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These days I often turn for entertainment to podcasts and to crime series on television. The relevance of these leisure habits to the Feast of the Epiphany will be made clear in a moment.

One of my favourite podcasts is The Rest is History and it is presented by two distinguished historians, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. Just before Christmas they did a two-part presentation about Jesus. Tom Holland demolished the absurd but now surprisingly widespread view that Jesus didn’t even exist, and they both attempted to assess which bits of the Gospels are historically reliable and which are what might be called pious embroidery. It was at this point that I took issue with them, for today’s Gospel was dismissed as pious embroidery. That may be what most New Testament scholars think, but there’s a case for its authenticity. I thought Tom Holland was going to make it when he explained “the criterion of embarrassment” – the idea that anything in the Gospels which would have been embarrassing to the early Christian church is almost certainly authentic.

The Magi are an excellent example of “the criterion of embarrassment”. The Greek word that Matthew uses – Magoi – can mean “Astrologers” or “Sorcerers” or “Magicians.”  There are two other Magoi in the New Testament, both in The Acts of the Apostles. One of them, called Simon, is baptized but only after he has repented of his evil ways. The other, Elymas, is roundly condemned by St Paul as a “son of the devil”, “an enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and villainy” and is then struck blind. So those who doubt whether Wise Men really did visit Jesus, need to remember that Magoi were generally regarded by the early Christian community as disreputable and unreliable characters and that a visit by Magoi to the Christ child is not something that early Christians would have been inclined to make up. In early Mediaeval times there was indeed embarrassment about the Wise Men, and they were transformed into Kings in an attempt to give them greater status and an air of reliability.

So much for the podcasts, what about the crime series? Epiphany is all about the revealing of mystery – that’s why we heard those verses from Ephesians Chapter 3 which speak of “the mystery of Christ”, a mystery not made known to former generations. Just now we are catching up with the TV series Endeavour and grateful to Ian Lawson for recommending it. Like all good detective stories, it sustains the mystery until the climax while scattering clues so that the revelation as to whodunnit is surprising yet doesn’t seem contrived; offering the sort of surprise which makes you say both “Yes, of course…!” and “Why didn’t I see that coming?”

It’s easy to imagine the surprise of the Wise Men when it turned out that the new king was not the son of a current monarch but a baby born to an apparently obscure mother in a small provincial town. Yet it was a satisfying surprise – when they got to Bethlehem, they had no doubt that they were encountering the special baby whose birth had been marked by the rising and moving of the star, and they had no hesitation in acknowledging the kingship of Jesus by presenting the costly gifts which they had brought with them. The baby was not where they had expected him to be, not whom they had expected him to be, and yet they recognized him for who he really was. They experienced that special moment of thinking “Yes, of course…!”

Their Epiphany surprise was made possible by their study of the heavens, their willingness to undertake an arduous journey and their encounters with Herod and with the chief priests and scribes who knew the answer to the question “Where will the Messiah be born?” but who were expecting a different kind of Messiah – a liberator who would free them from the rule of the Romans and usher in the golden age of which the prophets, including Isaiah in today’s reading, had spoken. Most of them did not, either then or later, see in Jesus the fulfillment of those prophecies – and the adult Jesus, the challenging travelling preacher and healer whose earthly life ended on a cross – did not fit the picture they had of the way in which God would put everything right.

It’s easy to understand why, then and now, most people don’t get Jesus. Darkness still covers the earth, and we have moved forward into a new year in times of violence and uncertainty. Matthew’s Gospel acknowledges that. It is the most grown-up, the least sentimental of the Christmas stories, for it goes on to tell how Herod ordered the massacre of the Innocents and Mary, Joseph and Jesus became refugees.

Yet reading it in faith we are able to say “Oh yes, of course! This is how God comes to us and seeks us out…” Not as a tyrant demanding absolute obedience, but open to the best and the worst of human responses. The Epiphany mystery is not just a whodunnit, though the recognition that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, is central to it. The Epiphany mystery is also a Whatareyougoingtodoaboutit?”

