Happy New Year (said with a lack of enthusiasm)! Of course with the new year we make new year’s resolutions. The number one resolution is of course (invite answers) to lose weight.[1] I’ve added that one this year to my list and started riding an exercise bike I received for Christmas. We like to think we have the will power to make change and find a solution to our problems and challenges. We must have the resolve and determination to make changes.
There is a chance again for a new solution, a re-solution to our struggles in life and the wise men show us the way to the manger by following the star. For today is the day of Epiphany, about light and a “sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something”, not necessarily seeing the full picture but “new information or experience, often insignificant by itself, that illuminates a deeper or numinous foundational frame of reference”. An epiphany can redirect your ways as you reevaluate your life.
Re-Solutions[2] is a way for us to look back and re-evaluate. We don’t get a re-due for the year is over. We have left gifts at the altar of the stable and we are led in a new direction. We have been given a new solution to the struggles we experience in this new year as we look back and forward at the same time; which is the Greek God Janus meaning.
Now I recently discovered that in the Orthodox tradition, people will often mark in chalk on the mantel of the front door, CMB for the three wise men[3] (I used names of men in the church that started with CMB for fun). My mother was Russian Orthodox so I’m going to do this today! The CMB stood for for Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, names given to the wise men centuries after the Biblical account was written. People know that this home has found the solution to be the same light to the world that the star of
Those names were first used 300 years after Christ was born and they are not in the Bible! The idea that they were kings became popular ten centuries after Christ’s birth. They are not eve WISEMEN – they are called “magi,” where we get magic: ones trained in astrology, dream interpretation, magicians, sorcerers; fortune-tellers; horoscope fanatics, star-gazers; psychic hotline, tea leaf readers; or Tarot card gurus; the Jewish people of Jesus’ time viewed the practice of the magi as idolatrous and therefore condemned, as they put their trust and faith not in God but in the stars. They were heretics. But they found a new solution in this baby and brought gifts:
1. Gold: a precious metal reserved only for royalty.
2. Frankincense: priest used in worship; like smoke that rises up to god in prayer
3. Myrrh: used in preparation of bodies for burial which reminds us that Jesus’ ministry sacrifice
Then after they leave, we read in verse 12 – “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. They decided to take a different way and are resolved to return by avoiding
God does send a "star", some sign or something concrete when we really need to know it's Him. We’ve all been lead here by some kind of star; in the midst of looking for some type of sign; hoping some kind of signal will be given to make it all clear. Like when we gathered in the ICU yesterday and the pastor prayed and my mother in law’s lips seemed to move as we prayed. We have been given a sign and that light shines in the darkness and it is the solution to all our problems and struggles, thanks be to God!
[2] Homiletics, Volume 20, Number 1, page 9ff
[3] Rev. Gail Hermondsen at http://hereipreach.blogspot.com/2008/01/epiphany-sunday-matthew-21-12.html
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