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Let the Lord come down

Saturday, January 6, 2001

Mark 1:9-12
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Webster defines epiphany as "a sudden manifestation of the essential nature or meaning of something." Something amazing, something wonderful happens on earth when the heavens are "torn open." These moments are perfectly labeled as epiphanies for the participants.

The Christian festival of Epiphany, first celebrated by Gnostics in Egypt in the 2nd century and later by Eastern Christians, originally celebrated both the moments of Jesus' birth and baptism. In the latter half of the 4th century Eastern and Western churches adopted each other's "birth" festivals, thus establishing the 12-day celebration from Christmas to Epiphany. In later years Epiphany also marked the moment when Jesus' identity was first revealed to the world outside the Israelites, the moment of the Magi.

Three wise men coming to call...in many countries this is still a great opportunity for feasts and gift-giving. Twelfth Night, or "Epiphany Eve", is the night when Italian children put out their stockings. They are filled by a legendary woman who refused the wise men food and shelter, then repented, and now, depicted as a witch named "Befana" astride a broom, still searches the world for the baby Jesus. In Puerto Rico, my friend Ari tells me, children gather grass for the camels and put it in boxes under their bed. In the morning the grass is gone, and the three magi have each left a present.

Since 567 A.D., when the Council of Tours proclaimed the twelve days from December 25 to Epiphany as a sacred, festive season, we have found all kinds of ways to use these days as a welcome escape from everyday cares. "God is alive...magic is afoot!" as Buffy St. Marie sings. Twelfth Night parties began with the cutting of a special cake. Whoever found a bean or coin in their slice was determined to be the ruler of the feast, king or queen for the evening.

Role reversals often have highlighted these holidays. Masters became the servants for a day, and served their servants. High churchmen chose a young acolyte to be bishop for the holiday. And "mumming," in which revelers put on masks or the clothes of the opposite sex and sang songs from house to house, was available to all.

Shakespeare, whose plays both comic and tragic often hinge on mistaken, confused or reversed identities, wrote Twelfth Night, in which a girl, disguised as a boy, falls in love with her master, who sends her to court a lady on his behalf, who falls in love with her. Er...him. The players eventually make all things right for nearly everyone except the dour, puritanical Malvolio, whose fellow servants counterfeit a letter to him from Olivia, their mistress:

"In my stars I am above thee;
but be not afraid of greatness:
some are born great,
some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
Thy Fates open their hands;
let thy blood and spirit embrace them."

Malvolio is tricked into believing in his own attractive greatness, and as the play ends he is angry and vengeful as he returns to his original role as servant.

I can only speculate on the origins of these role reversal traditions, but it reminds me immediately of one of Jesus' most powerful teachings..."the first shall be last, and the last shall be first." Except when God directs the action, no one ends up angry. In this way, and perhaps in this way only, the spirit changes position with the flesh, eternal overcomes the temporal, and we are reminded, rejoicing once again, that we are God's children first, and all things other thereafter.

Lord, you bring us to your banqueting table...your banner over us is love. Let the feast begin!



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