The writer of the letter to the Ephesians explains that the whole point of the church is to be an Epiphany Church:

“…to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things”

There’s a technical theological term for that – it is “participatory eschatology” – in plain English, that means how we as the church play our part in God’s healing and redeeming work.  St Augustine of Hippo summed that up splendidly in one of his best one-liners:

“God without us will not; we without God cannot.”

“God without us will not” - because God is not the authoritarian tyrant some folk believe in and other folk reject. Rather God wants us to respond freely and lovingly.

“…we without God cannot” - because we’re human and broken, because our vision is clouded and our searching, like the searching of the Wise Men, doesn’t often take us straight to the right place – and that’s the whole point of Christmas and Epiphany, God becoming visible to short-sighted humanity, and showing us a better way.

May God bless you and yours this coming year.

I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see

If I was to ask you from what hymn the above line comes from, I expect that you would immediately and confidently tell me it was from “Amazing Grace” written by John Newton (1725-1807).  Perhaps not so well known is that Sunday 1^st January 2023, marks the 250^th anniversary of that much loved hymn. John Newton penned the famous words “Amazing Grace” for a sermon for his 1773 New Year’s Service at the Church of St Peter and St Paul,  Olney, some 60 miles north of London.  It has been sung around the world at so many different occasions and reflects so much of our own humanity over the years.  It identifies with our personal experiences which many of us can relate to. Of being lost; of being blind; of being fearful; of facing many dangers, toils and snares as well as offering us hope for living, not only now, but also for eternity.

In his letter to the Archdiocese of Munich written on 8^th February 2022, Pope Benedict XVI wrote “quite soon, I shall find myself before the final judge of my life. Even though, as I look back, I can have great reason for fear and trembling, I am nonetheless of good cheer for I trust firmly that the Lord is not only the just judge, but also the friend and brother who himself has already suffered for my shortcomings, and is thus also my advocate. It grants me knowledge and indeed friendship, with the judge of my life, and thus allows me to pass confidently through the dark door of death”.

In his book of reflections and poetry entitled “Barefoot Ways” for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, Stephen Cherry the Dean of King’s College, Cambridge writes about time which is very pertinent for today. He comments that “Waiting is a fundamental aspect of Christian living. Indeed, you might even say that the whole of Christian spirituality and ethics is about what you do while you wait. But waiting is not about being passive. It is about acting in a way that is realistic about the actual capacity we have to made a difference.  Waiting is always a reminder of the extent to which we cannot control things as much as we would like. The Christian calendar exists to make the point that all time belongs to God. It is to say that whatever else we think we can do, we cannot hasten or shorten God’s timing. Accepting our limits is the first lesson in Christian spirituality. It’s not the last word, but it is a word of Advent. The message is that time, like power, is in God’s hands. Our task is to learn not how to take control, but how to tell God’s time and to respond to God’s power and grace”.

As we step out into this New Year, may we, like John Newton, be able to say “Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home”.

In the story book; ‘Jesus’ Christmas Party’, a particular favourite of mine, the main character is a somewhat harassed and grumpy inn keeper.He keeps getting woken up in the middle of the night by various visitors who are either seeking a room in the already over filled inn or who come to visit the folk in the stable. The inn keeper has a catch phrase of ‘round the back’ which he shouts at those who disturb his sleep. When the heavenly host appear and start singing it drives the inn keeper to distraction and his anger boils over and he storms off ‘ round the back’ to see what is going on. He is loud and noisy and is ‘ssshhed’ by those present as he will wake the baby. This revelation takes the wind our of the inn keeper’s sails as he peers into the manger. In an instant he is transformed and is delighted by the wee child lying on the straw and so excited that he rushes into the inn and wakes everyone up so that they can come and see the baby.

Nicholas Allan’s story is simple and witty but I also think powerful as it tells us of the transformative power of Jesus Christ.

