Sermon Sunday, January 4, 2026
Every year as we continue during the Christmas celebrations, uh we come upon this mysterious feast of the Epiphany. This is what we celebrate today. Epiphany, the re revealing of God to all nations. And it’s connected with this mysterious event of three kings coming from the east to pay homage to Jesus and to offer him gifts of gold, frankincense, and more. Much can be said about this event, but it doesn’t matter how much we say about it. It’s still quite mysterious. We know very little about these three
individuals. But what we know perhaps is enough so that we can actually extract some spiritual insights. We can learn something from this very important event.
The three mysterious individuals, what we do know about them is that they were from the east, the land lands occupying the east of the holy land where Jesus was born and the Israelites lived. We know that even if they were from Abrahamic descent, they were not Jews. So they were of a different faith tradition altogether. We know that they were wealthy based on the kinds of gifts they brought. And we also know that they went out of their way to do something that most of us would never do.
This is what I find most fascinating. You know, many of us are used to doing difficult things. We’ve all done it. We’ve went to school. We went and we got jobs. We had to fix all kinds of things in our lives. Maybe we even drive long distances in order to get a better deal on whatever it is, meat, groceries, gasoline. So we have many things in common. As the three kings have traveled, we travel. As they have endured many hardships, they have endured many hardships. And by the standards of global economy, we could say that as they were rich, we also are rich in the grand scheme of things. But here is the difference that I find fascinating.
They went far and endured much so that they could give something to someone else. Most of us will endure suffering and sacrifices if we know that at the end of the day there is something in it for me. There’s a deal. There’s something I can learn, something I can receive. But this is the fascinating part about the three kings. They come and they ask for nothing. They ask for nothing. What’s in it for them?
They want to do two things. Pay him homage. In other words, worship him, acknowledge him as king, and offer him gifts. And to me, whenever we hear of mysterious figures in sacred scripture, what we should be thinking about is that the heart of God is being revealed through mysterious figures. Whether it’s the priest Melkisedc in the Old Testament, of whom we know so little and who reveals the heart of God. Whether it’s the three angels appearing to Abraham revealing the trinity of God. Whether it’s Balam, the mysterious priest who in trying to curse the Israelites in the book of Numbers chapter 24 three times is only able to speak blessings because he can only say what God inspires him to say. All the mysterious figures in the Old and the New Testament are really a way for us to think of the character of God. God is revealed through mystery. So what is it that we learn about God through these three mysterious figures?
Well, the first connection is very clear to me. Like the three kings who traveled far and endured much only to offer gifts. So does God for us. The son of God humbled himself to travel, be born, suffer and die. everything he did not so that he can benefit but so that we can benefit. The sacrifice of Jesus is to give, not to take away. To give, not to take away. The other one is maybe a little bit less obvious, but I’ve been thinking about this. How often our relationship with one another, with this world, with our families can shape the way we view God, can shape the way we create an image of God in our minds. And especially if we have negative relationships in this world, it can really impact
negatively on how we view God. So often you know we have relationships in this world, families especially around Christmas who have a lot of expectations of what we should do, how we should live. Parents are very good at doing this to their grown children. You know, you’re not doing this right. You should fix this. You should visit more often. You should you should you should you should. And it’s very easy for us to begin to feel like we’re living according to the expectations of others instead of being able to be free to live our own life knowing that the other person whether it’s family member, parents, whatever will accept us with no expectations.
You see, but with all these expectations around us, we can begin to feel that our relationship with God is also based on these kinds of expectations. That God
will only accept us, that God will only love us if we do this and that, if we behave in this way or that way. But how can that be? If God comes simply to give, not to receive, to give, to give himself, to give the gift of salvation and freedom and renewal and belief. God doesn’t come to place heavy burdens upon us, but to lift those burdens to say, “You are enough. I love you the way you are. No expectations. But you may say, well, but doesn’t God give us commandments and tell us how to live and what to do? Yes, but it’s never at a cost. It’s never an expectation so that he would love us. It’s always a suggestion. Here is how I can help you. But my love is unconditional. No matter what you do, I will love you. I will support you. I will be with you. I will give you everything I have. I think this is such an important part of our image of God that we look to the scriptures to truly see the beauty of the way God is and the way God feels about us rather than to the broken relationships we so often struggle with in our daily relationships.
If we find the freedom in our relationship with God by seeing how much God loves us and how little God expects of us, then I think God can give us the freedom to simply begin to live in this world without living based on the expectations of others, without feeling like we have to prove ourselves all the time. By simply allowing ourselves to be free and to say here is who I am. Here is how I live. Here is what I can do. Here I am. The three kings, mysterious figures who come simply to offer gifts and to pay homage to God, not only teach us how to live, but I believe they also reveal to us the kind of relationship we can have with God. A relationship in which God simply wants to bless us, simply wants to gift us. If we will accept the gift of God as we are, as you are, here we come. On this day of the Epiphany, we celebrate the revelation of God. Not so that we can be enslaved by God’s expectations, but that so me so that we can be freed by the gift of God’s love and redemption offered to all including us.
Amen.