Epiphany 2019
INTRO: Do you remember any one particular phrase that your father used over and over again?
I do ……………. TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!
I guess my father wasn’t a good CHRISTIAN, because CHRISTIAN’S aren’t supposed to turn off our lights…. Meaning the LIGHT OF CHRIST!!!!!
They are to be kept burning brightly, always ON!!!!!
Just what is the LIGHT OF CHRIST that is supposed to be ON inside us, always???
Do you have a good answer for that?
We say it all the time: “let your LIGHT SHINE”
“We are the light of the world”
In this day and age…… practically speaking….. What is this LIGHT?
Today’s feast of EPIPHANY as well as the CHRISTMAS FEAST each brings to our attention that a LIGHT has shone in the darkness appearing to the shepherds so they can find JESUS…..and the three kings followed the light of a star that shines above where JESUS lay so they could find HIM!
So, why not talk about LIGHT today, the light of CHRIST that is supposed to shine within us. Others are supposed to see our LIGHT! Do they?
When we were kids………….. We used to put up a sign on our bedroom doors which said
KEEP OUT!
I guess we did that because we were mad at our brothers and sisters or parents or we wanted nothing to do with others or maybe we were just claiming our own territory.
Within us began a sentiment that was really not CHRISTIAN, not CHRIST-LIKE, not welcoming, but divisive and contentious. Interesting… just a little sign that began innocently, but represented MORE!
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 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 well, coming from his EYES. And that is where our light of CHRIST comes from… our eyes. Some say even our MINDS-eyes!
We are gifted with this LIGHT ….. A gift from God …… in His image and likeness ……… 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, scholars are saying that JESUS accepted ALL NATIONS ……………as the MAGI actually came from different corners of the known world… they didn’t know each other… they met on the way…. Different nationalities ….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 walks of life, those different from the way we live and act, if you will.
That is THE KINGDOM OF GOD on earth as JESUS initiated;
the unity and inclusivity of all nations!
CONCLUSION
So think twice before we put up that sign: KEEP OUT!
And think twice, when you go to that LIGHT SWITCH today!
Let your LIGHT shine as you view the world and all its people as JESUS did!