Whether Jesus’ birth happened in the way the Gospel accounts tells us is less important to the fact that Jesus was actually born. Only in Luke and Matthew do we have birth narratives. In Mark there is no birth story at all - it begins with Jesus’ baptism by John as an adult. In John the story is mystical and refers to ‘The Word becoming incarnate’ without any reference to how that happened. And the two accounts by Matthew and Luke differ! In Matthew there are no shepherds on magi and in Luke no magi only shepherds. In no one account do we have the full story as we know it and if we only had one Gospel account our view of Jesus’ birth might be very different.

Because we actually have four accounts our nativity story is like a jigsaw, made up from various bits from each account that together give us an understanding greater than the sum of the various parts.

I have always quite liked that fact, once I realised that no one account has the full story. I like it because it says to me that we can’t contain God or ever fully understand God’s ways and that when we encounter Jesus - the Word made flesh, God on Earth, the human face of God (or whatever) we will like the inn keeper in the story be transformed by the meeting. Why?Because quite simply encountering God will always change one. We might not realise quite how but it does and always will.

Often, many of us struggle to get an understanding of who God is and why the world is the way it is and what our rôle in Creation actually is. But, in Jesus, we see someone like ourselves. A human being, no matter how divine he was, who lived a life like we do. Had all the pains and successes we do and loved and lost. he knew happiness and sadness and as such I think makes God easier to comprehend as we can begin the journey of revelation from a staring point we understand, being ourselves. As that exploration develops throughout our lives we daily get glimpses of the Divine in the encounters with others and God’s Creation. Those little almost unnoticeable things that can take our breath away or cheer our hearts. Things that transform who we are and how we see the world and our fellow beings.

For all of us with a faith, that transformation begins when we first encounter Jesus, be it in worship, in stories, in other people of faith. Those things which helped us to begin the journey or nourish us on the way. It is never an easy journey and at times we might doubt it all but if we continue to question and try to remain open minded Jesus will encounter us as much as we will encounter him. And, we effect those encounters when we interact with each other and spark that image of God within each of us that we are made with.

Jesus was both human and divine and we if we believe that we are all made in the image of God contain and essence of God and thus Jesus as well. An essence that we discover more and more as we explore that journey we call life.

On this Christmas Day we meet Jesus face to face as a helpless child in the manger. A could full of potential waiting to be discovered. We know his story but we can never fully know it or him, unless we journey with him and open ourselves up to be transformed by the journey we make in his presence. As the poet Wendy Cope says inter open 'Lantern Carol' :

“Ours if we will have Him.

Ours to love and keep.”

Enjoy this Christmas Day and look out for the ways in which you will be transformed in the coming year as you journey with Jesus the incarnated face of God.

Happy Christmas

ADVENT IV  Year A

Sunday  18th December 2022

I have realised, that I have my mother’s hands. Not literally, but the older I get the more my fingers and skin look like hers. They are not particularly big hands, they are quite slender for a man and reasonably regular, (despite the arthritis) like my Mum’s but it is especially, the way the veins stand proud on the surface of my hands and the texture of the skin that remind me of my mum. If you compare our hands, there is definitely no mistaking whose son I am.

I wonder what Joseph thought as he gazed upon the infant Jesus? Yes! He’s got his mother’s nose or eye colour, shape of head or hands but what’s he got of me? Nothing at all - so Scripture would tell us. Jesus was the combination of God and Mary, the Word made flesh, both divine and human at the same time. Jesus may have inherited his human genetic make up from his mother and his divine creator but he probably inherited other important and life defining characteristics from his foster father or adoptive father, Joseph as well.

Joseph, was obviously a good man, a man of principle and love - a  gentle-man in the true sense of the word. Joseph believed what Mary told him and what the angel told him too:

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”                        Matthew 1:20b-21

Joseph, did not abandon his betrothed, as he was legally able to do, instead he wrapped her in love and accepted her son as his own. (The whole paternity debate surrounding Jesus has been long argued over and I do not intend to rehearse the arguments, theologies and heresies here this morning - except to state that whatever relationship Joseph had to Jesus it was obviously one based on love and that really is all that matters).

