A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany*
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea,
in the days of Herod the King,
behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is He
That is born King of the Jews?
For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him. -- St.
Matthew ii:1-2
We pass now this year from the shepherds and the Angels
to the wise men and their star. This star and their coming, no less proper
to this day than those other were. We pass from one of them to the other,
but from the less to the greater; for of the twain this is the greater. Greater
in itself, greater to us. The other of the shepherds, a poor one, poor and
mean. This of the wise men a sign of some state, highly and Heavenly.
Besides, one might in some sort complain of the privateness
of the Angels' appearing. Somewhat obscure it was, few privy to it; passed
over in the night between the Angels and them. And upon it, three or four
shepherds got them into the stable; and what there they did no man could
take notice of.
More famous, and more manifestation-like was this here.
A new light kindles in Heaven, a star never seen before. The world could
not but look up at it, and ask what it meant. Upon this came there
to Jerusalem not a rout of shepherds, but a troop of great persons. And not
from a heath or sheep-common hard by, but from afar, ‘from the east,’ twelve
days journey off. All Jerusalem rang of it. The King, Priests, and people
busied with it. To this day remembered in all stories. It cannot be forgotten;
this was indeed a manifestation.
In the former; the sermon was made, and the anthem sung,
and none at it but the shepherds. And what were they? Jews. These here that
‘came from the East,’ were Gentiles. Gentiles—that concerns us, for so are
we. We may then look out, if we can see this star. It is ours, it is the
Gentiles' star. We may set our course by it, to seek and find, and worship
Him as well as they.
In ‘the days of Herod the King’- there is a memorable
accident that then happened set down; ‘a coming or arrival’ at Jerusalem.
And they that so came were a company of magi ‘from the East.’ They had ‘seen
His star.’ They are ‘come to worship Him.’ That they may come to their goal,
that is, to worship, they must find Him where He is. So they ask not
whether He be born, but ‘where He is born.’ For born He is they are sure,
by the same token they have seen His star.
So the star in Heaven kindled another star in earth. St.
Peter calls it the ‘Day-star which rises in the heart,’ that is faith, which
shined and manifested itself by their labour in coming, diligence in enquiring,
duty in worshipping. Christ's birth made manifest to them by the star
in heaven. Their faith ‘the star in Heaven’ made manifest to Christ and to
all by the travel of it, which showed it manifestly.
The sum of all riseth to this, that God hath ‘opened a
door of faith to the Gentiles;’ and among them to wise men and great men,
as well as to the simpler sort. But with this condition, that they say with
them, ‘O come, let us adore him,’ and so come and seek, and find and worship
Him, that is do as these did.
‘To Bethlehem came the shepherds.’ But thither came these
too, and they were Gentiles; and in this ‘Gentiles,’ we. So come we in. ‘Then
hath God also to the Gentiles set open a door of Faith,’ at which door we
enter, we with them and they with us, for they and we Gentiles both. The
star is ‘the Gentiles’ star,’ and so ours; and we to direct our course by
it.
And that God would thus do, call the Gentiles in, there
was some small star-light from the beginning. That which was thus promised
to, and by the Patriarchs, shadowed forth in the figures of the Law, the
Temple, and the Tabernacle; that which was foresaid by the prophets, and
foresung of in the Psalms, that was this day fulfilled. Here ‘they are come,’
and ‘we’ in them and with them, who not only in their own names, but in ours
make sure their entry; came and sought after, and found and worshipped, their
Saviour and ours, the Saviour of the whole world.
The very star, as the nature of stars is, is common to
all coasts and climates, peculiar to none, shew[s] that from all coasts they
may now come, that the Gentiles are now to be, as the Apostle in three pregnant
terms delivers: ‘fellow-members, fellow-partners and fellow-heirs of one
body,’ co-partners and co-heirs of Christ and His birth. This for ‘the Gentiles’
star,’ so both theirs and ours. And herein ‘appeared the grace of God
which brings salvation to all men,’ as fair and clear as the star itself;
that thence out of the mountains of the East God calls these to seek, and
guided them to find Christ.
The star goes before them, guides them all to Christ.
It remaineth that what we may do we will do; that is, ‘come.’ So we do but
that – ‘come;’ even that will serve. For it is all in all. We shall go in
the company of wise men, that is once. And if the shepherds were too homely
to sort with, these are company for the best. Whence? from the East,
their own country. Whither? to Jerusalem, that was to them a strange land.
They came a long journey, no less than twelve days together. They came an
uneasy journey, a dangerous journey. And they came now, at the worst season
of the year. And all but to do worship at Christ's birth.
So great account they made; so highly did they esteem
their being at it, as they took all this great travel, and came all this
long journey, and came it at this time. Stayed not their coming till the
opening of the year, till they might have better weather and way, and longer
days, and so more seasonable and fit to travel in. So desirous were they
to come with the first, and to be there as soon as possibly they might; broke
through all these difficulties, ‘And behold, come they did.’
And we, what excuse shall we have if we come not? If so
short and so easy a way we come not, as from our chambers hither, not to
be called away indeed?
And these were wise men, and never a whit the less wise
for so coming; no never so truly wise in any thing they did, as in so coming.
The Holy Spirit records them for wise, ‘even in the beginning of the New
Testament.’ Of Christ, when He came into the world, that is, when He was
born, the Psalm saith, ‘In the beginning of the Book it was writ of Him,
He said, Lo I come;’ of these in the same words, when they came to meet Him
so born, it is said here in the beginning of the Gospel, ‘Behold they came.’
And we, if we believe this, that this was their wisdom,
if they and we be wise by one Spirit, by the same principles, we shall follow
the same star, tread the same way, and so come at last whither they are happily
gone before us. Nay, not only that ‘come,’ but to think and set down
with ourselves, that to come to Christ is one of the wisest parts that ever
these wise men did, or we or any else can do in all our lives.
And how shall we that do? I know not any more proper way
left us, than to come to that which Himself by express order has left us,
as the most special remembrance of Himself to be come to. When He came into
the world, saith the Psalm, that is at His birth now, He said, ‘Behold, I
come.’ What then? ‘Sacrifice and burnt-offering Thou wouldst not have,
but a body hast Thou ordained Me.’ Saith the Apostle, ‘He takes away the
first to establish the second,’ that is, to establish His body, and the coming
to it. By the ‘offering,’ breaking, and partaking of which ‘body, we are
all sanctified,’ so many as will come to it. Nothing is more fit than at
the time His body was ordained Him, and that is to-day, to come to the body
so ordained.
And what shall I say now, but according as St. John saith,
and the star, and the wise men say, ‘Come.’ And He, Whose the star is, and
to Whom the wise men came, saith, ‘Come.’ And let them who are disposed,
‘Come.’ And let whosoever will, take of the ‘Bread of Life, which came down
from Heaven’ this day into Bethlehem. Of which Bread the Church is this day
the house, the true Bethlehem, and all the Bethlehem we have now left to
come to for the Bread of life,—of that His life which we hope for in Heaven.
And this our nearest coming that here we can come, till we shall by another
coming come, unto Him in His Heavenly Kingdom, to which He grant we may come,
That this day came to us in earth that we thereby might come to Him and remain
with Him for ever, ‘Jesus Christ the Righteous.’
* Abridged from a sermon preached on Christmas Day, 1620, by the Right
Reverend Launcelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester.
Church of Saint Mary Magdalene
Orange, California
January 12, 2003
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