the day we are celebrating today, paying it the formal honor and the sermon that
SERMON 200
ON THE LORD'S EPIPHANY
Date: 393-4051
Epiphany means manifestation
1. The Magi came from the East to worship the child bom of the virgin. That's the day we are celebrating today, paying it the formal honor and the sermon that is its due. This day first dawned on them, but has returned with the turning year as a feast to us. They were the firstfruits of the Gentiles, we are the people of the Gentiles. To us this good news was brought by the mouth of the apostles, to them by the star as by the mouth of the heavens; and to us these same apostles, like the heavens, have declared the glory of God (Ps 19:1). After all, why should we not acknowledge that they are heavens, seeing that they have become the thrones of God? As it is written, The soul of the just is the throne of wisdom.2 It was from these heavens, you see, that the constructor and inhabitant of the heavens thundered; thunder at which the earth trembled, and lo and behold it now believes.
A marvelous sacrament and symbol!3 There he was, lying in the manger, and leading the Magi from the east. There he was, tucked away in a stable, recog¬ nized in the sky, so that after being recognized in the sky he might be manifested in the stable, and this day might properly be called Epiphany, which in English could be called manifestation. It calls our attention simultaneously to his lofti¬ ness and his lowliness, since the one who was being revealed by starry signs in the open sky was also being looked for and found in a cramped and crowded lodging house; feeble in his infant limbs, folded round with an infant s wrap¬ pings, he was being worshiped by the wise men, feared by the wicked.
The nobility of the one being born lay in the virginity of the one giving birth
2. King Herod, you see, was afraid, when the Magi told him about the child they were still looking for, having learned of his birth from the evidence of the heavens. How dread must be his judgment seat, when his infant's cradle could so terrify the pride of kings! How much more prudently do kings nowadays,4