Many people love their children, regardless of the fact that they may not be their  natural  offspring. My stepsons are my boys  regardless of their genetic parentage and my love for them is no less valid or real than the love they receive from their father or mother. It may be different, I cannot tell, not having any natural children but I love them and would do anything for them, including constantly worrying about them. I suspect that Joseph has similar feelings.

I may not have been in my stepsons lives from their birth as Joseph was with Jesus but I have been a part of their growing up for the past 31 years. As such, I hope my reflections on the relationship I have with them can help me begin to comprehend what Joseph might have felt towards Jesus. Joseph was there right from the start, acting as partner and midwife at Jesus birth, so how could he not love the boy that he helped to bring into the world?

To all intents and purposes we can assume, Joseph acknowledged Jesus as his first born son and there are hints in the Gospels that he and Mary may have had other children:

“A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him,  Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.”   Mark 3:33

Whether Mary was ever virgin as some proclaim, is not, I believe, as important as the fact that she was our Saviour’s mother. The one from whom he got his humanity but it was from both Mary and Joseph that he got his human nature. Both Mary and Joseph raised Jesus to maturity and as such nurtured him into the man he was to become. Joseph showed him what unconditional love and acceptance could look like in action. He accepted him right from his conception, totally and utterly, no questions asked once it had been explained to him. To the world 2000 odd years ago Jesus was known as the  Carpenter’s Son from Nazareth. Even Scripture tells us that.

‘That’s my boy.'  Joseph could say and I believe, rightly so. For Jesus was not only entrusted to Mary but to Joseph as well and I am saddened that as a father, Joseph often gets left out or portrayed as an impotent old man, rather than the youthful, dynamic force and example to his foster son that he was. As a step-parent I want to hear it for Joseph and I want to give thanks for the rôle model he offers.

It is not easy being a step-parent because you are always conscious that you are one-step removed and must never seek to usurp the natural parent in their rightful role, should they claim it. You can, however, offer parental support and love, unconditionally as the  other trusted adult. Perhaps the one who is never seen to judge but who can  be there   when relationships with the natural parents may be strained by adolescent angst.

I have learned much from my boys as their step-father and I constantly give thanks for them and the love we share. It truly is a gift from God. Joseph too, I like to think and hope also gave thanks for Jesus  his son  and loved and worried about him just as much as his mother did. So although Jesus may (or may not) have shared Joseph s genetic make-up he truly did share in the father/son bond with his earthly dad, just as much as he shared in the father/son bond with his divine parent.

I share genetic traits with both my parents and I have shared in their parental love. So although I see my mother in my hands, I see my father in other ways. I don’t share genes with my step-sons but they do share some of my characteristics and personality traits because I have been one of the lucky people  to raise them. At the end of the day you do not have to have you own natural children to love any more or less than the children you do have, love is not dictated by genetics alone. I can think of three families well known to me who have adopted their children and what loving parents and family life I see in them.

Joseph, I truly believe, was one of the  good guys. Someone we should value and admire for the rôle he played in the incarnation and in our salvation. It is all too easy, to forget the  adoptive-father in the Christmas Story but without him quite what might the story have been and quite what would Jesus life and ministry have been without the rôle model of the loving man, Joseph, his father in all but biology.

I am Joseph, carpenter

Of David s kingly line,

I wanted an heir; discovered

My wife's son wasn’t mine.

I am an obstinate lover,

Loved Mary for better or worse.

Wouldn t stop loving when I found

Someone else came first.

Mine was the likeness I hoped for

When the first-born man-child came.

But nothing of him was me. I couldn’t

Even choose his name.

I am Joseph, who wanted

To teach my own boy how to live.

My lesson for my foster son:

Endure. Love. Give.

UA Fan Thorpe   ‘Joseph’