Your Light Has Come

Have you noticed the daylight hours are slowly lengthening?  They have been since the winter solstice on December 21^st.  As the days get longer there is an increasing sense of hope and anticipation for Spring.  There are only two more months of winter and the days will continue to lengthen before we switch once again to daylight saving time. The light is slowly overcoming the darkness.

It is a new year.  It is time for a renewed sense of hope and peace for God’s people throughout the world.  The prophet Isaiah stated, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn….  They shall bring gifts of gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord”

Today is the feast of the Epiphany.  It marks the appearance of God in Jesus Christ to people of every nation.  Every proclamation of the Word of scripture, every celebration of the liturgy, is potentially an epiphany, a sign from God to the people of God.  The message of Jesus is that God is the God of history, the God of the people of the Covenant, the children of Abraham, the God of our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters. 

For those of us who share God’s Word in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, God is revealed through a series of events experienced by the people of Israel and the followers of Jesus.  Among these events were the restoration of the Jews after a period of exile, the birth of Jesus, and the greatest marvel of all in Christian eyes, the admission of the Gentiles into God’s inheritance as members of a new covenant.  The apostolic age knew of no greater sign of God’s power.  As St. Paul said, “In former generations the mystery [of Christ] was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise of Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

A significant part of the mystery of God’s appearance begins in creation when darkness covered the earth, and God said, “Let there be light,” and the light was separated from the darkness.  This theme of darkness and light is pervasive throughout history.  The darkness of evil and violence, separation and exile, suffering and death is everywhere.  And the light of redemption, of hope and peace, love and compassion, new life that springs out of the darkness, also is everywhere.  Evidence of the light coming out of the darkness is all around us.

Darkness has covered the earth. It covered the earth for the prophet Isaiah, "and thick darkness the peoples," but the prophet declared, "the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.  Nations shall come to your light."  Isaiah said, "Look around, ‘you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice.’"  It is in the midst of the thick darkness that the light of God shines forth and brings glory to the human community.

We know the darkness of the poor and suffering in many countries, including the darkness of homeless citizens here in Rhode Island.  Darkness takes many forms: hunger and malnutrition, hatred and bigotry, extreme religious fundamentalism, the unemployed who have lost hope, the survivors of victims of violent acts.  Darkness reigns around the world.  Our prayer is that the light of new life and peace will shine throughout the year.  Isaiah envisioned that new light, the Lord's light shining through the darkness. 

Centuries later, Matthew proclaimed the new light in the story of those three well-off wise people who followed the light of a star to the town of Bethlehem, several miles south of Jerusalem.  The star guided the wise men to the place where the child was.  They knelt down, opened their treasure chests, and offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  The choice of gifts is interesting.  A writer in the Middle Ages thought they were very practical gifts: frankincense to subdue the very pungent odors of the stable; myrrh, long known to be very efficient in the eradication of worms in young infants; and gold, because of the high cost of traveling to Egypt - not to mention the high cost of living once you had arrived.

Other commentators have seen the gifts more symbolically: myrrh as foretelling of the death of Christ and for his burial; frankincense as symbolizing Jesus’ divinity or priestly sacrificial nature; gold as proclaiming his right to the title, King of Kings.  After presenting their gifts the wise men, instead of going back to Herod as he had instructed them, returned to their own country by another road.

Matthew told the story of Herod by including the flight into Egypt and Herod’s command to slaughter young boys in Bethlehem.  There is an irony in this account that anticipates the irony of the whole gospel.  The good news had been announced to Joseph in a dream.  The wise men received a partial revelation through a star.  They came to worship, but they had to learn from a sign from God where they would find the child.  Their helpfulness to Herod linked them with Herod’s attempt to destroy the newborn child.  God saved Jesus from death and after an interval brought him back from exile.

Here in its most succinct form is the whole story of Jesus: He will come announcing the good news of salvation.  A secular ruler will conspire with some of the religious leadership to bring about his death.  But he will return, victorious over death, in risen life. 

The biblical scholar Marcus Borg has commented:  "Matthew combines three themes from the Hebrew Bible. (1) The star shining in the night sky reflects the frequent use of ‘light in the darkness’ as an archetypal image of salvation.  (2) An ‘exodus’ theme involving a new Pharaoh and a new Moses is reflected in the story of King Herod ordering the wholesale murder of male infants as a method to destroy the one born to be the deliverer of his people.  (3) The journey of the wise men reflects the theme of the Gentiles streaming to Israel as ‘the light of the nations.’"

“The story of the star is a powerful metaphorical affirmation of Jesus' significance.  It makes a claim that the story of Jesus' birth is the story of light shining in the darkness…. There is in this narrative a powerful and literal message to the world: the worship of the God we meet through Christ must call us beyond all tribal identities, ethnic diversity, and gender or sexual differences…. We are destined to be one people, one humanity, each person recognized as a child of God, all people seen as created in God's image.  Maybe the story of the Wise Men, when properly understood, just might invite us to love one another and thus help us to usher in that reign of peace for which all humankind yearns."

During this season of Epiphany and throughout the year may our collective light shine as we fulfill our human destiny to be one people, created in the image of God.  And may we, through compassion and generosity toward others, do our part in ushering in God’s reign of light, peace, hope, and new life for everyone.  Amen.