EPIPHANY: January 6 2008

Preacher: Fr Philip Barnes, Shrine Priest at Walsingham

If I had to choose, one of my favourite views is from the top of the Cotswold escarpment from Broadway Hill, into Worcestershire. I suspect it's a favourite because, when I was a curate it brought with it a huge sense of relief; reaching it meant that my battered old mini had made most of the journey back to see my parents, and that if it did now break down, as it often did, I was within easy reach of my father if I needed to make a panicked call.

It is an amazing scene, as you turn the first corner to go down the hill you get just a glimpse through the trees of what's to come; then from the next corner you can look across the vale of Evesham and finally the view widens out to look over the Severn valley as far the Malverns and Bredon. By the time the full view comes into sight you feel as if you're on top of the world with a great broad expanse of countryside in view.

The nativity narratives provided for us by St Matthew act in a similar sort of way. With the story of the Magi from the East, the star, the hostility of Herod and the escape into Egypt he is inviting us to look out into the wide expanse of God's salvation which is opening up to our view through the child whose story he is beginning to tell.

At first perhaps it's only the immediate detail that commands our attention. We can be captivated by the elements of the story: the mysterious travellers; their extraordinary gifts; the machinations of King Herod. They delight us and intrigue us, so we can easily become caught up with questions of authenticity. Matthew though wants to make a bigger point, he wants us to look out, he's conveying to us the good news of salvation, and he wants us to see with clarity the identity of the child in whose birth we are delighting.

Today, Matthew is inviting us to celebrate with him that moment when God reveals who Jesus is, but so that we can really do that we need to understand that he, like all the gospel writers, is working backwards.

Now what in the world do I mean by that? Well, this. For the gospel writers it is the moment of Jesus' resurrection and exultation that constitutes the great manifestation of his identity as the Christ of God. 'This Jesus, God raised up...' says Luke in Acts, this is his supreme Epiphany as Son of God. It is in that perspective that Matthew and the other gospel writers can describe the power that was at work in his words and mighty works in his public ministry; it is in that perspective that they speak of the gifting the Spirit with his baptism and the voice of the Father approving him; and, do you see, it is in this perspective too that they write of his birth.

What we're presented with this morning is not just an item of popular biography, it is the vehicle of the good news of salvation.

Just ponder for a moment what Matthew actually gives us in this narrative. First, the good news draws believers (and those believers, the Magi, are Gentiles). It's through nature, the star, that God reveals himself to them. But notice, it's only a partial revelation. It's to the Jews who hold the scriptures that they need to turn in order to find the exact whereabouts of the Christ-child. The Gentiles come to worship, but they must learn from the Jews first the history of salvation. And there's that great paradox there: those who hold the scriptures, who know the prophecies, are not willing to worship; and instead the wicked King, the chief priests and the scribes actually conspire to put Jesus to death.

So you see how Matthew is opening up the vista for us? The story of the star and the magi become the anticipation of the fate of the good news of salvation, a fate that he knew in the aftermath of the resurrection. This is the gospel in miniature: all the cast are here that we will see later on: the secular ruler, the chief priests and the scribes are all aliened against Jesus, who only has God on his side. But God makes Jesus victorious, and in this process, those who have the scriptures reject Jesus, while the Gentiles come, and find, and adore him.

All of that sets before us a tremendous challenge. In what we're celebrating today there is the essence of the good news – that is, that God has made himself present to us in the life of one who walked on this earth, indeed, so truly present that this one, Jesus, was his Son. This revelation was an offence and contradiction to some, but salvation to those who had eyes to see (of whom the magi are the true forerunners). So this feast turns the tables on us, and says to us, how do you cast yourselves? Once the word is proclaimed, once the epiphany has occurred, there is no other choice: we either worship or we destroy.

This story then tells us that the encounter with Jesus cannot leave us unchanged; for good or ill we cannot carry on as before. The Magi make their way back from Jesus as changed men – a tiny beginning of universal revolt had taken place. It will be so for us too. For we either live as those who share his life of forgiveness and friendship, which is the life of the Spirit, or we resist him or reject him.

So today's feast challenges us to ask ourselves how we worship him and how we destroy; and to answer that, we need to recall again and again how it is that we meet him.

For on that point the scriptures are quite clear – it is in the life of the community of faith, it is when he breaks bread and pours out wine for us, and it is in those who find themselves, for whatever reason, brought to the end of their resources, the poor and the vulnerable, those on the margins. Whenever we encounter someone in need of our help and our friendship we are experiencing an epiphany and are asked to make what is literally an act of faith. To worship is to offer our lives as a gift of love; to destroy is to be lost in that cloud of self-centredness that leads us into spiritual death.

Look out then, today, and take in the view; from the vantage point of the story of the magi see spread before you God's gift of salvation, delight in it, allow it to change you, and allow it to help you go on receiving the gift of Christ's presence as we too 'go safely home by another way' to that home which is the friendship, joy and peace of the life of God for eternity.