It
is to this eternal purpose that Jesus, the virgin-born-Son, summons the Wise
Men to Himself and accepts their gifts all to show that this is an historic,
global purpose and plan. It is a plan that is recorded in history. It is a plan
that includes all people. And most importantly, it is a plan that includes us,
who don’t have a manger to visit with gifts.
We
are going to focus on our Epistle reading this evening to find out just what
this purpose is and what it has to do with us, so bear with me for a bit here
while I set it up. The phrase
“eternal
purpose” literally means
“that
which is set before the ages”. What’s interesting here is that the word for
“purpose”
or
“Set
before” is the same word the Old Testament uses to describe the bread that is
continually set before God, in the Temple,
the Showbread.
This
dual meaning of
“purpose”
and
“set
before” sheds light on Epiphany and the role that God has given us in His Church.
So, you must notice that St. Paul
does not fail to mention where this eternal purpose takes place, in v.10, that
is in the Church and through the Church. As in, we are not finding God’s
purpose anywhere else.
St.
Paul
further cements the idea that we are in Church by giving us his pastoral
titles, that of
“prisoner”,
“steward”,
and
“minister”.
And that he is a pastor of this
“mystery”
that he mentions a few times. In the early Church, when referring to the
“mystery”,
it always meant the Sacrament of the Altar. The mystery then, is not just that
God includes the gentiles, as Ephesians says, but how He includes them, i.e.
with bread and wine in Church.
The
Lord’s eternal purpose is still wrapped up in Temple services with the Showbread, if only
as a shadow of what we hold, this Epiphany. Because, it has always been the
plan, always been God’s purpose to transfer His holiness to us gentiles. In the
case of the Showbread, the Lord’s sanctification happened in 3 steps:
First,
God made the Altar, the sanctuary, and the food from the Altar, holy Himself.
In Leviticus 22 we hear:
“They
shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to
the Lord, and so cause them to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy
things: for I am the Lord who sanctifies them”
(v.15-16)
Second,
He sanctified the high priest and all priests by their consumption of said holy
food, as we hear Him say,
“It
shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my food
offerings. It is a thing most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt
offering. Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as decreed
forever throughout your generations, from the Lord's food offerings. Whatever
touches them shall become holy”
(Lev.
6:17-18).
Finally,
the Lord consecrates all of His people through their involvement in His Divine
Service and their own consumption of the holy food from their offerings as in
Leviticus 21:8,
“You
shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to
you, for I, the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy.”
Thus
God communicates His holiness physically with His people through His holy
things. By the people’s access to the holy things, the people shared in God’s
holiness, meaning His holiness becomes their own.
Jump
forward to the Magi offering their gifts. In light of this revelation of the
Showbread in Ephesians, the eternal purpose set in front of God; though it
looks as if the Magi are offering gifts to Jesus to appease Him and show their
devotion and piety, it is the opposite. They are offering gifts, but Jesus is
making them holy and He is doing so in unprecedented openness and vulnerability,
being but a toddler at the time.
I
mean, compared to the steps and hoops to jump through in the Old Testament, to
just be able to walk up to God in the flesh and bring whatever you got in your
saddle bags just blows the mind. Yet, this meeting between God and man, with no
barriers, is exactly what St. Paul
is talking about in verse 12 of the Epistle.
Dear
Christians, in Christ you are now the Magi that come from all over. You are now
the ones who stand in the presence of the God Who is present to commune. Your
boldness and confidence stems from the simple fact that you have been baptized.
You would not dare to come close to this Altar otherwise.
In
the Incarnation of our Lord, the epiphany is that God brings the holiness and
wherever He is becomes holy because of Him. In this Epiphany light, we can say
that the gentiles are fellow heirs, because Christ died and lives for them. In
the Epiphany light, we can glorify God in our body, in sin or even in death,
for not only has our sin been covered, but even death has been made to produce
life.
And
all of this has been brought in front of you as if you were the most important
person in the universe. This Showbread from heaven sits in His Church, accepts
your gifts of sin and death, all while radiating His own holiness and
righteousness, communicating it to you, giving it to you on account of His
work.
This is all a part of the great reversal. If we were a pagan
religion, it would be up to us to find this mystery or to simply let it be as a
metaphor. We would have to bring our brightest and best in hopes that it would
please God, keeping the lights on so He’s not left in the dark, and leaving
food out for Him to eat.
In Christ, it is the Almighty that gives the brightest and
best to you in His Son. In Christ, it is the Almighty keeping the lamps lit to
show His presence and remind you there is still time to repent in His Church.
In Christ, it is the Lord Who leaves food out for you so that you approach Him
with boldness or meekness.
Either way, hearing , believing, and approaching you receive
God’s holiness. In the Divine Service, you do not go visit Jesus with the Magi,
but Jesus comes to you and brings you to the foot of His Incarnation and every
event connected to it, not just one. In Christ, all 2000 years of the Church
happens all at once as we hear the Gospel, remember our baptism, and feast on
the eternal Showbread of God’s holiness, Himself.
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