal with Rome, and therefore was nothing more than a political puppet for the enemy occupation. Herod’s life was consumed with fighting for the legitimacy of his rule. Herod had personally invested in his kingship, and he dealt harshly with any threat to his leadership.

Thus, the Epiphany was perceived as a threat to everything Herod tenuously held. News of this birth would fuel public opinion that his monarchy was invalid. He would no longer be king. At best, he would only be a steward, holding the throne for the true king. But Herod believed that he was the true king. Thus, he schemed to rid himself of this child. He lied to the Magi in order to gain information regarding the child’s location in order to kill him. When the Magi never returned, Herod decided to kill all of the male children in the region to ensure that he would get the Messiah in the process. In Herod’s mind, desperate times called for desperate measures. Herod had everything to lose. But what he had to lose was not really his to begin with. And in his desperate attempt to cling to the world that proved to be false, he lost what was left of himself in the process.

In contrast to Herod, we have the Magi. In a way, it’s easier to understand why Herod had rejected the Epiphany rather than understand what prompted the magi to accept it. Perhaps it was because they were pilgrims searching for truth, rather than defenders of a truth they believed they already held. And because they weren’t in a defensive posture, they were more open to accept the Epiphany. And in their willingness to discover a world that proved to be true, they found themselves in the process. Thus, Herod and the Magi come to symbolize the willingness of outsiders to accept the truth and the stubbornness of insiders to reject it.

This symbolism would not be lost on those hearing this gospel in the first century. The early church had a glut of gentile converts, while the Jewish converts were very small. This was very discouraging to the early church leaders who viewed their faith as primarily Jewish. But, the reason why it was hard for any self-respecting Jew to accept this new teaching was that it flew in the face of practically every accepted notion of what the Messiah was to be like. Because the teaching was so radical, it most likely put people in a defensive posture. Instead of seeking truth as a pilgrim, they felt they had to defend their truth against a threat.

Being an insider doesn’t automatically make us defensive and close-minded. It does, however, makes it harder to be open-minded. Insiders are more personally invested because we’re insiders, and its very difficult to dismiss something that we’ve become personally invested it.

That’s not to say that we should not get close to anything or anyone. That’s not to say that loyalty is irrelevant. That’s not to say that we should abandon ship every time the wind blows something new our way. What it does say is that as a disciple, which literally means student, we must approach our faith with a posture of discovering. This means that we can be skeptical, but not outright dismissive. It means we respect the truth passed-down to us, but also acknowledge that the truth continues to unfold. It means we follow truth where-ever it leads because that is where God wants us to be, rather than remain in an illusion because that’s where we want to be.