Epiphany 2008

The New Year begins with the feast of the Epiphany. But this feast sadly finds itself almost lost under the shadow of Christmass, so that we celebrate it simply as a kind of epilogue to the birth of Christ. Preparing for Epiphany this year, though, reminded me not just of its importance but also of its striking relevance to our time.

Epiphany sees Jesus adored and worshipped by sages from afar. This is why Epiphany preachers remind us that Christ is the saviour of all. There are no distinctions between rich or poor, male or female, Jew or Gentile, shepherd or king – Christ is, and was from the very first, the gift of God to all who will receive him by faith. The Magi thus represent you and me, people from outside of the Jewish nation now included among God’s people because of the birth of Jesus.

The church’s prayer on Epiphany morning goes further in hinting at just how relevant the feast is to our own day. Before and after the great Song of Simeon (Benedictus) come these words: ‘Today the church has been joined to the bridegroom, since Christ has purified her of her sins in the Jordan: the Magi hasten to the royal wedding and offer gifts: the wedding guests rejoice since Christ has changed water into wine, alleluia.’ Epiphany is linked to Christ’s baptism in the Jordan. This was the time when the crowds saw him anointed as the Messiah. And Epiphany is linked to the wedding at Cana in Galilee. This was the time when Jesus first showed them his glory. All three occasions have in common the theme of making Christ known.

From the first Christianity was what we might call ‘a revealed religion’. It had taught that Jesus had come among us as the way the truth and the life. He had dawned on the world with a message of Good News and the call to a change of heart – and the world was never to be the same again. Instead it now had hope, an awareness of God’s love, and an anticipation that Jesus would return to usher in the fullness of God’s kingdom.

To believe that God in this way revealed something of his nature, his love and his will means also that we now have to accept the idea of right and wrong. If a truth is proclaimed, then to deny that truth is to be in error. If we hold one thing to be true then we must hold its opposite to be false. If it is true to say that Jesus was born miraculously by a virgin or that he rose from the dead, it is wrong to say that Jesus was Joseph’s son and that his body was stolen to enhance his reputation. And to be fair we would apply this principle in our observation of the world around us. Here again, two opposite propositions cannot be equally right. If the earth is round, then you are wrong to believe it is flat. When an apple drops on your head you realise that there is such a thing as gravity and to deny the fact is wrong (and probably barmy!).

In other words, we can be wrong in religion just as we can be wrong in science.

No wonder that religion has fuelled so many wars! more reasonable and recent thinkers have observed. To speak of right and wrong is a heart beat away from intolerance and even downright hatred. So now let Christianity be rather less forthright. It is more becoming to say that things are right if they seem so to you. Rather than being challenged to newness of heart, we are now invited to rejoice in all the things we feel inclined to as if none were any better than another.

This new religion is much more comfortable than the old, especially when it can be made to look the same. But, we must ask ourselves, does it make Jesus manifest to the people of our day?