January 6, 2019 [ 3 kings / epiphany ]
• Isaiah 60:1-6 • Psalm 72 •
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 • + Matthew 2:1-12 •
Title: Found. Epiphany
[_01_] Hide-and-go-seek
(H_+GS)
is a game in which 1 player closes his/her eyes – and counts – often to 100 - while
the other players hide. After counting to 100, the “seeker” then opens his eyes
and tries to find those in hiding .. the last one to be found is the winner of the round.
[_02_] (H_+GS) is mysterious. The Gospel today is mysterious
as we read about 3 kings – or 3 wise men – bringing 3 gifts and while they did
not count to 100…they traveled for hundreds of miles / kilometers … a great
distance in search of … seeking Jesus the newborn king.
[_03_] Why
do we play (H_+GS)
? We play in order to be the last one found. Jesus is the last person FOUND,
the last one discovered in this Gospel.
That is, there are – first – 3 KINGS
– they are # 1, # 2, # 3 travelling on the road to Bethlehem. We found them.
There are significant statues of the –to the RIGHT of the altar…
Then, there is a fourth king – King
# 4 is King Herod. He is famous, has a palace, a big house and everyone knows
his name.
But, the real king – is king # 5 –
the fifth King – who is very well hidden. #5 = Jesus. No one knows his name. Yet. The 3 Kings were
not expecting to find him in Bethlehem. And, Herod is kicking himself for not figuring
this out sooner.
Bethlehem is a good hiding place. It
is a simple town, not many people. Thus, we sing, “O Little Town of Bethlehem
how still we see thee lie… ”Whether in Bethlehem – or later I Nazareth, Jesus
is remains pretty well hidden even as an adult. [1]
He is in hiding today, when the 3
Kings arrive in the country and area of Bethlehem.
[_04_] In (H_+GS), enthusiasm –love
– are shown by hiding from the other person.
This is also a message of Father
Ronald Knox in a sermon about the Christmas and the birth of Jesus. Jesus
appears to be in hiding, hard to find. And, the 3 Kings are the scientists of
their time, they have something better than GPS satellites, they can read and
measure by the stars on their own.
[_05_] In
this mysterious way, and the mystery of the Epiphany, I believe that God is not
trying to get away from us…but he is showing us that he loves us.
Sometimes, we love others even when
we are in hiding.
I’d like to give some specific
experiences which you may also have. Consider that you are making a really nice
Christmas gift for someone and you want the other person to be surprised. You
might place the gift in a box that does not show the other person what is
inside. They have to unwrap it in order to see.
There are times, my brothers and
sisters, that we also have to take the
time to understand, to listen, to un-wrap – to ask questions of other people in
our lives.
Think about this … when you are
really troubled or unhappy about something..isn’t it nice when someone takes
the time to ask you about what is bothering you. You are not really hiding …but
you are allowing them to find you.
Or, in another example – let’s say
that someone experience some great joy in their lives. It is an act of
Christian charity to ask another person about his or her joys. In other words,
the other person wants to be asked. You
and I want to be asked about the joys of our lives.
Jesus goes into hiding so that we
will also ask – that we will ask directions – like the 3 Kings to find him. [*** PAUSE***]
[_06_] Jesus
wants us to find him.
Here
is an example I would like to share with you about how we – in my family –
wanted someone to be found. It was not a game of (H_+GS).
It was rather a surprise birthday
party for my mother.
There are many tricky things about a
surprise party. There is the guest list, there is the date on the calendar,
there is the cake, there might be gifts.
But, the 1 thing that is really
really hard to pull off … and it is key to the whole surprise – WHERE?
Where is the surprise party to take
place? LOCATION!
The key is to find a location that
everyone can gather at …and, moreover,
to get the guest of honor – my mother – to the party – to the restaurant
without seeing all these people and their cars or shoes or coats.
It is (H_+GS) / major league baseball (H_+GS) .
And, in the surprise party – like in
the game (H_+GS)
, you achieve your VICTORY … by making
sure that one particular person is not found until the very end….this is the
guest of honor, the birthday girl or birthday boy.
And, after the surprise, everyone’s
life is absolutely changed. Because everybody is in on the surprise, in on the
joy.
It is a team effort to pull off the
surprise.
And, it shows our love for the other
person that we would go to such lengths to hide, to keep the plans of the party
hidden for so long, for so many weeks or months ahead of time.
[_07_] Yes,
Jesus is in hiding in the Gospel. The seeking and finding of the newborn King
of the Jews, the Messiah is an absolute shock to King Herod.
Herod is scared, feels threatened.
[_08_] Now,
in a way, the presence of God – our awareness of God can also seem to be
hidden.
For example, while Christmas is
celebrated very appropriately and joyously by the exchanging of gifts, and this
signifies our gift of each other …. The best gifts we can give – ou love, our
honesty, our integrity and our mercy – is not something you can see.
Nevertheless it is there.
[_09_] It takes time to recall and remember where God
is in my life, in good times and in bad, in summer or winter, in light or dark.
For example, if we have a bad day,
or someone said something we did not like to hear or want to hear, we might ask
– God, where are you? So..rather than me hiding myself…I might go and try to discover
where God is.
I assure you – brothers and sisters
– the Lord dwells in his Word, in the Church and he is always here to give you
directions. If you are lost, come inside.
Stop in to church to pray and ask for these, as the 3 Kings did.
This feast reminds us that God wants
to be found. And we find him together.
[_10_] At
around 10:45 pm on Saturday evening, it was the night of my mother’s surprise
birthday party. We were all leaving and my brother’s daughter – who was 8 years
old at the time – had an exceptionally rockin’ time. Loved every minute of it
and knew that this was so special that she and her family had traveled from
California to be at the party.
In the parking lot, she was getting
into a very comfortable seat in a someone’s big car at the end of the night,
she had her own surprise, her own discover to report …saying in front of my
mother … “This was the best day of my entire life.”
This was a surprise, a discovery. It
also echoes our own Good News that is a joy – the best day – whenever we can
find Jesus where he is – the best day of our lives. [_11_] [_fin_]
[1]
Later when Jesus says is from Nazareth, the apostle Philip famously says, “Can
anything good come out of Nazareth?” Jesus remains hidden throughout his life.
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