Epiphany sermon: Jesus, the light that shines in the darkness.

The week before Epiphany, my colleague preached a very hard-hitting New Year sermon about Bonhoeffer and the cost of discipleship. When I came to meditate on my Epiphany readings for this sermon, Bonhoeffer was echoing around my mind - not just Bonhoeffer on discipleship but the later Bonhoeffer in the prison letters, with his emphasis on God pushed out of the world onto the cross, on recognising the world as it really is. This led me to Hannah Arendt's "dark times". So I was approaching the Epiphany readings with a sense of Jesus being born into dark times; Jesus revealed as God with us in dark times. Can that be brought out in an Epiphany sermon? I did my best...

What are the key parts of the Christmas story?

I expect most of you would say: the stable, the shepherds, the angels; Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem (not forgetting the donkey!) and baby Jesus, asleep in a manger because there was no room in the inn.

And that is indeed the Christmas story (apart from the donkey, who may or may not have existed but certainly doesn’t get a cameo in the Bible). But it’s the Christmas story according to St Luke. The Christmas story according to St Matthew is quite different.

In fact, it’s the Epiphany story – the Gospel reading we’ve just heard. But it’s worth noticing that although we think of it as the Epiphany story, for Matthew it is the Christmas story – the story he chose to tell about the birth of Jesus, to sum up who this baby is and why this birth is important.

I’ve used the word Epiphany – we’ve used it quite a lot today, it’s the title of this Sunday and of the coming season all the way through January. And before we go any further, let’s remind ourselves that the word Epiphany has a meaning that isn’t just “the sixth of January”. Epiphany means revealing. The season of Epiphany is about the revealing of who Jesus is through his early life. And Matthew’s story begins that season with the revealing of who Jesus is to, and through, the visit of three foreign philosophers.

Luke’s Christmas story tells us about Jesus, born in poverty and worshipped by the poor. And Matthew’s Christmas story tells us about Jesus, born in David’s town, the promised messiah – but revealed, not to God’s chosen people, but to outsiders.

Both stories show Jesus born on the margins – Jesus, born to be God on the margins. But Matthew has a particular emphasis on Jesus marginalised, not by poverty, but by hate – by the hostility of the powerful, and in particular Herod. Matthew’s Christmas story is a story shot through with suffering. Jesus is revealed as God from the margins and in the context of suffering.

When Matthew tells us his Christmas story, it’s a story of a power-hungry king, of a religious establishment which knows its Bible inside out but fails to see God when he appears; and of outsiders – Gentiles – who see God at work in creation and realise that something special is here. Matthew’s Christmas story is drenched in suffering – the echoes of the death of Jesus in the presence of Herod, the chief priests and scribes in Jerusalem and in the title the King of the Jews; the myrrh, a present representing death, suffering and pain; and the shadow of the slaughter of the innocents lurking behind the reading we heard this morning. It’s the story of Jesus coming into the world marginalised, already God pushed to the edges – and met with hostility from the people who should have welcomed him.

And yet there’s something else. I’ve sent us to the dark shadows in Matthew’s story to start with – they’re important, and they’re often overlooked. But they are dark shadows of a radiant light: the glory of the Lord, rising in Jesus. The star, rising above the stable.

The light of Jesus is set against the shadows of the corrupt political landscape. The light of redemption against the shadows of the cross. The light of a baby born in a stable, receiving gifts which demonstrate him to be king and God and redeemer... against the shadows of the babies who are killed in his place by that corrupt and power-hungry politician.

A light which is completely missed by God’s people, who were meant to be waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promises but who had been sidetracked by power, money and privilege. A light which, instead, is followed by three pagan philosophers from far away, foreigners and Gentiles... and as they follow the star they fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah. The glory of the Lord has risen and the nations shall come to your light.

The light of Jesus which shines on the margins.

The light of Jesus which is pushed out by a hostile society, an oppressive government, a religious system that isn’t interested.

The light of Jesus which, despite this, shines with hope for the world.

And because Jesus was on the margins, the light of Jesus can be the light of hope to people living in dark times, in societies which are corrupt and oppressive, under governments which are hostile, when war is threatened or power valued over people or money valued over human life.

The shadows of Matthew’s story remind us that the world has always experienced dark times. Jesus was born into dark times like this and on the margins – far from Jerusalem, far from power, far from home.

When good is marginalised, Epiphany tells us that Jesus was marginalised first... and that Jesus, revealed as God on the margins, was still – was therefore – the light of hope in the world. The shadows of the story remind us that Jesus is revealed into the reality of the world– a world that complacently ignores him, that forgets to follow God’s call, that chooses to do evil.

But Jesus was recognised for who he was – not by powerful people in his own country or of his own religion, but by philosophers who followed the call of God whom they did not know, and met that God revealed in Jesus.

In this world, Jesus is revealed at the margins.

Jesus is revealed to those who have seen God at work and chosen to follow.

Jesus is revealed to those who have committed to the cost of discipleship.

And those who are complacent, who know their Bible inside out but don’t listen for God’s continued word, who are more interested in power and wealth than revelation – never find him.

So Epiphany offers us hope in our dark times. When the world is full of shadows, Epiphany is a promise that the light of Jesus will shine.

But Epiphany is also a challenge. Jesus is revealed in glory – but not where we expect him. Like the wise men, if we are going to see Jesus revealed, we need to follow diligently, search faithfully, and bear the cost of discipleship.