Epiphany gives us three stories of showing forth, when you bring the Eastern and Western traditions together, three stories in which the nature of Jesus is revealed in surprising and unexpected ways.
Today we start with the story of the wise men following a star to find the new king. The first visitors to the infant Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel are the wise men. Whoever they were, they were Gentiles. So, even though Matthew puts Jesus very much in a Jewish framework and his infancy stories are about portraying Jesus as the new Moses, Jesus is manifested first to foreigners. And that says that Jesus is for us too, all that he was, all that he did, all that he taught, was for us, for those who come because they have enough wisdom to follow the light and make the hard journey to come and kneel before the true king.
Then we get the story of the baptism of Jesus. The accounts show God proclaiming that Jesus is his son, and he is the Beloved, and God the Father is very proud of him. In all four Gospels, the baptism manifests Jesus’ divine origins.
And the triptych is completed with the story of the wedding at Cana, when the wedding feast, the messianic banquet, is enlivened by the new wine. Jesus is the one who transforms the ordinary water of our worship into better wine that you have ever tasted. Jesus brings in the kingdom of God which is fulfilled in the heavenly feast.
Three images, three stories which proclaim Jesus and make him known; three stories which shape what we think of Jesus and how we relate to him. All of them would have shaken the assumptions of those who first heard them.
But of course, Jesus is made known in so many other stories, in the lives of the apostles and other saints, in the gifts and kindnesses of humble folk, in the pursuit of justice and reconciliation, every time we present the word made flesh, every time we follow the way in faithfulness, proclaim the truth and reveal the light.
For example, in 2009 falls the 200th anniversary of the birth of Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. There is an extensive programme this year to celebrate Darwin, including a series on BBC Radio 4 this week. I would argue that the search for scientific truth reveals Jesus, the Logos at the heart of creation, in whom all truth resides.
This works if you make the framework big enough, if you believe that this is God’s world and everything about it reveals God in some way.
So I invite you to open your eyes and ears today and look for manifestations of Jesus all around you. And allow yourself to be surprised.
I have to say, what a load of rubbish. Darwin tells us nothing about Jesus other than he is as accidental as the rest of us. It’s odd to me to even have to say this. A devotional and a matter of science do not equate. Our meanings are what we as conscious and self-conscious humans generate, and in this we are all the same. In what way is a single human being the epitome of all that is? The universe is vast, strange, unknown, found simple and beautiful, and the one thing Darwin shows is that we are not… Read more »
Dear Pluralist,
I read usually your comments with some interest, knowing that you have problems with the issue of Christ being present in the Eucharist. I had not thought that you were so very far from the understanding of most of us Anglicans on the subject of myth and mystery. To state that ‘Jesus is as accidental as the rest of us’ does not seem to be the utterance of a person nurtured in the Christian Faith.
I’m sorry you find it necessary to disagree so violently on what really is one person’s take on the meaning of Epiphany.
“… but just happened to be.”
Of course, this is just the opposite of the Christian message on the subject.
Pluralist, whatever your own (non)beliefs, you really do have to reconcile yourself to the fact that they do not not reflect what Christianity teaches.
There is another significant commemoration this year – that of Lincoln. It seems this event might relate more to “manifestations of Jesus” than an hypothesis that has no scientific proof.
Jesus can be known, perhaps more through his quoted words and sayings than the stories about him. They leave a clear record of instructions for us to live by. His life was an example for us. And his sacrifice made possible what we could not achieve on our own.
“Our meanings are what we as conscious and self-conscious humans generate, and in this we are all the same.” Well, yes. We humans perceive and identify patterns in the world. Genesis tells us that God made everything, but then He brought all the animals before Adam, who gave them names. It is us humans that perceive patterns in God’s Creation, and name those things. We can look at anything in the world and see the way it was formed, naturally, no need of a God that we can’t prove. That’s science. It’s objective, it observes and conceptualizes what the evidence… Read more »
My reaction, which was harsh (and I have stopped taking the sacrament, either for a time or for good – I don’t know yet), is because Darwin is about something observed and falsifiable and theorised, and does not show anything other than an accidental humanity. My Christianity, such as it is, is in the area of mythology and is a different ‘language game’ from Darwin’s findings and all that has followed on.
Pluralist (whom I esteem) is obviously going through a mega-crisis. No shame in that: we all are – or – periodically – do. The issues raised by evolution are huge. Obviously – oh, quite obviously – they problematise (sorry, prissy academic term) the whole Christian ‘sin’ narrative. Obviously, also, they problematise the
whole notion of divine ‘creation’. Obviously, also, they problematise the whole ‘God-is-good’ syndrome. I still think/hope/sort-of believe that intelligent Christianity (or intelligent religion generally) can cope.
On ‘Thinking Anglicans’ above all sites, we should avoid cheap put-downs of anybody, ‘liberal’, in-between, Evangelical, agnostic, atheist, etc.
“On ‘Thinking Anglicans’ above all sites, we should avoid cheap put-downs of anybody, ‘liberal’, in-between, Evangelical, agnostic, atheist, etc.” – John – I am in complete agreement with you, and the only reason I challenged Pluralist’s comment here was because he used the term ‘complete rubbish’ in criticising the said article. Whatever he may think about the statements made, he, too, might avoid the ‘cheap put-down’ you mentioned. I believe that we all ought to try to be less pejorative. I, too, am a sinner in this (and other) area/s and am only too aware of the distress that can… Read more »
“If we are genetically programmed, some of us at least, to perceive a God behind the workings of the world, that is surely a part of what it is to be human, at least for some of us.”
And, further, if you believe in a God who made you, then you must believe that it is He who instigated that genetic programming for you to believe in him.
“The universe is vast, strange, unknown, found simple and beautiful, and the one thing Darwin shows is that we are not the centre…” Absolutely. That doesn’t stop God “tweaking”. Taking Jews out of slavery and leaving them wandering within the cloud of divine presence for 40 years whilst their thinking was brought into alignment. Sending forth Jesus as an example that God can and does punch through into this existence. That said, the lesson of evolution is a lesson in humility. God existed before us and will exist after us, nor is God confined to us and our constructs. Christians… Read more »
“Obviously – oh, quite obviously – they problematise (sorry, prissy academic term) the whole Christian ‘sin’ narrative.” No it doesn’t. Of course, if you understand sin as crime, then you would have a problem, especially as it comes to Original Sin. If you think OS is some ‘first ever crime, one so severe it brought about the condemnation of all humanity’, then you are hard pressed to find that crime in the long history of evolution. So you have a problem. But, Original Sin is not some long ago crime for which God punishes anyone who does not obey Him,… Read more »