Jesus is for the Whole World by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

In the movie “Contact,” Jodie Foster’s character is a scientist who only sees the world through the eyes of science. There is no room in her mind for uncertainty, for faith, and for things unseen. And then she has a mystical experience that changes her life. She then tries to explain the experience to a congressional committee.

In the movie, she has to explain to a skeptical group of people who have no reason to believe, an experience with no proof.  Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent, dozens of lives are lost, and she comes back with no physical evidence.  The panel is incredulous and demands she recant her testimony.   

She says: “I was given a vision – that we belong to something that is greater than ourselves; that we are not alone.” Her character, Dr. Arroway, is forever changed by her experience. 

She has what we call an “epiphany.” She sees something and it stops her dead in her tracks. She can no longer live life as usual as a scientist. She knows there is something more to life than what she can measure and what she can quantify. There is something that can only be held by faith. 

We celebrate January 6^th as the day called Epiphany because that is the day that something happened that forever changed the world. The three wise men were stopped dead in their tracks when they met the baby Jesus. They were never the same. And the world was never the same. 

The experience started when they saw a bright star in the sky (Matthew 2:1-12 from The Message paraphrase from those following along from afar). They traveled from their home in the Far East all the way to Jerusalem in Judah. They stopped to see King Herod and asked where they might find the newborn King of the Jews. Herod was, of course, taken aback by their question, because he was the King of the Jews, put there by the Roman Empire. He consulted with his scholars and they told him of a prophecy saying that in Bethlehem there would be born a leader who would rule over the people of Israel. Micah wrote:

It’s you, Bethlehem, in Judah’s land,
    no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader
    who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel.”

Herod met with the wise men and told them the baby was in Bethlehem. He told them that when they found the baby they should come tell him so he could go to worship the baby too. Of course, he was lying; he wanted to kill the baby. 

The wise men traveled to Bethlehem, and there they found Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. And they knew the minute they saw him that he was not only the King of the Jews but he came for the whole world. They worshiped him and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (and no, those were not impractical gifts, but that’s Kurt sermon). Then they returned home by another way, without talking to Herod because they were warned in a dream not to let Herod know where Jesus was. 

You see, we call this event the Epiphany because the Wise Men were stopped dead in their tracks when they met Jesus. They knew in their hearts that Jesus was the savior of the world. They could sense that he had the power to change the world. That is why they worshipped him. We don’t hear any more about the Wise Men but it is likely that they went home and told everyone about the baby they had just seen. Perhaps this is the way the news of Jesus began to spread to the Eastern world. 

Anna Shirey writes that Epiphany is about “believing in the possibility of a change of fortune” (source: http://thelabyrinthway.net/change-of-fortune/). Perhaps we have experienced some negative things in the past. Maybe 2015 was a bad year for us. Epiphany is about trusting God to make things better in the future. She writes: “Epiphany challenges us to see things differently. It reminds us that God is at work in the world, constantly opening up new paths to us, inviting us to dream in bigger and better ways. If only we will allow ourselves to believe, to dream, to trust in God’s lovingkindness toward us, the truth will suddenly appear, like the light has been switched on” (ibid). 

Rosie talked with you about light in her sermon last week. Remember the refrain from John: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Epiphany is about light coming into our world.

But what happens when a light comes on in a room? Interestingly the light often blinds us at first. We close our eyes at first, or cover our eyes with our hands. Then gradually we open our eyes and adjust to the light. Anna Shirey writes: “A light turned on in a dark room is a change of fortune for the eyes. Our eyes can’t prepare themselves in advance, so they will be ready for the light when it comes. They simply do their best to receive the light when it arrives” (ibid). 

It takes a while to have a reversal of our expectations. We kind of expect to be living in darkness, but Jesus wants to bring us into the light. This involves us making a change. But this often involves a crisis of faith for us. Something bad happens in our lives and we begin to doubt God. We wonder if God is really there with us. We forget all the times God has been there with us to that point. All we can see is what is right in front of us: whatever pain or conflict or sorrow we are facing at that very minute. We give up on God.

We are like Jodie Foster’s character in the movie, “Contact.” She only trusts what she can see and measure. She has no faith. But then something happens that pulls her out of her head. She has an experience of something bigger than herself. 

This happens to us when God pulls us out of a valley of despair and gives us hope. I have seen this happen in my own life when I get mired in depression and then something positive happens to lift me up: a friend calls and helps me feel connected again, or someone I coach tells me that I am really helping them. This helps pull me out of myself and my depression and back into the world. 

Epiphany is about a change of fortune, a turn we make, an insight we have. In a sudden burst of insight we have a realization that we are not alone. God is with us. In the church year we are entering a season of Epiphany. Over the next few weeks in worship we will share stories of people whose lives were turned around by Jesus, people who were stopped dead in their tracks from encounters with Jesus. 

What about you? When have you been going merrily along, or perhaps not so merrily along, and suddenly you are reminded that God is with you? You are not alone. Perhaps the presence of Jesus came to you in a dream. More likely he came to you in the words of a close friend or family member who encouraged you. Or perhaps in a book you were reading, or a song you listened to. 

When I was in college, I remember going through some lonely times. I was questioning my call to be a pastor, wondering if this was really what God wanted me to do with my life. I had a certain place I would sit on campus, on the steps of a certain building. I could survey the whole campus from those steps. I could watch the people going by, without interacting with any of them. There I would pray, and God would speak to me and encourage me. God would respond to my fears. 

          God would lift me up and give me strength. I did not have many friends. And the other students in the religion department were all men, who did not think women should be pastors. It was West Texas.  It was discouraging to be around them. But God showed me another vision, a vision that I could be a pastor, a vision that women, like men, could be pastors. 

This was my Epiphany moment. I saw a change of fortune. I saw my future in a different way. God helped me see something that I could not see without God. I had the strength to finish my college education and go to seminary because God showed me a path. 

What about you? Are you feeling stuck? Do you need a new direction in 2016? Are you walking in the darkness and do you need to see God’s light? Remember the light may be very bright at first. You may have to close your eyes and open them slowly to adjust to God’s light. It may take you some time to adjust to God’s vision for your life. But God does have a vision for you. 

God sent Jesus into the world, not only for the Jews living in Judah and Galilee. God sent Jesus to the Wise Men from the East, and to the whole world. God sent Jesus to us. God sent Jesus to bring light to our lives of darkness and to bring hope to our despair. 

This is what Epiphany is about. Jesus comes to us. And our lives are forever changed. Whatever you want to leave behind in 2015, you can leave it behind. 2016 is a new year and it can be whatever you and Jesus want to make it. 

What do you need to leave behind? Ask Jesus to help you, and he will help you leave it behind. Where do you need light in 2016? Ask Jesus to bring you light and he will. Jesus wants you to have a full life, a life of joy and meaning. Jesus came into the world that we all might have life and have it abundantly. 

So in this season of Epiphany, open yourself to Jesus. Let him bring light to your life. Let him change the course of your life for the good. Amen.