The Epiphany,
or the
Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles
What
a long title for a simple thought. The
Epiphany is the title of the feast recalling the arrival of the Magi to pay
homage to the Lord Jesus. Epiphany means
revealing or becoming aware. Our Lord
was revealed first to the Hebrews through the shepherds; the first gentiles
(non-Hebrews) to whom He was first revealed were the Magi or Wise Men who came
from afar to pay Him honor.
Epiphany is a fixed day, it is always the Sixth of
January, twelve or thirteen days after Christmas Day, depending on how you
count.
Sermon – Reverend Hap Arnold - Time and
Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion -
Descanso, California
Through
the leading of the star, the wise men from Persia (modern day Iran) were led to seek the Christ
Child. This was the “revealing” of Christ to the Gentiles, and the first such
event. Though Christ mainly ministered to the Jews of Israel, it is important He
ministered to the Roman governor and the Faithful Centurion (from which our
parish gets its name) whom were Gentiles.
Though
the many of the Apostles in the early church did not think ministering to the
Gentiles was worthy, through the actions of Saint Paul, The Word began
spreading to the Gentiles. Paul says in his Epistle the time has come we should
start spreading to the Gentiles, and bring our gifts (talents) to His Service
(as our talents are on loan from God, as Rush Limbaugh says) and use them
accordingly to further His purpose on this planet.
Paul
was charged by God to bring The Word to all, not just the Jews. The time was
now ripe to expand past the original target market (the Jews), and to spread it
to all. He said he wished to explain the mysteries (The Word) of God to all,
including the Gentiles, so they might see and hear The Word.
In
the Gospel, Herod tries to entice the wisemen to find the Christ child and
report His whereabouts to him that, he claims “that I will come and will worship
him.” But like most modern leaders of
the world today, his words were duplicitous in nature. “I will come and worship
him” translated to he would come and murder Christ, as he did the Holy
Innocents, while Christ was in Egypt.
After
they visited the Christ child. God warned the wisemen in a dream of Herod’s
true intentions, and they went home a different way so they avoided a
confrontation with Herod. They brought
Jesus frankincense, incense and myrrh. In a way, they did what Paul talked
about and brought Him “gifts” for His Service. Now we do not know if these
gifts were ever used in Christ’s life. But, like present time gift giving, it
is not the gifts themselves that are important.
It is the thought and meaning behind the giving of gifts.
Now
in this troubled time, we must be ready to bring our talents to Him, to use for
His Glory and to spread His Word. In
this time, we must spread The Word and without ceasing praise Him and His
Majesty. In order to institute a turnaround of the moral decay, we must first
act. If we do not act, then how can we
expect to stem the tide of the moral decay. We must act with steadfast purpose.
This
may require some courage on our behalf, as we will be mocked and perhaps in
this troubled time, may come a day, when we like the apostles are thrown in
jail. However scary this time may be for spreading His Word, no matter how
hostile it is, we must do it anyway. We
are soldiers of Christ and like our military counterparts, we must do out duty,
then count the cost. We must step
forward into this hostile world, and charge forward against the fire of hostile
media and people, whose hearts have been turned to stone. We must charge
against them, using The Word as our defense and our offense against Satan. The
greatest defense is the best offense. And we truly have both in The Word of
God. We must remember God wants everybody to follow Him, not just certain
ethnic groups (like the Jews), and we must concentrate on spreading His Word,
through bringing our Gifts and Talents to His Service.
He
comes!
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
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