As you have just heard, this morning’s first reading is from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you a bit about that book.

As Christians, we cannot, must not ignore the Old Testament. It is part of our scriptural heritage.  Large parts of the New Testament cannot really be understood without at least some knowledge of the Old Testament. And we must never forget that Jesus was a Jew. The book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah, the books which comprise the main book of the Law and instruction for Jews both now and in past centuries, coming after Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. Jesus knew the Torah. Luke tells us that when he was twelve years old, his parents took him to Jerusalem. The teachers in the Temple were amazed at his grasp of the Jewish law. So we do need to know something about it.

The first and most obvious thing to be said about the book of Deuteronomy is that it is not what, at its beginning, it says it is. Verse 1:1 states that “these are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan”.

After 40 years wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites at last arrive at the river Jordan and are about to cross over into the Promised Land. But Moses has long ago been told by YHWH that he will not come into that land. He will die first. So this book purports to be Moses’ final words to his people. But this is simply not possible. Leaving aside common-sense factors that Moses was then 120 years old, and that he was certainly more or less illiterate, there is a great deal of internal evidence within the book itself that it could not possibly have been composed at that early date.

So what is it and why is it included among the books of the Torah and the Old Testament?

Fast forward several centuries after Moses’ death. The Israelites have entered into and almost entirely lost the Promised Land. They have been overrun and conquered by outside powers. They have forgotten the covenant with YHWH which they have disobeyed. The only remaining Israelite state is that of Judah, which has suffered from a series of weak kings. But now in the fifth century a new king, Josiah, comes to the throne. He is determined to bring his people back to their allegiance to their God. He begins by cleansing and restoring the Temple, throwing out the Assyrian idols and clearing out the rubble. What surfaces from the rubble is a great scroll which in large measure is a restatement of the Jewish law contained in the first four books of the Torah. Although it contains significant variations, it is accepted as the fifth Holy Book of the Torah and in Greek is given the name Deuteronomy; “Deutero” in Greek means “second” and “nomos” means “Law”. During his reign, Josiah will do all he can to bring his people back to living according to that law, which has miraculously been brought back to light among them.

In that light, let us look again at this morning’s reading from Deuteronomy. This is a reflection, almost an exact repeat, of a passage in Exodus [20: 18-19]. The Israelites are afraid that if their God, YHWH, speaks direct to them, they will be destroyed by the fire of his greatness. So YHWH agrees that from henceforth he will speak to Israel only through his appointed prophets. The Israelites must heed what those prophets say as if it were YHWH himself speaking, or suffer the consequences. What Deuteronomy is saying here is that Israel’s weakness now is the result of their disobedience in the past. They must reform and obey the Law as set out in this scroll, which reinforces King Josiah’s wishes.

But by the agreement to communicate only through appointed prophets, the direct line of communication between YHWH and his people as individuals was severed. Jesus came to restore it. He set us free to pray “our Father”. I believe that God now can and will speak direct to us, though perhaps not sometimes as often and as clearly as we might wish. Perhaps we are not always as good at hearing as we should be? 

In closing I would like to leave you with a great passage from Deuteronomy. Maybe Moses did not himself close with these words to the Israelites, but they have an eternal message for them and for us: “I call heaven and earth to witness today that I have set before you life and death… Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him and holding fast to him, for that means life to you” [Deut 30:19-20] Therefore choose life.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity always falls within the week of the Feast of the Conversion of St.Paul. 

The Conversion of St.Paul

Saul’s sudden conversion and transformation into St.Paul may seem rather alien to many of us. I don’t deny that for some people they do have an immediate and sudden conversion or revelation of faith. For others, like myself, that conversion to faith was and is more gradual. As a child I took myself to church because I enjoyed the services. As a teenager I only went to chapel at school but is was as a young adult that my faith deepened and my life changed. My gradual conversion led me into a deeper understanding and acceptance of God and the man Jesus, this inspired me to try and live a life like his. I had no sudden 'lightbulb' moment but was converted none-the-less by Christ. Your journey of faith maybe similar.

Saul was a persecutor of Christians, a zealous Jew who could not accept Jesus as Messiah. On that road to Damascus things changed and Paul became an ardent promoter of the Christian faith. I suspect many could not quite believe his conversion and probably suspected that he had ulterior motives.He was at first kept at arms length by the Early Church members, wondering if in fact it was a way of infiltrating the Church in order to destroy it. We now know it wasn’t but 2000+ years ago Paul had to work hard to gain acceptance and trust. Today we remember his conversion and give thanks for his rôle in the spread of the Church across the globe. No matter how you came to faith, I suspect that some his words have fed you along the way, and probably like me some of his writing might have annoyed you as well! But the one thing you can always say of Paul is that he makes you think about your faith and that is always a good thing. 

Speak, Lord for your servant is listening (1 Samuel 3:9)

When did you last hear someone calling you? How did you respond? Think for a moment. Was it something that you imagined or was it real? Was it a voice you recognised or not?  What were the circumstances leading up to it? Did you do anything about it? Often it may be totally unexpected coming at times which are inconvenient or when we are busy doing something else or just disinterested.  

