Fr Harry's homily - 9th January 2005

At this time of the year we sort of sit back a bit and look at what's going on and I say this time of the year for the Church's year, and we have been through that tremendous experience of welcoming that gift of the Father, his own Son, become one of us and in a way we are reflecting on that with what it does mean to have Jesus here among us in our lives. The church lights on the magic word Epiphany, the manifestation of the showing of God his revelation to us. Not in books, in a person, in his own Son Jesus Christ who was, and I repeat was, in the past born in Bethlehem. He was crucified and risen at the right hand of the Father and also in us. An adult Christ, not a baby, an adult Christ the saviour of the world.

That word Epiphany was used originally when the king went tramping around his kingdom, his arrival in a town or village, whatever, was heralded and statues put up and all sorts of things but that was an epiphany, the epiphany and later on the Roman emperors adopted the same thing, tramping round their empire among all their slaves, a glorious empire. An Epiphany a reformation a manifestation and for you and me that manifestation of the Father is in Jesus Christ. I just want to say a brief word about three Epiphanies that are related. We know the first great one, the one we celebrated on Thursday - I finally got the date right - I had it on Wednesday for most of the beginning of the week, but anyway, it was Thursday. The Epiphany of the Lord and again, what we celebrated there was that we reacted in a way to what the Father was showing us. That this baby in Bethlehem that the magi went looking for, this baby in Bethlehem is in fact your saviour, my saviour, not just the Messiah of God's people the Jews, he is our Lord and that's the point behind the business of the Magi. One beautiful thing if you will forgive me reading, I'm going to read anyway, but there's one beautiful thing from a sermon preached by Saint Peter Chrisolophus and I must say I would give by high tooth to be able to come up with a sermon like this one. One remark he makes on the great Epiphany he says, today the Magus, the wise man finds weeping in the crib him for whom he sought for shining in the stars. What a fantastic thought that is he came looking for the one who was born the King of the Jews All the omens and everything else, the astrology, he sought him in the stars, he saw his star rising and the reality was a baby, crying in a crib in a manger. We could spend all day thinking about that because that is the reality isn't it of what the Father is showing us, not some great almighty warrior or anything but a fragile vulnerable human being Jesus Christ but wait a minute, he isn't, he's Jesus of Nazareth at this stage, so we come to the second Epiphany. Today on the banks of the Jordan, not a baby in a crib in a manger but a full grown man and his cousin John is press ganged into baptising Him the one sent by the Father. As he's baptised, what does the Father show us, he's showing off his Son, you know how you love to show off your children and your grandchildren, well the Father's no different he's showing off his son by the Jordan, this is my son, the beloved, my favour rests with him. God's favour, the favour of the Father. Peter Christolophus says today Christ entered the river bed of the Jordan to wash away the world's sins, so now He's not just a vulnerable baby, far from it, he is the Saviour of the world and he's given the gift of the Holy Spirit by the Father that's the seal on him and that's when he becomes Jesus Christ, not Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ the annointed one, annointed by his Father with the gift of the Holy Spirit to establish to preach his kingdom, repentance turn back to God. To show the power of God here in a human being before your very eyes.

One of the readings this week, the gospel reading, is that account of Jesus meeting the leper, a very dramatic thing and Jesus asks the leper what do you want and he says if you care, you can cure me, cure me and Jesus doesn't get out I don't know a family medical almanac or something, he grasps hold of the leper, the leper is cured, cleansed of the leprosy and the twist in the tail is that Jesus becomes the outcast, Mark tells us in his gospel he can no longer go into the towns and villages he himself had become an outcast through the power of God at work in the leper. That's how real it is, it's not a pantomime or anything, it's the word made flesh. Every bit that one of us could become one with our Father. Mark recounts in his gospel that crowds still went out to him but they had to go out to him then because he couldn't go out to them he was debarred from contact with people in towns and dwelling places, what a twist isn't it when you think about it, Jesus becomes the outcast.

Then the other great Epiphany that's celebrated about this time is the famous wedding feast at Cana in Galilee, I'm not going through the whole story you know the story better than I do but only in John's gospel do you find this but John adds at the end of that miracle if you like that a show of God's power in a human being Jesus the Christ the water is changed into wine and John has with his disciples learnt to believe in him. That's what the Father showed him, that was the revelation at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, that God is at work in his Son before your very eyes.

So now, what conclusion do you draw from it. I suggest you draw your own conclusions and I'm still sorting it out in my own mind but it is a fantastic period you know you can get very flat after all the activities of Christmas and New Year and all the rest of it and now January the ninth whatever it is there's not a loss of romance in January the ninth is there, but there is, it lives on, it lives on in Christ's presence amongst us, living in us, leading us to the Father.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen

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