Epiphany 2023

INTRO: I remember my DAD always harping on LIGHTS!!
……………. TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!

I guess my father was not a good CHRISTIAN, because CHRISTIANS aren’t supposed to turn off their lights…
They are to be kept burning brightly!

So, just what is this LIGHT OF CHRIST burning brightly in us? What is supposed to be ON inside us, always???

We say it all the time: “let your LIGHT SHINE”
“We are the light of the world”

Today………. what is this LIGHT?

I describe it as something that is inside US that helps us accept others, respect others, and not judge others!!!

When I was a child ………….. I used to put up a sign on my bedroom door which said

KEEP OUT!

I guess I did that because I was mad at my brother or sisters or maybe even my parents and I we wanted nothing to do with others for a time being.

Within me began a sentiment that was really not CHRISTIAN, not CHRIST-LIKE, not welcoming of others, but divisive and contentious.

I have this image of JESUS that he would never have put up a sign like that. He wanted UNITY and inclusivity with His brothers and sisters. He wanted others to come to him. He didn’t see differences in his brothers and sisters. He wanted to be with everyone: Jew Greek, men women, Pharisee Sadducee Roman Gentile

His light was seeing ALL OTHERS well!

We are gifted with this LIGHT in our eyes…..to accept all the peoples of the whole world… let them INTO our rooms!

When Scripture talks about this EPIPHANY, this MAGI, some scholars are saying that JESUS accepted ALL NATIONS …………… as the MAGI came from different corners of the known world … they didn’t know each other… they met on the way …. because of the STAR
AND
Jesus saw them with HIS EYES and welcomed them each from their own country….. Teaching us to use our LIGHT,
Our MINDS –EYES:
to do the same … welcoming people from other countries, other levels of society, those different from the way we live and act.

That is THE KINGDOM OF GOD on earth as JESUS initiated.
The unity and inclusivity of all nations!