When I was across staying with my mother over Christmas, I noticed that one of her elderly neighbours had come out into her garden. Having not seen her for some time I shouted out “Hello Fiona”. It was rather strange waiting to see if she could hear me and how she would respond.  For a moment I could see her turning her head first in one direction and then the other. Eventually she looked straight ahead; we waived; exchanged some pleasantries and then went on our way. She could quite easily have ignored me or just not made the effort to see who was calling to her.  

In our reading from 1 Samuel we hear about God’s calling of the boy, Samuel.  It is a story that is told in the third person. It is a story of delayed recognition of God’s voice and of Samuel’s submission.  At the time of his calling, Samuel does not receive directions to deliver a message to wayward people or to proclaim the word of the Lord.  Instead the focus of his prophetic calling is to prepare for the transition from Eli’s household to a new priestly family. 

To be called by God is something special.  To be called by God means that God knows our name and everything about us. To be called by God may mean a change of direction or course of action.

What is important in our story is that in the summons to Samuel, God instructs Samuel first to listen.  It is only after being called three times that Samuel is able to respond with those heartfelt words “Speak, for your servant is listening”. It required an old priest suffering from encroaching blindness to interpret the repeated summons as being from God. 

What is also important is that Eli asks Samuel to tell him what he has been told. Despite Samuel being afraid he withholds nothing. Eli acknowledges this by saying “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him”. 

But we also have another calling in our gospel reading too. Philip goes and finds his friend Nathanael and tells him that he believes that he has discovered the long-promised Messiah in Jesus, the man from Nazareth. Nathanael is contemptuous. Nathanael’s reaction is to declare that Nazareth was not the  kind of place that anything good was likely to come out of. But Philip was wise. He did not argue. He simply said “Come and see”.  So Nathanael came and saw that Jesus could see into his heart.  What surprises Nathanael is not so much that he had been seen under the fig tree. It was the fact that Jesus had read the thoughts of his inmost heart and satisfied them. Only in John’s gospel is Nathanael mentioned.  In the other three gospels he never appears at all. 

As we have heard about the calling of Samuel and also Nathanael may we too be willing to listen afresh to the call of God on our lives; to hear and to respond  “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening”.

‘Wise men from the East’

Do you realise that’s virtually all we actually know about the visitors who came baring gifts for the Christ Child, that they were wise men from the East; and no one is quite sure what that means. We can assume that they were wealthy from the gifts they brought and that they had some experience (or staff who did) in understanding the stars in the sky. Much of what we think we know about these men is legend and embroidery that has attached itself to them over the past two millennia. If you read the passage again you’ll also discover that we are not told the number of wise men who came from the East. It is just assumed that there were three because of the three gifts offered. Also Matthew is the only Gospel writer to include anything about them. So what’s going on?

In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number twelve.Their identification as ‘kings' in later Christian writings is probably linked to Isaiah 60:1-6

which refers to "kings (coming) to the brightness of your dawn" bearing "gold and frankincense". Further identification of the magi with kings may also be due to Psalm 72:11 which says; "May all kings fall down before him”.

So we have an idea why we think there may have been three wise men and that they might have been kings as well. The magi title relates to their study of the stars and the mysticism surrounding astrology and astronomy. You can see how the legends grow. We also have names for them; Balthazar, Casper and Melchior quite how they came about is obscured in the mists of history but interestingly the three are seen to represent different races of humanity. Balthazar as a King of Arabia; Melchior a King of Persia and Casper a King of India - representing men from different places in the known world of two thousand years ago.

In art they also represent three different ages of humanity of youth, middle age and maturity - hence being portrayed as fresh faced, white bearded and middle aged. Their skin tones also

reflect their cultural origins. The picture of them grows and much of what we think we know about them probably comes from paintings or more often Christmas cards!

This might set one thinking that this all sounds very fanciful and wondering if they did in fact visit the Christ Child and when they were supposed to have done so. Again it is assumed that the child was a young boy and not a baby when they called.

Personally, I love the feast of the Epiphany or ‘The revelation of Christ to the world’, and all the legends and mystery that goes with it. I love it for one reason that the visit of the men from the East quite obviously and dramatically tell us that Jesus was born not for the Hebrew people alone but for all people of the world regardless of where they come from, how old they are, what skin colour they have or whatever difference they represent.

Jesus is for EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the message of today’s feast and it is a message we should proclaim from the roof tops. Jesus was not born for just a few random people he was born for the whole of the human race throughout all time. His birth heralded the salvation he would win us by his death on a Cross and resurrection to new life. His birth gives the whole world HOPE that by his love, the love of God incarnate (made real and fleshy) tells us all that we are wanted by God in his Kingdom.

All the legends and the symbolism of the Kings, Magi, wise men and the gifts are a great story that adds to the drama and ultimate truth that Jesus was born to save us all and to show us all how much we are loved by our Creator.

Thank you Casper, Melchior and Balthazar for showing us what we needed to know and understand about our Saviour.

May God bless and keep you and your loved ones throughout this coming year.