Searching for Epiphany

John 1: 1-18

Luke 2: 22-35

Epiphany

After the craziness of the Christmas season, it is tempting to take the next few weeks and just relax. To no longer think about schedules already overloaded with work, family, and friends and how we managed to squeeze in time to shop and wrap and decorate as well as worship. Christmas can be exhausting physically, but it is also mentally and emotionally draining on everyone. So it is tempting to forget what comes right after Christmas, which is Epiphany.

Epiphany is the time after Christmas where we celebrate the visiting Magi, Jesus’ incarnation and baptism, his transfiguration, as well as his first miracle at the Wedding in Cana. In other words, Epiphany shows the world how God came to be with His people through Jesus Christ.  This is a very special time for Christians, but because so many are exhausted from the holidays we often do not take time to appreciate the way God came to be with his people. Jesus Christ is not a figurehead for God. He is not the poster child of the Divinity although some people like to think of him that way.

Jesus is God, made flesh. That means everything he experienced when he became a human being, God the Father also experienced. When Jesus was thirsty, God was thirsty. When Jesus was a child, he had a child’s frustrations of learning how to tie his shoes, write his name and read the scriptures just as our children have to do. Jesus became dirty and was probably yelled at by Mary when he did something she didn’t like.

When he became older, perhaps he had pimples and oily hair like a teenager. Maybe he tripped a lot because his feet grew faster than the rest of him just like other teenage boys. And as an adult, he struggled with his spirituality and humanity and the way they seemed to war against each other, just as we do. Jesus was tempted by the devil just as we often are tempted. Jesus is like us, but Jesus IS God.

And that means everything he went through, God experienced as well which brings a whole new meaning to the words, “God with us”. One of the best scriptures that describe the Epiphany of God being with us is in Luke2: 22-35 when Simeon finally sees the Messiah.

When Joseph and Mary presented Jesus to the Temple of the Lord, there was a man there named Simeon. Simeon was a faithful Jew who had been promised to see the Messiah before he passed from this life into the next. It does not say so in the passage, but perhaps Simeon was tempted to worry that he had been mistaken about God’s promise or that he had missed the Messiah because Simeon was now an old man. He had seen his family raised in the Jewish faith and now they were busy having their own children. A lot of time had passed and still the Messiah had not come. Sometimes when God makes a promise to us, we are tempted to rush the promise into fruition. We want things now rather than later. This is a human trait that comes straight from Adam and Eve. We want what we do not have and we often feel we deserve everything that God has to give, rather than being happy with what we are allotted.

So it is not inconceivable that Simeon was perhaps worried that he would die before seeing the Messiah. But finally, one day the Holy Spirit moved him to go to the courtyard of the holy temple. This part of the story is also interesting because it does not say that the Spirit tells him why he is to go there or even what the Messiah looks like. Isnt that often the way the Holy Spirit works with us as well? God often does not speak in a discernable voice that an ear can hear, but instead we feel the Lord speaking to us.

Sometimes we feel the need to call a friend we haven’t spoken with in over a year and when we do, we find out that he lost his job and feels bereft. Sometimes the Spirit will tell us not to take the shortcut we always take and later we find out there was an accident on that road. And there are other times when we feel the Spirit telling us something and we never know why. Those are the easiest times to dismiss the idea of God talking to us, because we do not see why God would tell us to do something even though we were sure at the time.

So there is Simeon, standing in the temple courtyard, unsure of why but hoping that this time he will get to see the Messiah. What do you think he thought the Messiah would look like? If God suddenly appeared in front of us right now, how would you picture God? Is God a man or a woman? Is he Caucasian, African American or Asian? Tall or short? Does God have a commanding, royal air about him or her or is God kind and compassionate looking? What does God wear? Pricey clothes from a designer boutique or faded Levis and tennis shoes?

All of these questions would have been going through Simeon’s mind as well. It makes us ask the same question of how will we know when we see Jesus? Simeon saw a young couple with a small child. There were probably many such couples. But he unerringly picked out Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. He followed his heart, he followed the Spirit where it led and even though Jesus was probably different in every way that Simeon had pictured the Messiah, he found Jesus and knew he was seeing the Messiah.

Sometimes God works in ways that are completely opposite of the way we would work. Many of us like to think that God is logical and rational, but if you ask an atheist God is anything but logical and rational. God does things differently from us so we need to work with God. We need to be open to new ideas or since the season is upon us, small epiphanies that take us where we need to be. This is a new year with new goals.

Not every thing that will happen this year will be good, logical or happy. We are going to see violence, war, natural disasters and the death of innocent people. Through all of those things, God is working. Our every day life filled with endless routine and the constant demand of time and energy from us, God is working. Simeon stayed faithful through the good as well as the bad and he was rewarded with seeing the Messiah with his own eyes before he died. We too are rewarded with glimpses of our Messiah in our life.

It is up to us if we believe what we see. It is up to you to decide what you believe. It is up to you to have faith in God’s promises as Simeon had faith. The Lord has promised us many things, not the least of which is salvation through Jesus Christ. But the Lord also promises us new bodies and new life just as Jesus received a new body and life. The Lord promised that death is not the end, that this life we live here is merely the beginning of our time with God. And that is what the Epiphany season is all about - our time with God. It is about how the Lord has come to be with us, and our response to Jesus Christ.

You do not live and die alone as many people have said in the past. You live and die with God. Take time this Epiphany season to see what God is up to. Take time to see where God is in your life, but remember, you can only see Jesus if you are looking and listening for him.

Amen.