The God Who Confronts the World (Epiphany Year B)
Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7,10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12)
God calls to
his people and his world (season of Advent).
God comes to his people and
world (season of Christmas). God confronts his people and world (Day of
Epiphany).
Born to a peasant couple in Bethlehem. Attended by animals
and shepherds. Now worshiped by Magi. These “wise men” from the East, that is,
pagans, seek audience with him led by a star in the East to his birthplace. They
bear gifts fit for a king. This is
Jesus, the king of the Jews (Mt.2:2)!
The lectionary readings also frame Jesus’ birth as a
royal divine event. Isaiah styles it the
coming of God’s “glory” (God’s presence).
That for which Israel had longed for and waited is here!
Psalm 72 offers a prayer for this one, this king, who
comes bearing God’s presence. Two things about this king according to this
prayer. His rule extends to the Gentiles
(v.10-11). And the mark of his rule is care, relief, and deliverance for the
needy, the poor, those without help, those oppressed and afflicted with
violence (vv.12-14). Remember Jesus’
birth, its humble origins, lower class retinue, his pagan adorers?
Not only is the setting of his royal arrival less than
glorious and those who receive him, the peasants, shepherds and the magi the
scorned and those outside the pale, but Israel already has a king. And sitting kings don’t usually take kindly
to threats to their reign!
Usually we think of Epiphany as the revelation of Messiah
Jesus to the world. And that’s of course
true. But when we allow the lectionary
to frame our reflection on the meaning of Epiphany and set the arrival of the
magi in its setting in Matthew’s story, that rather innocuous sounding “revelation
of Messiah Jesus to the world” suddenly becomes a sharp stick that pokes and
prods us see things we’d rather not see.
What things?
-God has a “no borders, no boundaries” world. All of us have “pagans” in our worlds. Those who are different, frightening, outside
the pale of acceptability, worth keeping as far away as possible and by any
means necessary. Messiah Jesus, himself
a Jew, draws magi (pagans) and shepherds (poor and despised), welcomes them,
and shares a vision of God’s “no borders, no boundaries” world and calls them
to join him in bringing it to pass.
-God’s passion is compassion. The Messiah (world ruler) he sends to set all
things right and establish his kingdom does it by making sure the needy, poor,
helpless, hopeless, oppressed, afflicted, ill are taken care of, restored to
health, community, and overall well-being. This is the baseline and a community
and a world’s health. The foreign and
domestic policy of Messiah Jesus is lifting up the lowly (remember Mary’s
Magnificat) and lowering the high and haughty. This means confrontation and
conflict with the status quo, the way things are, and the powers that be all
across the board.
Yes, God’s passion is compassion. Compassion is standing
with the least, the lowest, the lost, following Messiah Jesus as he sets up God’s
eternal rule on the healing and well-being of these uncared for no accounts –
these “pagans” and “shepherds” – who are precisely those God comes to first (or
come first to him) upon his arrival.
-God’s people, his Epiphany people, announce and
engage God’s epiphanic confrontation with the powers that stand opposed to his
will and way. That’s what we learn from
the Ephesians reading. Paul tells us God
will use the church as his way of informing and defeating the “rulers and
powers in the heavens” (v.10). This mysterious sounding description points to
beings/realities that God created through Christ (Colossians 1:16) to establish
and maintain the conditions for human life.
You might imagine them as beams and girders on which the rest of a
building is constructed. These “powers”
have rebelled against God seeking to dominate and rule the world
themselves. Humanity is in thrall to
them. Their hold over us needs to be
broken. And that is just what Christ has
done (see ch.1-2 of Ephesians).
The church serves as his demonstration of the defeat of
these powers – a community that can and does lives free of their divisive,
demeaning, and destructive influences.
Though these powers use human systems and rulers, it is against them and
not their human surrogates that our struggle is directed (see Eph.6:10-20).
They are our opponents; their human surrogate are among those to whom we announce
and engage with to win and woo them to God’s kingdom. We have no human enemies, not even Herod who
does such atrocious things in searching for the infant king! They are as enslaved and misused as are those
they use and misuse. By living and announcing
the defeat of these powers we display the freedom from the divisive, demeaning,
and destructive intent of the powers and freedom for the reconciling, humanizing,
edifying intent of the Spirit’s work among us.
God confronts the world on the Day of Epiphany. He confronts the world for us, with us, in
us, and through us. May we be open to
becoming the epiphanic presence of the risen One in our rebellious, needy, and
broken world!
Epiphany
On Epiphany day,
we
are still the people walking.
We
are still people in the dark,
and the darkness looms large around us,
beset as we are by fear,
anxiety,
brutality,
violence,
loss —
a dozen alienations that we cannot manage.
We are — we could be — people of your light.
So
we pray for the light of your glorious presence
as we wait for your appearing;
we
pray for the light of your wondrous grace
as we exhaust our coping capacity;
we
pray for your gift of newness that
will override our weariness;
we
pray that we may see and know and hear and trust
in your good rule.
That we may have energy, courage, and freedom
to enact
your rule through the demands of this day.
We submit our day to you and to your rule, with deep joy and high hope.
(Walter Brueggemann, Prayers
for a Privileged People [Nashville: Abingdon, 2008], p. 163.)
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