I preached this message January 7, 2024, at Mount View Presbyterian Church, after being called upon in the 11th hour to fill in for the scheduled speaker that day. Lightly edited for publication.
Last year you may remember that I spoke about the “epiphany” I had in diving into the celebration of Epiphany and the ancient biblical history, both the Old Testament background and the New Testament setting, behind it. I also shared with you one author’s view that the “wise men” who visited Jesus may not have been Persians, as we’ve typically assumed for many years, but perhaps Jewish scholars or priests who lived in post-exilic Jewish communities that had relocated east of the Jordan River, but not quite to the heart of Babylon. In other words, they would have had an intimate connection to the OT prophecies to such a degree as to have been willing to make the journey to see the newborn Messiah.
In the liturgical calendar, Epiphany is more than just one day of celebrating the visit of these Magi to the house (notice they were no longer in the stable) where Jesus and his family were residing. Epiphany is the season on the church calendar between Christmas and Lent and covers the early chapters of the Gospels up to Jesus’s transfiguration, which is celebrated the Sunday before Lent. The transfiguration is a seminal event in the ministry of Jesus, because it is at that point, I believe, that the disciples, at least the ones who witnessed it, began to comprehend the divine nature of Jesus and his place as the Messiah of God. And of course Lent leads us up to Easter and the resurrection of the Lord, and the Easter season that follows leads us to Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the foundation of the New Testament church.
A year ago, then, I found myself reflecting on this organization of the liturgical calendar and kept coming back to one certain conclusion: the liturgical calendar is not intended to be some legalistic formula that we follow, but rather a microcosm of our respective journeys with respect to our faith in Christ, how we come to understand his grace in our lives, and how we discover his purposes through and for our lives.
Now we know the magi went out of their way to find the baby Jesus and worship him, because they knew he was the Messiah. But what was their “takeaway” from that experience? How did it impact their lives? Would they have had the same insights that Simeon and Anna had as we saw in last week’s passage? What was the message they brought back to their people from whence they came? Unfortunately, we don’t know much more about the magi and what happened to them afterwards, because they went home by a different route to avoid the clutches of Herod.
One point about the birth of Christ we often point out is that Christ wasn’t born in a royal palace or into a royal or politically connected family. He had humble beginnings in a stable. God wasn’t completely hiding Jesus from the rich and powerful because God did honor the Magi’s heartfelt search for his son. But what we see happening in the early church after Jesus’s resurrection is that the church, the body of Christ, is now tasked with taking the Gospel message not only to the rulers of the earth, as Paul does in Acts, but to “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” as Ephesians 3 says.
We see in the book of Acts that Paul, after his dramatic Damascus Road conversion, becomes the most prominent representative of the new Christian faith to the gentile world. From Asia Minor, whence Paul hailed, westward to Rome, Paul’s missionary journeys and the connections he made along the way were instrumental in the spread of the faith in the northern Mediterranean region. Along the way, Paul finds himself before a number of prominent Roman political figures as he’s defending himself for preaching the good news of Jesus.
To summarize, in Acts 21, Paul is arrested in Jerusalem, but when the Roman commander realized Paul was a natural-born Roman citizen, they had to change their approach to him. He was brought before the governor of the region at the time, Felix, who kept Paul in prison “as a favor to the Jews.” Felix was recalled by Rome and replaced by Festus, who was a more even-handed governor. Festus wanted Paul to stand trial before the Jews, but Paul took full advantage of his Roman citizenship and appealed to Caesar instead. Festus refers the matter to King Herod Agrippa, where Paul recounts his conversion experience. In the end, Agrippa concludes that Paul could have been set free had he not appealed to Caesar. Paul asked Agrippa if he believed what the prophets said about Jesus, but Agrippa’s famous response was, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”
Had Jesus been born into royalty, riches, or political power, his message surely would have been lost on the world because of how corrupt and power hungry the rulers of the world were in that day and age. The evidence of the power of the Gospel, the good news that Jesus preached and lived out, is found in the body of Christ today. We are his hands. We are his feet. We are his messengers, advocates, warriors, defenders. Without this testimony of the great cloud of witnesses and the growing, flourishing church in Paul’s day, his message before the rulers of the Roman rule would have surely fallen on deaf ears.
You and I may never be arrested and brought to trial for our faith, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still testify to and before our own political leaders, be they local, county, State, or federal positions. The beauty of living in a republic, “if you can keep it” said Ben Franklin, is that we do have the freedom to speak out, even if the expression of faith is becoming increasingly less popular. Paul’s courage to speak of his faith in a time when he could have been (and was) imprisoned or even put to death should be a testimony to those of us who, at least on paper, cannot and should not be imprisoned for speaking our beliefs.
But Paul takes this one step further in Ephesians 3:1–12, which is the evergreen epistles passage for Epiphany. Listen to his words:
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. [1]
After confirming that the wall of separation between Jews and us Gentiles has been forever demolished and that we are, in fact, coheirs with God’s chosen people, Paul expands the audience for our evangelism “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” In other words, when we speak forth God’s word and testify about Jesus, his one and only son, our words have eternal impact “in the heavenly realms.” When we act upon our faith, be it through service or speaking, our actions and words have eternal impact “in the heavenly realms.”
We can view Epiphany, then, as a time to introduce Jesus to those around us, whether that be through service and ministry or just the casual conversations we have in daily life. Depending on the nature of your relationships, those introductions can be very basic or go more in depth. Just as the disciples early on probably didn’t grasp the fullness of who Jesus was just based on his teachings and occasional healing, they needed more experience with Jesus. When Peter, James, and John witnessed the transfiguration, they began to understand more fully who Jesus was. Our goal should be to help people see and experience the divine nature of Jesus as well.
Once they come to accept that, it becomes more natural to talk about Jesus’s death and resurrection and what those events mean for our salvation and hope. That is, if you will, the “Lenten season” of our lives, as we remind ourselves of the sacrifice Jesus made and that he was preparing his disciples to accept when the time of his crucifixion would come. And as we remind ourselves of that and affirm or renew our commitment to Christ, we can bring others along with us as well.
In the beginning, I asked what was the “takeaway” for the magi who had worshiped Jesus and given him gifts. Although we don’t have specific examples of what they did, I think what we’ve seen here in Acts and Ephesians today is that God wanted to establish his church before any formal outreach began to earthly or heavenly rulers and authorities. Paul seems to have understood that it was the job of the church, the body of Christ, to carry out the ministry of preaching to earthly rulers so that all the world might know eventually.
If you’ve never heard this message of Epiphany before, consider yourselves introduced to Jesus! If you have heard this message before, then this is an invitation for you to introduce him to others. God loves us and wants the best for us, which is why he sent Jesus in the first place. The more we introduce others to Jesus, the more the good news of his kingdom spreads. Grace and peace to you all in this new year, and especially in this season of Epiphany. Amen.
[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Scott Stocking.
My views are my own
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