Epiphany hunger
Isaiah 60: 1-6
Ephesians 3:
1-12
Matthew 2: 1-12
A drunk stumbles along a baptismal service on Sunday
afternoon down by the
river. He proceeds to walk down into
the water and stand next to the preacher. The minister turns and notices the old
drunk and says, "Mister, are you ready to find Jesus?" The drunk looks back and says, "Yes,
Preacher, I sure am." The minister
then dunks the fellow under the water and pulls him right back up. "Have
you found Jesus?" the preacher asked.
Nooo, I didn't!" said the drunk.
The preacher then dunks him under for quite a bit longer, brings him up
and says, "Now, brother, have you found Jesus?" "Noooo, I have not,
Reverend." The preacher in disgust
holds the man under for at least 30 seconds this
time, brings him out of the water and says in a harsh tone, "My God, man,
have you found Jesus yet?" The old
drunk wipes his eyes and says to the preacher, "Are you sure this is where
he fell in?"
I’ve
found Jesus! I have seen the
light! It reminds us of preachers with
big hands standing on street corners, making everyone run a mile. But the language of change, of sudden
difference, of meeting God in a dramatic, life-changing way is straight from
the Bible: The people who walked in
darkness have seen a great light. Wise
men, looking in the dark sky for signs have suddenly seen something which has
taken their breath away and changed everything. This is something marvellous, says Paul, an enormous mystery,
which we would never have a hope of understanding with our tiny minds, has been
revealed, shown, exposed to us, to us out of all space, and time, out of all
people.
It
is an epiphany, a sudden realization of God, an experience which changes our
lives. Yes, there is much about having
faith in Jesus that can feel quite normal, quite routine, even quite
painful. But for all this, a life
without epiphanies is not the way it should be. A whole life without some experience of the presence of God, some
new understanding of just how amazing this is, some heart-stopping moment of
awe is not what he intends.
“Look!” he says. “Look and wonder. Be amazed. You were
walking in darkness. And now you have
seen a GREAT LIGHT.”
If
you have ever fallen in love with a person, place, or object, but most probably
with a person, you will understand what an epiphany is. It’s an experience which changes everything,
even when we know that many things perhaps remain the same. When I first became aware of God everything
seemed suffused with his presence and purpose.
The whole question my life seemed directed around was “What does he want
to do with me next?” It was a great
time. A time of being let in on a
secret. A time of faith-quickening.
It
was like the beginning of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, falling through
the back of a wardrobe, and suddenly realising that there was a whole world you
didn’t know about. A world which seems
initially peculiar, but ultimately more real than the previous one you had
known. There have been times when my
experience of God, my own personal epiphanies, have felt like the end of the
story, when the magnificent Jesus-figure, the lion Aslan, springs from his
resurrection and shouts to the children, “Catch me if you can!” He plays with them, he runs with them, he
protects them.
Epiphany
takes us by the scruff of the neck at the beginning of the year, and reminds
that the God who loves us is amazing.
That this revelation shines in all the world’s darkest places, for all
people. We can approach God with
boldness and confidence. Boldness and
confidence – amazing! We are servants
of the gospel – incredible! God works
in us with power to take this to other people – stupendous! We’ve been shown the wisdom of God! We understand his eternal purpose! We have seen the light!
But
what about those of us for whom that light is dim? For whom Narnia, that other realm which apparently touches ours
so closely, seems a distant memory?
What about those of us for whom the touch of God, the experience of his
presence, the boundlessness of his gifts, seems so hard to come by? What about those of us for whom our first
love has grown cold? What about us as a
church community, who have remained faithful, but for whom the past seems to
hold more glory, more joy, more great light?
What is epiphany for us?
There was a
young man who approached a hermit with this request: “Show me how I can find God.”
“How great is this desire of yours?” asked the saintly man. “More than anything in the world,” came the
reply. The hermit took the young man to
the shore of a lake. They waded into
the water until it was up to their necks.
Then the holy man put his hand on the other’s head and pushed him under
the water. The young man struggled
desperately, but the hermit did not release him until he was about to
drown. When they returned to the shore,
the saint asked, “When you were under water, what did you want more than
anything in the world?” “Air,” he
replied without much hesitation. “Well,
when you want to find God as much as you just then wanted air, your eyes will
be opened to his wonder.”
Epiphany for us
is a call to get desperate again. To
get hungry, to get restless, to be discontent.
Are you unhappy with the relationship you have with God? Good!
Are you worried about your church?
Great! Are you dissatisfied with
the way that we are failing to reach people and God’s world? Good.
Are you hungry for more spiritual reality? Good – keep that hunger, that dissatisfaction, that unhappiness,
that worry. Keep it, and you will be
like the wise men. Because the Magi had
a fever. A quest-fever. They
didn’t know what they were looking for, but they were determined to find
it.
Better for them
the uncomfortable journey than the contentment of home. Better for them the new experiences than the
old ones revisited. Better for them the
risk than the certainty. Because at the
end of it they saw a great light.
I know that I
feel dissatisfied with the depth of my faith sometimes. I know we all do. I know that some of us don’t know when the last time we saw a
great light was. Or have almost given
up on feeling that God may have a fresh, a new gift for us to receive and give
out again. But this year I don’t think
it’s a bad thing if the Spirit of God reaches in and disturbs us. I believe the greatest thing we each need to
do as individuals is to get hungry for more revelation, more reality, more of
this great light. I believe that what
we need as a church is a vision from God for this society, this culture, this
time we are in which will require us to leave home and set out on a risky but
exciting journey if we are to see this Jesus revealed to all peoples. So let’s pack our bags, grab the gifts we
have to bring and offer, and set out together for the promised future. Let’s pray for the quest-fever today. Let’s pray to be sent on a new journey. Let’s pray for an epiphany.