(Return to Directory)

January 13, 2008  Feast of the Epiphany, All Souls' Episcopal Church 

      Last night – Twelfth Night – marked the conclusion of the Christmas Season and the beginning of the Season of Epiphany. Father Bright likes to remind us that Christmas is a Feast of twelve days. He doesn’t remind us of this because he enjoys all the partying, which he does. He reminds us of this because of beautiful depth and meaning of the season. Christmas Day falls on the twenty-fifth of December. I imagine most of you already knew this. What you might not know is that on the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-eight days of December we celebrate the feasts of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Holy Innocents. St. Stephen, the first Deacon, was also the first Christian martyr. He was killed for his faith. He died praying for the forgiveness of those who were putting him to death. St. John was not out to death for his faith, but he actually went to the cross with Jesus and comforted our Lord’s mother. For this reason, he is regarded by the church as a martyr in will if not indeed. The Holy Innocents were those children killed by Herod as he attempted to snuff out the life of our new-born King. Their dying allowed the Holy Family to escape, and for this reason the church regards them as martyrs in deed if not in will. In St. Stephen, St. John, and the Holy Innocents, we see martyrdom in all its aspects.

      Why is their all this emphasis on martyrdom immediately following the birth of our Lord Jesus? The answer is simple: Jesus was born in a manger, where lambs are born. Our Lord Jesus is the Lamb of God. Our Lord Jesus is that sacrificial lamb who came to offer his life as an atoning sacrifice. This is the message which lies underneath all the glitz and glamour, and all the tinsel and titillation of our Christmas jubilation. Something truly profound and even earth shattering was happening. The Lamb of God had come. By his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, our Lord Jesus fulfilled all the law and the prophets. On the octave of his birth, according to the law, he was circumcised. St. Paul wrote to the Galatians:

When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

The phrase “under the law”, as St. Paul uses it, refers to belonging to the Covenant, and being a member of that nation set apart and dedicated to God. If our Lord was going to fulfill the law and redeem those under the law, or fulfill the Covenant and redeem those under the Covenant, he must himself be within that Covenant. And so, on New Year’s Day, while the rest of the world, in varying states of grogginess, breaks all their resolutions, we celebrate the circumcision of Christ.

      Circumcision is a sign of the covenant. Part of God’s covenantal promise was that the people would inherit a land which they would populate with their offspring which would be as numerous as there are grains of sand in the desert, generation by generation. But, this promise wasn’t merely about being blessed with lots and lots of children. It wasn’t just the promise of a big family. And so, the sign is made on the generative organ, a sign which reminds us that the covenant isn’t simply about the blessing and heritage of children, but concerns a land and a people wholly dedicated to the praise and worship and service of God. This is important for us to remember. There is a great deal of emphasis these days upon the importance of family. This is a good thing. However, we must not insist upon the primacy of family in such a way as to make it more important than the laws and institutions which compose a rational society in which families can live and children can be raised in peace and tranquility. Otherwise, we will end up with a society which more resembles the Mafia than it does a “shining city on a hill.” Article 32 of the Articles of Religion states that the clergy, and indeed, all Christian men may marry … at their own discretion, “as they shall judge the same to serve better to godliness.” You see, godliness is the point. Marriage must be “a school of virtue” in which children are raised unto godliness. That is the point.

      We now come to the Epiphany of our Lord. This is yet another Feast of the church, making Father Bright happy yet again. We remember the visit of the magi. The Bible doesn’t tell us how many wise men there were who visited. There might have been a baker’s dozen for all we know. It says only that they brought three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These gifts, to which the church has assigned sacred and mystic meaning, were all considered precious, costly, and entirely appropriate to honoring the birth of a King. One of our hymns refers to the wise men as kings. This is an old tradition, and it fits nicely with the Messianic reference in Psalm 72: “The Kings of Tarshish and of the isles bring presents, the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.”

      The word “epiphany” means to make manifest. It is a season of light. What is being revealed in this light, and what is being made manifest in the wise men’s gifts, is the identity of the Holy Child and the purpose of his coming among us. He is the Lamb of God. He is God with us. He is our King.

      He is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world, born to save us from our sins and restore us to our rightful minds in his own image and likeness.

      He is God with us. He is the Word made flesh. He is the light which lightens everyone born in this world. His light can never be overcome by the darkness because his light is the knowledge of the glory of God. Our faith teaches us that God has called us to a divine and human friendship. We may know God. We may know Him. We do not need to search for God by fleeing this world; God has come to us, and we may know Him in this world. He is reconciling this world to Himself in Christ so that nothing is lost and not one fragment remains outside His loving providence.

      He is our King. His kingdom is not one of golden palaces and walled, fortified cities; of armies and conquest, and the power of domination. His Kingdom is ever so much greater and more enduring because it begins within us. It is a kingdom built from the inside out, beginning in spirit and fulfilled in resurrection. It is a kingdom founded in faith, conceived in the charity of God, and sustained by the hope which aspires to things not seen. It is a city whose builder and maker is God.

Lift up your heads O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors: And the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory.

(Return to Directory)