Epiphany
– Monday, January 6, 2020
When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles...assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3:1-6
Epiphany is, in the Christian calendar, the
appearing (or Revelation) of Jesus Christ celebrated by the magi’s arrival to
discover the infant Lord at the manger.
In common language epiphany is also descriptive of an awakening to
insight previously unknown; in short, to know epiphany
you must first be ignorant.
The Apostle Paul writes of the epiphany of
God’s mysterious plan regarding Jesus, that both Jews and Gentiles who believe
in Christ are accepted by God. In the
first century A.D. that was news to everybody.
Jews imagined the coming of Christ was for them alone; Gentiles were the
dogs, too dirty for God’s liking.
This marvelous revelation (epiphany) was
not received well at first. After all,
how can two groups that despise each other welcome the idea of not just
tolerating one another, but embracing as brothers?
These days epiphany is just as surprising. However, particularly in Christian circles,
the shoe is on the other foot. Many Christians
assume the Jews to be lost to God, somehow outside of God’s plan. In Jewish hardliners, Goyim (all Gentiles,
including Christians) are only fit to flame the fires of hell. Sometimes it seems with all the enlightenment
and understanding we think we have in today’s hi-tech information-glutted
culture, we are still stuck in first century ignorance.
As the new pastor of a church many years
ago I met a man who defied understanding.
In retrospect I was just as baffling to him. We were both raised in humble circumstances,
albeit his circumstances were Southern, mine Northeastern, and ne’er did the
twain meet eye-to-eye! As a steelworker
my parishioner’s days were filled with physical challenge to build big buildings
by the strength of his back and welding equipment. As a pastor my job was to meet the flock
where they were and introduce God into the conversation. Our personalities were quite opposite, he the
extroverted and outwardly vocal one concerning truth and life; Russell the
introverted pastor, certain of little beyond working out this call with fear
and trembling.
When the inevitable clash of personality
and suspicion met head-on the truth was squeezed out of us like toothpaste all
over the counter. It was not a pretty sight. I can still hear the contemptuous accusation
he flung across the room at me – you’re so calm, collected, and sure of
yourself…all smart and in charge.
Now, I know I’m not prone to talk, except
when nervous or trying to be helpful, but in-charge, collected, calm….
SURE of myself…give me a break; I’ve never overseen anything except
changing my socks regularly. I’m more
like the swan swimming across the pond – I look calm and
serene, but underneath the water I’m paddling for all I’m worth. And what I found out about my fellow church-dwelling
steel worker who was intimidated by my calm exterior, was he was paddling for
all he was worth too. The problem (after
30 years of retrospect) was we were both looking at how deep the water was,
instead of how fit God had made us to travel the waters together,
rather than holding each other at bay.
I certainly wish I’d done better with the one who, as much as we were
different, were both trying to paddle towards God. Some epiphanies take time to sink-in.
No comments:
Post a Comment