One of the great adventures of each
Sunday’s worship service takes place at that point when the individual comes
forward to extinguish the altar candles.
The tension mounts as to whether they will be extinguished on the first
attempt, or will it take more than one attempt.
If you ask those whose task it is, they will tell you that it’s a roll
of the dice . . . sometimes they get it the first time, sometimes it takes two
or three attempts.
Over the years, I have jokingly told
them that I have put those trick candles in the tubes. I think that there have been moments when
they believed me . . . especially when the candle re-ignites after they thought
they had put it out. Trick candles are
designed to keep igniting repeatedly, which is frustrating when attempting to
put them out. They just keep coming
back. Which is great for a joke, but not
when you are trying to put something out.
That is resiliency. Resiliency is the ability to bounce back and
continue what is supposed to be done.
This morning we hear a story about
resiliency as it relates to our faith as the followers of Jesus. Today marks the start of the church season of
Epiphany. We have marched through the
season of Christmas and its story of the birth of Jesus and now we enter the
“rest of the story” as it begins with Epiphany.
As the followers of Jesus, we need to note that the season of Epiphany
is recognized as the first manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles. Thus, it is that we hear the story of the
visit of the Magi to the Christ Child.
An epiphany is defined in many
layers. It is the appearance or
manifestation of the divine. We see this
in the reaction of the shepherds upon seeing the Christ Child. We see it in the Magi as they encounter the
child. They recognize that the divine is
in their presence. At the same time an
epiphany is also a sudden perception of the essential nature or meaning of
something . . . an intuitive grasp of reality . . . an illuminating discovery,
realization, or disclosure. All of which
is encompassed in the Christmas Story and the visit of the Magi. The whole thing reeks of epiphany!
That was then, and this is now. We celebrate the epiphany of the Christmas
Story and the visit of the Magi. We
affirm its revelation of the divine into the world, especially its presence to
the Gentiles . . . to all people everywhere.
We get it . . . God’s presence breaks into the world for everyone. We see it in the story, we feel it in our
hearts . . . but, there is more to be revealed . . . more to understand. As I said earlier, this is a story of
resiliency.
As we know, the Magi come to Jerusalem
to ask King Herod where they might find the “one who has been born king of
the Jews?” This question
disturbs Herod, after all, he is the king of the Jews. He senses a threat. After doing a little research he learns of
the prophecy and promise. This seems to
upset him even more, thus he begins to plot . . . he must get rid of this
threat to his throne. He secretly meets
with the Magi, explaining that he, too, wants to pay homage to this newborn
king. He tells them that when they find
him, report back to him where the child is.
So, off they go. Eventually they find the child. They recognized the Holy that was before them
. . . even as gentiles. They bowed down
and worshiped him. They presented the
child gifts. Then they took off . . .
not towards Jerusalem and King Herod . . .but by another route to return
home. They had been warned in a dream
not to return to Herod with the location of the child.
This story reveals two things: the
manifestation of the Holy—God—to the Gentiles; and, the beginning of the
conflict between those in power and Jesus in what he represents. King Herod sees Jesus as a threat to his
throne, but more importantly as a threat to his power. Going beyond our scripture reading this
morning we learn that an angel appears to Joseph telling him to take his family
to Egypt to escape Herod’s attempt to kill the child. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus hightail it out of
town. Herod realizing that he had been
flamboozled by the Magi was not deterred.
He issues an order to have all the male children two years and under in
and around Bethlehem killed. In this way
he was certain he would rid himself of the threat to his throne. He would snuff it out like a candle.
And, you know what? It sounded like a pretty good plan. But, like one of those trick candles . . . it
came back. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus
returned upon the death of Herod. They
came back, and the story continued just as God had laid it out. In fact, we constantly see that in the story
. . . the never-ending story of faith . . . every time that it seems as if the
candle is going to be put out, it re-ignites itself and continues. Over and over again, even with the
crucifixion and death of Jesus, we see the story bounce back. We see it bounce back because it is a story
of resiliency.
For those of us in this day and time,
that is the epiphany we should glean from this story . . . it is
resilient. It cannot not be put to rest
. . . it cannot be put out . . . it never ends.
In this season of Epiphany, we should
rejoice that the Holy has manifested itself to all the world . . . that God is
for the taking by everyone. We should
affirm that even though we have heard that story repeatedly for over two
thousand years. More importantly, we
need to rejoice in the greater epiphany of this story . . . that the story
cannot be stopped. It cannot be killed
no matter what happens to it . . . it keeps on coming back. For the followers of Jesus, faith is
resilient.
Think about it. We know all the stories of the attempts to
get rid of Jesus throughout his ministry . . . but her persisted forward. We know how they tried him, crucified him, and
watch him die . . . but he returned from the dead, and it continued. We marvel at how the faith movement bloomed
and prospered in the beginning despite the attempts to squash it over the
centuries. From a small community of
disciples who gathered around Jesus it has grown into a world religion with
over two billion members. Each time when
the movement seemed to be doomed, it bounced back and continued.
It has been said that the followers of
Jesus—that we--are once again at a point where things do not look good. That everything is falling apart. And, yet, these times are no darker than
times in the past. And, we must remember
that the story cannot be stopped . . . that it will bounce back . . . that
faith is resilient. We need to remember
those earlier followers . . . and followers ever since . . . in what they did
to keep the faith alive.
We need to remember that the story must
be shared . . . one person at a time.
Churches are not built and survive through great and powerful preachers,
but through the simple testimony of those who make up the faithful as they
share their stories with others. The
story of faith comes from the heart of one person to another. Sharing . . . that is the key. As I tell one person, that person tells
another. The story grows.
That is the “aha” moment of our lesson
this morning . . . ours is a resilient faith . . . a resilient story that
cannot be stopped . . . cannot be silenced.
No matter what the world throws at us . . . no matter how dark the world
may seem . . . ours is the never-ending story of faith. Nothing can stop us if we share the story in
the words that we speak and in the way that we live our lives. Herod tried to put that candle out, but it
re-lit. The joke was on him. Amen.
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