Send out thy light and thy truth that they may lead me and
bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy dwelling. (Psalm
43.3)
Epiphany began when the regal representatives of the wisdom, wealth
and devotion of the world worshipped a child in a manger. Epiphany ends
when “all the tribes of the earth mourn” at the sight of the “Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30)
At the beginning, we prayed in the collect that Christ veiled in flesh,
and known by faith, might lead us “till at the end we see the vision of
his heavenly glory.” (BCP p. 117) Today, as we anticipate his appearance
in purifying flame and glory, we pray that we may be made pure so as to
be able to steadfastly behold him as he is. (1 John 3.2) At the beginning
we desired vision, now we also require likeness, likeness to Christ’s resurrected
glory in his eternal kingdom. So these contemplations and petitions
appropriately conclude Christmas and Epiphany and lead us on to Lent and
Easter.
These collects, composed by Bishop Cosin of Durham for the Prayer Book
revision of 1662, provide the transition from the knowledge of who Christ
is to the following of him in what he does. Epiphany shows us God
in the flesh. The Wise men offer incense to the divine child. In his
temple the Divine Word astonishes the Doctors of the Law with his wisdom.
Baptized, Jesus hears the heavenly Father proclaim him as his Son. The
Kingdom of God which changes earthly things into things heavenly is manifestly
present when Christ turns water into wine. And his disciples learn
to fear him, rather than what nature can do when Christ calms the stormy
sea. All these miracles serve to show that this man is God.
Their purpose is epiphany. They are not magician’s entertainments;
Jesus rebukes those who seek him for “signs and wonders.” Nor are
the results the healing, the fish, and the loaves to be sought after for
their own sakes. Jesus condemns those who seek the meat which perishes
when they might obtain instead the true bread which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world. The miracles of Epiphany show us that Christ
is God. They also serve as witnesses against our unbelief until he
appears before the whole creation as its divine judge:
Every eye shall then behold him
Robed in dreadful majesty.
We shall see him and know our filth in the face of his purity, and our
misery in the light of his splendour.
His appearance and final epiphany would be our destruction if it were
not for what God in Christ works in our flesh. In Lent and Passiontide,
we come to know and co-operate in the work Jesus came to do. His Father
works in creation and now the Son undertakes the redemption of its fallen
members. Christ goes up to Jerusalem to undertake his great work upon the
cross. He invites us to be coworkers with him, to take up our crosses and
to follow him, to walk in his footsteps until we are “made like unto him
in his eternal and glorious kingdom.” The last epiphany is the showing
forth to and for all flesh of the resurrected Christ, the Christ of the
Easter beyond death. Contemplating the appearance of Christ our resurrected
judge draws us beyond Epiphany through Lent to Easter, through the works
of repentance to the purity by which we may see our risen Lord “as he is.”
We seek to move from following the pure light of a star, shining before
us, to deeds of purification by which we are “pure even as he is pure.”
O send out thy light and thy truth that they may lead us
and bring us unto thy holy hill and to thy dwelling and
that we may go unto the Altar of God. (Psalm 43.3-4)
Today in this Holy Eucharist we are led from words to deeds as we do again
what our Lord commanded us to do. We bless and break bread, we thank God
and share a cup. We do this to make present for us, and in us, the death
of Christ. We do this because we are determined to follow him even to the
end. We do this because we want to do nothing except by the strength and
character of his working in us. We do this so as to know his resurrection
in ourselves, so as to be like him and to see him as he is in his eternal
and glorious kingdom, where with thee O Father and thee O Holy Ghost he
lives and reigns our God for ever and ever. Amen.
