Epiphany

Today is Epiphany or Three Kings. It's the end of the Christmas season, and the day when we celebrate the visit of the three kings or wise men from the East. If you read the Lectionary, then you know that for the last several days the focus has been on Christ as a light to the nations. Isaiah had a lot to say on the subject, notably:

Isaiah 66:18-21
For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory...the coastlands far away that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. And I will also take some of them as priests and as Levites, says the LORD.

And:
Isaiah 49:6-7
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, "Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

The Israelites are God's chosen people, but not merely chosen to enjoy the favor of God, but to be a light to the nations. God told Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him. Israel never really grasped God's vision drawing everyone to Himself. Old and New Testament alike is filled with stories of God's people not getting it.

Often the Church is not very different from Israel. Jesus' behavior would likely scandalize good church folk as surely as it did the Jews of Jesus' time. It's human nature to want to exclude based on some litmus test of our own choosing. I don't mean that all roads lead to God. Orthodox Christianity is exclusive in nature from a broad theological perspective. But we don't want to stop with what's essential. We like to add peripheral things.... like how a person looks or behaves or worships.

Broken people make us look bad. They make God look bad. Don't they? The problem is, we're all broken people. All of us walk around with lots of 'stuff.' We just find our own 'stuff' easier to accept that the 'stuff' other people walk around with. Sometimes we forget that God's love of us is scandalous and shameful.

Epiphany reminds us that God's plans are bigger than our imaginations. His heart is bigger than our puny ones which only want to love those who look, act, and live like we do. It reminds us that just as we have been the recipients of lavish grace, so we should be generous dispensers of the same.