{"id":929,"date":"2013-01-07T17:46:05","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T22:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=929"},"modified":"2013-01-07T17:46:05","modified_gmt":"2013-01-07T22:46:05","slug":"homily-for-epiphany-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/homily-for-epiphany-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily for Epiphany 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Epiphany, Year C <\/a>
\nIsaiah 60:1-6
\nEphesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
\nMatthew 2:1-12
\nJanuary 6, 2013<\/p>\n

Christmas is a season to be very aware of Jesus\u2019 presence in the world.\u00a0 Today we celebrate The Epiphany of the Lord<\/em> but Christmas is really a season of epiphanies.<\/p>\n

The word epiphany primary meaning is \u201cappearance\u201d or \u201cmanifestation.\u201d\u00a0 As we celebrate The Epiphany we celebrate the appearance of Jesus before the Magi.<\/p>\n

Christmas day itself is another epiphany; the day became visibly presence among us.\u00a0 Next week we will celebrate the Baptism of Jesus.\u00a0 In his baptism, Jesus identity as the Son of God was made known and so his baptism is another epiphany.<\/p>\n

Why all these epiphanies?<\/p>\n

Of course, the first point is that Jesus is made known in the world.\u00a0 But there is another meaning of the word epiphany.\u00a0 It can also meaning insight.<\/p>\n

In these epiphanies we are given insight to who Jesus is and how the world of that time related to who Jesus was.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s focus on The Epiphany of the Lord.\u00a0 It only seems fitting since it is the feast we celebrate today.<\/p>\n

It is a familiar story to us.\u00a0 The Magi see a new star.\u00a0 It was a common belief of that time that each time a new ruler was born a new star appeared.\u00a0 The Magi is gifted to realize that the particular new star they see is for the newborn king of the Jews.<\/p>\n

So the Magi begin their journey following the star.\u00a0 They stop to see King Herod.\u00a0 King Herod is greatly troubled by the news of a newborn king for the Jews.\u00a0 He\u2019s troubled because he is the King of the Jews, so he sees Jesus as a threat to him.\u00a0 He wants to have him killed.\u00a0 The Magi continue on their way to Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.\u00a0 They see Jesus and then return home, avoiding Herod, having been warned about his true intentions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a story familiar to us.\u00a0 It\u2019s a regular part of how the Christmas story is told.\u00a0 It\u2019s a good story that points to Jesus\u2019 greatness.<\/p>\n

But I think we can look a little deeper for more insight.\u00a0 In scripture there is often a surface meaning that is fairly readily seen and there is often a deeper meaning to go with it.<\/p>\n

Think about it this way.\u00a0 Why include the story?\u00a0 Why do the Magi stop to talk to Herod when they are already guided by the star?\u00a0 Bethlehem was a little town.\u00a0 They could have managed without stopping for directions.<\/p>\n

To look deeper, we must understand who the characters are in the story.<\/p>\n

First, there are the Magi.\u00a0 We typically say there were three of them because there were three gifts.\u00a0 Today we say \u201cmagi\u201d but they have frequently referred to as \u201ckings\u201d or \u201cwise men.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scholars now see the Magi as astrologers.\u00a0 What is more important to the story is that they were not Jews.\u00a0 They were Gentiles.\u00a0 Yet they recognize Jesus as the newborn king of the Jews.<\/p>\n

Then there is King Herod.\u00a0 He\u2019s actually a Jew but he doesn\u2019t know of the prophecies about the coming messiah.\u00a0 He needs to ask the chief priests and scribes what the prophecies say about the birthplace of the messiah.<\/p>\n

The Jews had been waiting for centuries for the messiah.\u00a0 If Herod was a true disciple, he would have known the prophecies and even more so, he should have been excited at the news that the Messiah has finally come.<\/p>\n

Ironic that the Jews are troubled by the news of a messiah but the Gentile Magi travel a great distance.<\/p>\n

The Messiah was to come for the Jews but in turn accepts everyone.<\/p>\n

Part of the insight this story gives us is to realize that salvation is a gift, first offered to the Jews and now to all.\u00a0 We need to accept this gift.<\/p>\n

The Magi were guided by the light of the star to Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus is the Light of the World.\u00a0 Giving the insight that Jesus has given us to what it means to be a disciple, how might we be a star shining brightly to lead others to Jesus?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Epiphany, Year C Isaiah 60:1-6 Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 Matthew 2:1-12 January 6, 2013 Christmas is a season to be very aware of Jesus\u2019 presence in the world.\u00a0 Today we celebrate The Epiphany of the Lord but Christmas is really a season of epiphanies. The word epiphany primary meaning is \u201cappearance\u201d or \u201cmanifestation.\u201d\u00a0 As we celebrate …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Homily for Epiphany 2013’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[62,82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-eZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":930,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929\/revisions\/930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}