Revelation to the Gentiles

Sermon preached at 10am Eucharist at St Helen’s Solihull
Sunday 3rd January 2010 – Epiphany
A shorter version of this sermon was also preached at the 8am.

Readings: Isaiah 60: 1-6 Ephesians 3: 1-12 Matthew 2: 1-12


My son, Thomas, has just turned 17 and we are just getting into all the thrills and spills associated with learning to drive. As much as anything, this reminds me of my own experiences of learning to drive when I was seventeen, which is now 28 years ago.
My first experiences of driving were with my Dad as an instructor on some remote, bleak and lonely roads in the Republic of Ireland. My Dad said that I should learn how to control the car on these isolated roads, and once I had learned control of the car it would be easier for me to make progress on other roads, where it is necessary to interact with other road users.
Well, it was all very easy to say! The truth was that I really struggled to learn how to control the car. The clutch, especially, was a massive problem. I invariably would let the clutch out either too slowly, so that nothing happened, or too fast so that the car would lurch forward in jumps, kangaroo style. It seemed to me to be completely arbitrary. I never really had any idea of what was going to happen as I let the clutch out. It was all rather painful, frustrating and difficult.
Some months later in the UK I had my first proper driving lesson with a proper driving instructor. In the first lesson we only did one thing: learning to use the clutch. The instructor explained to me what a clutch was and how it worked. He set me up on a hill start, holding the vehicle on the clutch, then he taught me to release the pressure very slightly to craw forward, or to increase the pressure very slightly to stop, or to roll back.
Well, this was such a revelation to me! Suddenly, instead of being my worst enemy, the clutch became a tool that I could use! Suddenly I felt that I was controlling the car rather than being intimidated by it. It was a real revelation; a new understanding. It was a transforming moment and a massive step forward in the process of learning to drive.
Well, today we have entered the season of the Epiphany, a season that is all about revelation and new understanding. The word Epiphany means “manifest”. God’s new work in Jesus is being shown to all the world. It is made manifest. Today especially we think about the baby Jesus being shown to the wise men. And the very significant thing about the wise men is that they were not Jews. They were gentiles, or people from “the nations”, as the Jews used to call them. They come from the East, perhaps from Persia, or Iran as we call it today. And they had understood enough from the signs in the heavens to know that something very important was happening, that a king of great significance had been born. And they came looking for him, and with the help of a star he was shown to them; he was made manifest. And they paid homage and gave their famous gifts of Gold and Frankincense and Myrrh.
Now this showing of the baby Jesus to the three kings is symbolic of the showing of Jesus to the whole world. The Jews knew that they were God’s chosen people. They thought their religion was for them much more that it was for other people. But with Jesus there is a new revelation. There is a whole new religion and it is for everybody. It is universal or catholic we say; it means it’s for everyone. We heard St Paul talking about this new revelation in our epistle reading today. He said, “In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed …the Gentiles have become fellow-heirs, members of the same body and sharers in the promise of Jesus Christ through the gospel.”
And this new revelation in Jesus makes all the difference. Just as my getting to know and understanding of the clutch opened up to me the possibility of driving, so getting to know and love Jesus opens up to us the possibility of drawing closer to God. Drawing closer to God is a little bit like learning to drive. There are things that we need to understand. There are some rules we need to follow. We need lots and lots of practice. Above all we need a good teacher. We need someone to say to us turn left, turn right, speed up now, slow down. The Christian life is a journey towards God, towards heaven, but we need someone who knows the way. Now that Jesus has been revealed to us we have the best possible teacher. Not only does he know the way – but he is the way!
So how do we make the most of this new revelation; this wonderful good news that we have received in Jesus, in having Jesus as our teacher? Well first of all let’s give thanks to God for giving us Jesus and for showing him to us. Let’s give thanks to God for all that we have already understood and all the different ways in which it has helped us.
Then let’s try to be very attentive to Jesus our teacher. Let’s try to live out his commandments in our everyday lives. Let’s pay special attention to the commandment which he calls “new” and his own – “love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13: 34, 15: 12). This is the key to everything. Jesus says, “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me…and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” (John 14: 21). Jesus reveals himself to those who love. So there is a self reinforcing circle here; Jesus is revealed to us, so we grow in love, so jesus is revealed to us more… Love is the key to revelation, the key to Epiphany. So let’s love, and in that way Jesus will reveal himself to us. Amen.