The Feast of the Epiphany. Sunday January 6, 2008, Reading s are taken from Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12
The picture is Nativity by He Qi (2001)

January 6 is "Twelfth Night" or Epiphany
and those of us who like to wear cross-gartered yellow stockings welcome it!
(This is a Shakespearean reference not for the faint hearted!)
But it marks the coming of the Magi, or the Wise Men
Archbishop Rowan William on a slow news day
caused a minor skirmish when he suggested that
the story of the Wise Men is a "legend"
(see a good little reflection on the comment in The Australian here)
You will note that most serious commentators agree with him to a greater or lesser degree.
As do I.
To be a legend is not to be untrue.
It is rather to be open to a grander interpretation
than the facts alone attest to.
Thus we think of Bradman as a legend.
This does not deny his existence.
It rather points us to the higher values of his life
which the facts alone do not give credence to.
--Loyalty, humility, strong and committed leadership.
So the meaning that is being conveyed here
is where we should focus our attention.
And there is much.
The precious gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh
symbolise the character of the life of Christ

• gold- because a new reign has begun, ushering in the fullness of God's kingdom
• incense- because Christ is a sacred priest who recalls us to holiness of life as God intended
• myrrh-the embalming oil, foretelling Christ's redeeming death which would transform humanity's relationship with God

All so much more than the bare facts attest to.
But laden too in the text is the fulfilment of the psalms and the prophets.
Everything is coming together
and there is the profound statement that God is being made known beyond the narrow confines of Israel
this is the power of the legend to draw these huge strokes
and to help us think more expansively.

Is our God so small that we would confine God by our language, our thoughts
our poor ideas of what "fact" is
or do we embrace the legend
that God is ever increasing his reign
above and beyond the very narrow conceptions we choose to narrowly define.
More than that
we are challenged
to make Christ more widely known ourselves
and to allow Christ to be more deeply manifest in our own lives.

The legend is big. The legend is good.
But it demands of us expansive, legendary, Godly thinking.