Epiphany
is the Sunday when we remember the Magi: the wise men who came from the east to
bring gifts to the child Jesus. What springs to your mind when someone mentions
the Magi? Do you see their luxurious clothing, and hear the rustling of fine
silk and the crinkle of embroidered satin? Do you see the gifts that they
offered to Jesus, and smell the sweet fragrance of frankincense and the bitter
odor of myrrh? Or maybe you simply see the light of the star that settled right
over Bethlehem – the star that led the Magi all the way on their long journey.
Those are all important parts of the story! Something else that should come to
mind, too. It’s a bell – a bell that signals the beginning of a fight. That
fight is between the powers of earth and the heavenly Kingdom of God. Imagine,
if you will, a boxing ring. In one corner stands Herod, representing the Empire
of Rome. In the other corner stands Jesus, representing the Kingdom of God. Both
men claim to be “the King of the Jews.” We all know that two kings is one king
too many, so… which one is the rightful king: Herod or Jesus? Who deserves the
devotion of the kingdoms of the earth? That’s what the fight is all about.
The
fight got started when the Magi stopped in Jerusalem to ask directions of
Herod. They assumed that the child whose star they were following was someone
in Herod’s household. After all, Herod was Rome’s man, and Rome had control of
nearly everything; so Herod should certainly know the identity of this new
“King of the Jews.” But that was the first that Herod had heard of it; and when
he heard what the Magi had to say, the bell rang, and the fight was on! Herod
wasn’t about to let someone take his kingdom away from him, so he planned his
strategy carefully. Herod knew it would be a difficult match, but he didn’t
know who he was fighting – or even where his opponent was! So Herod decided to
start with a sneak attack. As soon as he found out where this new “King of the
Jews” was hiding, Herod planned to knock him out with a killer punch before he
even knew what hit him. That didn’t work out so well, because the Magi refused
to cooperate; so Herod had to go to Plan B. If he couldn’t kill this particular
child, he’d just kill all of them; so Herod had all the baby boys in Bethlehem
murdered in cold blood. Of course, Herod probably didn’t think of it as murder.
He would have called it “collateral damage,” just part of business as usual to
hold on to the power that he craved. The great irony is that the child that he
was fighting wasn’t even there! He had been quietly whisked away to Egypt.
Round One goes to Jesus.
This
fight between earthly powers and God’s Kingdom continued when Jesus became a
man. Round Two started when Jesus began to proclaim the Kingdom of God.
Although Herod was long gone, the earthly powers of the time reacted exactly
the same way that Herod had reacted. They heard the bell ring and came out
swinging. But when they hit Jesus, he refused to hit them back. Oh, he avoided
their traps and deflected their blows; but he knew that they would knock him
out in the end. When they finally nailed him to a cross, those earthly powers
thought that the fight was over in a knockout, and that they had won the match.
But they were wrong, because on Easter, Jesus rose from the dead. Round Two
goes to Jesus, too.
That’s
when Round Three began; and that round is still in full swing! The contestants
are still fighting for the championship of the world. In that corner are the powers of the world: violence, war, greed, and
evil of every kind. Oh, their names have changed over the past 2,000 years. Herold
may be long gone, and Rome may no longer be an earthly empire, but there are
plenty of other evil people and violent, oppressive regimes who are still
fighting as hard as they can to have their way in the world. And in this corner is the Kingdom of God. Jesus
is still resisting those earthly powers; but these days, he is doing it through
us. And our strategy is still the same one that Jesus himself used: evade the
punches, deflect the blows, but don’t hit back. That’s because our methods are
love, peace, and hope, methods that the powers of the world judge to be useless.
And
here’s the good news – the good news of Epiphany that we proclaim today – God
has rigged the fight! Jesus is going to win in the end, no matter how many
times the world may punch us, or how hard they hit us! When the final bell
rings, the powers of the world are the ones who will be knocked out, and the
Kingdom of God will be victorious! The Light that was born in a stable on
Christmas; the Light that led the Magi to that same child; the Light that offers
us wisdom and hope and peace and joy – that Light will one day shine brightly
throughout the whole world, and every single person in every single nation will
know Jesus Christ as King! So don’t let the fight worry you. When you hear the
bell ring, don’t be afraid! The Light still shines in the darkness, and the
darkness will never overcome it! Thanks be to God!
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