Reflection for the Epiphany - 6th January 2023
In the celebrations of the church east and west the feast of the Epiphany brings together two different but complementary manifestations of Jesus to the world, both with cosmic connotations – in the west we think of the wise men who came from the east to worship this new born king of the Jews but for the eastern church this ‘showing forth’ of Christ is focussed on his baptism in the Jordan as an adult. The story of the Magi speaks of a coming which was seen by them in the stars. Their focus was outward and upward, seeking wisdom through understanding the workings of the cosmos. But then what they found opened their hearts to the surprising intimacy of God’s coming. Turning in the opposite direction, the baptism of Jesus has an inward and downward focus as Jesus descends into the waters. But this descent has cosmic implications as Jesus is seen as hallowing all of material creation. This can also speak of the descent of Jesus into each one of our hearts and our own personal response to God’s coming. From the stupendously cosmic to the most intimately personal…
From the gospel of Matthew chapter 2:
There, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Is this story of the Magi a different way of saying what we hear in the prologue of John’s gospel?
He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
Herod the king and the religious leaders of the Jewish people did not accept this coming of God yet the Magi who were not of God’s chosen people were the ones with eyes open to this new thing that God was doing. And what the Magi encountered was not someone teaching philosophical or theological concepts, nor a king in a palace, but a child in a humble home that called for simple loving homage. Jesus was opening up a new relationship with the cosmic, transcendent God, a mysterious relationship that had to be lived out through life’s journey. It seems that the religious leaders were too certain of their understanding to be open to something new. I see in this a warning to all of us who feel we know who we are and what we believe – that we not be too certain that our way is the only way. The outsider may be the one who truly sees and is reborn as a child of God.
Turning to the baptism of Jesus, which we will mark next week on the Octave day of the Epiphany, a different but related theme comes forth. I am very struck by the Orthodox icons of the Baptism in which the Jordan river is portrayed as a deep fissure in the very structure of the earth, revealing the waters beneath. These waters are often shown as populated with monsters of various kinds. Jesus goes down into these waters bringing God’s light into the darkest places of the world. As he comes up out of the waters God proclaims him as his beloved son.
There is of course here a prefiguring of the death and resurrection of Jesus that overcame the darkness of sin and death and opened the way for each one of us to enter into intimate relationship with God the father. I also see a portrayal of each one of us with our hard shell around our innermost being. That shell must crack open revealing the depths within and Christ come in to bring light and healing in those places where the monsters lurk. Then those waters springing up within become the living waters promised by Jesus, flowing out to bring eternal live to ourselves and those around us. ‘Blessed are the cracked’ as we heard on Christmas day!
To bring together the two images, there is an invitation here to allow our hearts to be cracked open and softened in humble adoration of the God who came amongst us as a vulnerable child and who is born in each one of our hearts.
Mother Anne - 6th January 2023