Epiphany
Bishop Ray Sutton

Once while doing research at Oxford, I was having lunch with a group of friends. One of them nudged me to explain that a fairly renowned politician was sitting at the table next to me. I turned and had a response that often happens when famous people are met. He was smaller in stature than I had imagined. Of course if I actually named this politician you’d probably readily agree just how puny he really is.

There is an interesting phenomenon when famous people are met. They usually seem smaller when we encounter them in person. The reason I think is that we tend to build them up in our minds. We imagine them so much larger than they really are. Nowadays, T.V. and movies blur the scale of perspective. We see them on a screen so much that we blow up their presence in our minds. Yet if we are privileged to meet them, in the end we are taken by the smallness of their presence. It’s not necessarily their fault. It’s just that the reality of their actual height and size takes over.

Today we are introduced in the Gospel to the opposite effect. Three individuals in particular travel to meet Jesus Christ. They are the magi, the three wise men. They are the very kind of people that humans would perceive to be large in their presence. They were also probably kings, mighty potentates.

These mighty men came to meet a baby, Jesus. Quite a contrast. They were great kings of the east, famous people; they had giant followings. Christ, on the other hand, was clearly small in size at that point in His human development. He was after all a little child. Yet, when the three kings entered the presence of Jesus the following occurred: “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh” (St. Matthew 2:11).

The Magi were used to people bowing before them. Their subjects had no choice. They had to. In the east the punishment was death if one did not get low and keep his distance. Furthermore, these philosopher kings were not used to bowing. If indeed they were kings, they would have never bowed to anyone else in their lives.

In addition, when they approached Jesus Christ, no one told them to bow. Men such as they did not bend the knee to anyone. No one made them get low before the Christchild. Yet, they were compelled to do obeisance of their own volition. They acknowledged that Christ was the King of kings, the son of His heavenly father.
During the Thirty Years War in Europe (1618-1648), the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, was slain while his troops were winning the Battle of Lutzen, in what is now Germany. Sweden was thrown into mourning, and government officials met to determine how to replace the king. Some suggested a republic; others thought the crown should go to Adolphus' cousin, the king of Poland. The chancellor of Sweden arose and said, "Let there be no talk of a republic or of Polish kings, for we have in our midst the heir of the great Gustavus, his little daughter, who is 6 years of age." Some protested that they had never seen her. The chancellor said, "Wait a minute, and I will show you." He brought in Christina, daughter of the king, and placed her on the throne. One of the representatives who was especially suspicious of the move pressed forward and gazed intently into her face. Then turning to the assembly, he exclaimed, "Look at her nose, her eyes, her chin! I see in the countenance of this child the features of the great Gustavus. She is the child of our king!" From all quarters of the room rang the proclamation, "Christina, Queen of Sweden!"
The Magi were captivated by the largeness of the presence of little child, Jesus Christ. So large was the Savior’s presence that even when He was a tiny baby kings were smitten by the hugeness of who He was. He impressed the greatest world leaders with an aura greater than they had ever encountered. It happened all through His life. At Jesus’ birth the heavens opened, angels sang and potentates bowed. It even took place when He stood in front of His accusers before His death. Even the soldiers sent to arrest Him fell back at His largeness of His presence when they came to arrest Him. Pontius Pilate could hardly bear the piercing encounter with Christ; indeed he was left endlessly trying to wash his hands from the guilt haunting him from Christ’s presence.

So what was/is the largeness of the presence of Christ? It is His Deity. When people came to meet Jesus Christ, they were not just encountering a man. They were entering the presence of God Almighty, the God/Man. The Deity of Christ is what is emphasized in Epiphany, a word that means appearing. From Christmas to Epiphany the lessons focus on Jesus’ Humanity, for He was indeed fully Man as completely and even more so than any other human. But in the lessons of Epiphany time and again, it is the Deity of Christ that is brought out. Jesus as a little child confounds the wisest scholars of the land in the Temple of His heavenly Father. He turns water into wine, something no mere mortal could do. He heals from a distance.

The Deity of Christ explains the largeness of His presence. When we come before God, we are driven to behave differently. We are humbled. Even if we don’t kneel, which we should, we want to become quiet. Nowhere do we experience the largeness of Christ’s presence more than at Holy Communion today. It is a similar dynamic to a baby bringing kings low. What else can explain the sense we have when we receive a small piece of bread and a little portion of wine? Just as it was with the baby in the manger, there is more here than meets the eye. There is God. The Baby was Divine. The Bread and the Wine are the Body and Blood of Christ to us by some inexplicable mystery. We encounter God Almighty through the Eucharist. The largeness of His presence comes to us. We are in the presence of more than mortality. We are before God. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote in A.D. 381,

He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.
Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.
Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.
Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.
Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.
Such was/is the largeness of the presence of Christ. He is God. The only response is to receive Him as our Lord, to kneel, and to worship the King of kings. Amen.