Epiphany: are we stuck in the palace?

We have reached the end of our Christmas story: the feast of Epiphany. The Christmas season now has a second part - the story of Jesus now opens itself to all the world. The magi travelling from the East is a reminder the gift of love given to us can be found by everyone. It may take some journeying to find him but the Epiphany story makes it clear it’s worth it. The wise men bowed down and worshipped and then gave the new king the best they could. And so must we.

I read a blog the other day which asked this question: “are we stuck in the palace?”

I wonder whether that is a really good question for us spiritually as we trudge through 2022. Are we open to divine surprise or are we rooted firm to our tradition and what we are comfortable with? Or even worse, do we find this radical new way God works in the world threatening so we lash out in a negative way because we just don’t want our life rocked. It’s easier to be stuck in the palace than to look for stars in the sky showing us a new journey we must take. 

Nadia Bolz Weber, whose writings inspire me and lift me, has a powerful take on the choice we have this Epiphany day. I read her book “Cranky Beautiful Faith” on a national express coach from London to Blackpool on my last sabbatical and it changed my life. Read it and see how contemporary this story is. For God is ahead of us and we can choose to see him or we can try to get rid of him from life… we can even try to do that in our church planning. How frightening is that? 

My picture above is of a very inquisitive Alice cat who just loves the wonder of discovering new places to explore in my untidy study. Can we be like her? Can we journey hopefully, with vision, with patience, with expectation, and let our hearts leap with joy when we catch up with where God is, or will be so obsessed keeping safe and secure in our palace, even though we are unhappy there? Thank you for journeying with  me through this little series of reflections. I hope together we have found God born among us anew… 

Enjoy Nadia below…

An Epiphany Story of 2 Masculinities 

A story of 2 men - 

Herod, who is a ruler on a throne of power, and Joseph who is a peasant in an unconventional marriage. One man is powerful and one man is not. And yet the text only describes one of these men as being afraid. 

And it wasn’t the peasant.

Matthew’s Gospel tells us that King Herod made the Magi tell him where this baby was because he was frightened. 

Frightened of a baby. 

Threatened by a horoscope and a newborn. 

And this fear that his position in life is so tenuous that it must be fortified by sacrificing whoever it takes is not a theoretical by the way - this Herod guy literally killed two of his own sons because he felt threatened by them. 

His own sons. 

Fear that what he had could be taken away, or fear of not getting what he wanted turned him into a monster. So much so that when he can’t quite locate the right baby, the one that is so threatening to him, he just sends for all the children two and under in and around Bethlehem to be killed. 

Take that in. 

This is what fear does.  

This is what fear does. Fear disguises itself in so many ways: as greed, hate, isolation, addiction…the list is endless. But in the end fear is at the root of all of it. And while you and I might not be murderous tyrants, none of us are free from the effects of fear in our lives. It keeps us isolated and small and it steals away joy and possibility.

But in Joseph we see a different kind of man than Herod. Joseph was not afraid.

An angel came from God and spoke love, was love, embodied love, sought to protect love – like a divine can of compressed air, and this cast out Joseph’s fear so that he could function the way he was intended to.  And here’s one clue – one way that we can know that Joseph was not afraid: he didn't bat an eye when the angel said that his baby and wife weren’t safe so he should take his family to Egypt.

Egypt.

The place his ancestors were enslaved. The place that God rescued his people from slavery.

With fear cast out, Joseph was able to believe it possible that God’s redemptive work can happen anywhere - even Egypt. With fear cast out, Joseph no longer had to see everything through the lens of what it was in the past. With fear cast out, he was able to beat a king, protect his wife and child, and preserve that which is good in the face of tyranny. (Just as an aside, we really need to start having better conversations about men. I don’t think that maligning traits that have historically seen as “masculine” is helpful. I want to start lifting up examples of beneficent masculinity, but I digress...)

Herod’s fear caused death and Joseph’s fearlessness protected life. Of course the irony is that Herod feared this baby for all the wrong reasons. The Christ child did not knock Herod off his pathetic little throne. History took care of that.  

No. Jesus of Nazareth did not overthrow Rome, he laughed at Rome. He saw Rome for what it was: temporary. Fleeting. Harsh and demanding and tyrannical, yes, but temporary. 

And this child, protected by the songs of angels and the heart of his mother and the fearlessness of his father, came to free the people.  Free us from the shackles of sin and fear. Gospel people are free people and free people are dangerous people.  Free people aren’t ruled by fear. Free people see Rome for what it is. 

And you know what?

There are angels hovering round us, good people of God.  There are messengers of love all around.  And again, and forever, they say: do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid. For in the heart of God there is enough love to cast out fear. Herods of the world, take note.

Happy Epiphany.