Give Me a Sign
My mother was born in a state with the motto of "the welfare of the people shall be the supreme law". Not a good hint? Let me try a state slogan from the official tourism site: “close to home, far from ordinary”. Still in the dark? Okay, this will do it: “The Show-Me State.” Now you have it. That’s MO better. My mother was born in Kansas City. It is not official, but “The Show-Me State” is on all their license plates and is the nickname people know. I think it is one people relate to.
People tend to require being shown the veracity of a thing before they take it up as truth; not just Missourians, but everyone. To be gullible is not anyone’s intentional aspiration. This is the Feast of the Epiphany. It is a day when we take note of how the world is shown the divinity of Jesus, his identity as the Messiah. On Epiphany, and on the Sundays following we move through the Gospel books and highlight how the divine nature of Jesus was shown and illuminated: a star, the Spirit descending like a dove, the call to follow, miracles, and a shining figure atop a mountain.
Can you recall a picture in your imagination of the following events in Jesus’s life? Picture if you can: the visit of the wise men, Jesus is baptized, Jesus calling his first disciples, working his first miracles—driving an unclean spirit out or turning water into wine, his transfiguration on the mountain. If you can visualize these, then you have previewed the gospel scenes for today and the next six Sundays. These are the themes of the season. Lights are coming on. We are taking in “epiphanies”, the showings and manifestations from which we learn.
From the very beginning, Mary and Joseph are shown their child Jesus is the savior not just to the children of Abraham, but to all the children of the world. By a star, sages are led to the place where he is. This heavenly sign sheds light on the special nature of the child, born a king. The traveling wise men are transfixed and Herod, king of that region, is jealous and anxious. Herod is fixated on personal power. The Magi offer gifts as a sign, and ever after Jesus is the one whose royalty, holiness, and saving death show God’s love for all humankind. The astrologers coming from far away to honor and worship the baby is archetypal. You and I hear the inviting plea –
Sages leave your contemplations; brighter visions beam afar:
seek the great Desire of nations; ye have seen his natal star:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn King
You and I come and worship. You can request, “If Jesus is the Anointed One, if he holds within him the glory of God, show me.” Are there things in your life experience that register as moments when Jesus was showing his divine nature to you? One of the things that should happen for you as a Christian is you recognize that your personal history recapitulates His Story. Think over each of the following and contemplate whether these phrases built of New Testament epiphanies correspond to encounters in your life: Star of wonder, magnificent gifts…splash, dove, a voice from above…oh, the marvel, how can this be?… I hear you calling and I will follow…I see the brightness of your face. You want to be shown. Perhaps God has already done so.