THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY
LIGHT THROUGH THE CRACKS
‘There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.’ - Leonard Cohen.
The heavens were cracked that night.
We do not know exactly what the wise men saw,
but we know is that once they saw it, they decided to see where it was leading.
They had no idea where it would take them, but they did not hesitate.
The Light shone in the darkness, and the darkness "comprehended it not",
the Light was too strong to be overwhelmed
by the darkness of that Imperial age of Roman subjugation
or of exaggerated human self-importance.
Those Wise Astrologers had been studying the stars,
looking into the darkness of the night sky
night in, night out, in the hope of something,
and one night once they saw it.
Now that's faith, isn't it?
Without any idea where they were going,
without any hesitation,
they trusted their wise instincts and set off.
That was their Epiphany moment;
a time when they felt called,
moved to leave their comfort,
and follow the enlightenment
of a hunch.
Moved through various terrains,
encountering genuine humanitarian help along the way, but also the odd Herod blocking the path as well,
the purpose of it all became clear.
They reached their unknown destination.
They found a King, but not in a palace. A King enthroned in the humblest,
amongst the humblest. The King who would heal the broken-hearted,
who would liberate captives and the oppressed; who would be good news
for the poor, who would restore those who had lost vision.
Like those Wise Astrologers of
two millennia ago,
we need to look for Godly signs,
for the epiphanies,
that continue to change who we are and the journey we take.
In the last year we entered a time of great darkness; our world plunged into pandemic, possibly by human error, or worse, by human malintent?
Shall we ever know?
But this liberating, healing King
came for us,
not just two thousand years ago,
to be the Light that
the darkness could not overwhelm,
not just then, but now.
It wasn't a theologian but Groucho Marx who said:
“Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light."
God needs crackpots, cracked-pots, people like you and me who need mending,
who are perhaps even beyond repair,
to allow chinks of light to be seen in our dark world of now.
Jesus was and is the Light.
As we try to live as Christians who follow the Light,
we are the Epiphany,
disclosing God's loving wisdom to a foolish, plagued, cracked world.
Lord Jesus may your light shine our way, as once it guided the steps of the magi: that we too may be led into your presence and worship you, the Child of Mary, the Word of the Father, the King of nations, the Saviour of humanity; to whom be glory forever.
