FROM THE PASTOR

Epiphany

“As with gladness men of old
Did the guiding star behold
As with joy they hailed its light,
Leading onward, beaming bright
So, most gracious Lord, may we
Ever more be led by thee.

As with joyful steps they sped,
Savior to thy lowly bed,
There to bend the knee before
Thee, whom heav’n and earth adore;
So, may we with willing feet
Ever seek thy mercy seat.” (LBW, 82)

I would like to reflect with you on the nature of Epiphany and the ministry we share at St. Luke’s and the mission field right outside our doors.

Context: In Matthew 2 we are given the story of three seekers on a spiritual journey.  Outside our doors we are confronted with societal spiritual hunger as intense as it has ever been.  We are still coming out of a pandemic, war, public tension, economic uncertainty and we are collectively anxious and fearful.  People are seeking answers to the anxiety of our time, all of us magi, seekers of spiritual comfort and the presence of God.  How do we share the Good News of a graceful God in this anxious world?

All want help in living their lives, and our crucified and Risen Christ is still relevant. In midst of the American culture outside our doors, how do we hear and enact the Epiphany story?

The Journey of the Magi: Martin Luther devoted forty pages to reflecting on the Epiphany  because it was such a profound version of a theology of the cross.  In the story of the magi we notice how deceiving appearances can be.  The place to bend the knee is not Jerusalem, but Bethlehem; not before Herod but a mother holding a vulnerable child; not before wealth, but poverty; not before power, but weakness.  We are reminded how we can be stuck on the superficial and miss the less obvious truth.

We notice the confusion between religious and political realms.  The magi seek the Messiah king in Jerusalem.  They go to King Herod.  The court theologians don’t have the answers, they have to look it up…Micah…Bethlehem…bingo!  Where is God to be found?  Not in Herod’s palace.  They must follow the star to humble Bethlehem.

We notice how the Good News becomes a threat to power and an occasion for violence.  Herod is so upset and insecure that the journey of the magi set up the slaughter of the innocents.  We ponder the possibility that if we are successful in mission and serious about holy justice for all people, that forces opposed to God will be stirred up, maybe even in our own midst.     

We notice, with gratitude, that this story is Gospel.  The journey of the magi is fulfilled in the end.  They are “overwhelmed with joy.”  In the mission field outside our doors many magi have not yet arrived at the end of the journey to say “Yes, I have found it!”  Karl Rahner illumines this restlessness: “everyone is created for grace.”  The magi’s pilgrimage represents the right end to the journey for all of us.  Our society is filled with unfulfilled souls because the journeys are wandering around and confused.  Luther’s key theological epiphany in the spring of 1518 is still relevant today: righteousness is first God’s gift in Christ.

The true epiphany journey leads to a theology of the cross.  A theology of the cross is a clue to how God acts in the world and is revealed.  If God is supremely revealed in the failure of the cross, then all our notions have been re-cast.  The cross is the key to the hidden and surprising ways of God.  A theology of the cross helps us to not get stuck at the level of the obvious, but gives us the vision to see the Spirit stirring something up in the most unlikely places.

We are magi.  If we are seekers then we can model this for others.  As magi we can confront missional opportunities without anxiety.  Can our parish again be “touched by the star?”  If we are magi, going ever more deeply into the mysteries of faith, then we can help affirm all folks as born seekers.  We can treat their quests with respect.  They are made for God.  We can look beneath the surface.

In a congregation with a long and serious commitment to ministry with people in poverty throughout the world we also remember that the poor have a need for God as do the wealthy and the middle class.  We must share not just food, but the bread of life as well.  Remember Herod and the magi.  We must be shrewd about power and violence and their relationship to outreach ministry.  Ponder the enormous hatred (often disguised as indifference) of the poor and the immigrant.  The mission field outside our door supports a society in which one third of its children are poor and hungry.

As magi we are theologians of the cross.  At St. Luke’s we continually notice how God is present in surprising ways among us, in countless acts of compassion, prayer, love and care.  We share a spiritual grandeur at the foot of the cross.  As magi let us not be overly impressed with obvious signs of success.  The cross is always prodding us to ask, “what are the meaning of these things?”

As magi, let us be willing to “bend the knee” when the star leads us to the right place.  We must continually be surprised by joy, overwhelmed by grace.  Faith is contagious.  In the hymn the “they” became “we.”  “As with gladness men of old…so may we.”

Stephen Paul Bouman
Epiphany 2023