Epiphany: Fulfilment, Conflict and Contrasting Images.

Matthew 2:1-12 and Isaiah 60: 1-6

Now that the excitement of the highly commercialized Christmas is over, let us consider one of the least recognized days of the Christian calendar - i.e. January 6 in which we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord.

The meaning and the purpose of Epiphany have been contested in many circles. Nonetheless, the generally accepted definition is that - Epiphany is a feast that celebrates the “shining forth” or revelation of God to humanity in human form. Just like Christmas, it offers a story of God’s new action in the world through the conception of Jesus Christ which is also the manifestation of God’s saving presence. The Epiphany, in a world dominated by sin and evil, reminds us of God’s purpose to restore creation to the original intentions of the creator.

As such, the Epiphany is a story of fulfilment. It brings forth good news which ushers in that which was promised through the prophets. The story as recorded in Matthew 2 locates the birth of Christ in Bethlehem as a fulfilment of a prophecy recorded in Micah 5:2. Matthew adds to the prophecy 2 Samuel 5:2 giving Bethlehem a geographic precision, prominence and relevance. Jews expected the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem. The narrative of Jesus’ birth is thus located at the very center of God’s purpose which involves the formation of a people for whom God intends blessing and life.

The Epiphany also reveals that God’s purpose is constant and faithful. Those who recognize this and commit themselves to follow Christ, live in a blessed world because God is at work in it and God will bring to completion all that God has intended.

However, the Epiphany is also a constant reminder of the onslaught against God’s action. This onslaught started with Herod, a vassal king, together with the Jerusalem elite who made desperate attempts to thwart God’s work. Herod is believed to have been an Idumean (a non-Jew) appointed king of Judea by the Roman senate in 40 B.C. and was in full control by 37 B.C. Although he is positively remembered for the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple, a project he initiated in 19 B.C., Herod is also remembered for his ruthlessness and his murderous actions. He murdered his own wife and his three sons. He also killed his mother-in-law, his brother-in-law, an uncle and the babies of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16.)

Herod’s actions ought to remind us that the birth of Christianity was a painful one. Mourning and wailing became a hallmark of the early Church as opposed to the ultra-modern image of a wealthy, kingly Church. Lamentation expresses pain, sorrow, and outrage. Having said this, however, the Epiphany highlights the fact that though Herod’s actions may have been brutal and painful, Herod did not have the final word. Epiphany brings with it a message of hope - God will liberate his own.

The final thing that Epiphany reminds us of is the contrasting understandings of Christ. As a result different, groups throughout Christian history appropriate different images of the Christ. Some of the contrasting images that Epiphany brings to the fore include:

In the emerging narrative, it is the Magi (gentiles) not the chief priests (aristocratic temple priests) or scribes (writing bureaucrats) who received the initial revelation of the “shining forth” even though the latter had the prophetic and historical facts of where the Messiah was to be born. Many Christians have interpreted the story of the Magi in the context of power and glory (Isaiah 60:1- 6.) They connect Bethlehem with Davidic kingly lineage – Hollywood style – Christendom. This interpretation's emphasis is on the Eschaton (one who comes as the King of kings, Lord of lords, Supreme Judge to judge and rule the world with all splendour and glory.) They see the three wise men as referring to three kings who brought wealth and worshipped the King of kings.

Yet in the Epiphany story there is another image: that of a child; of parents; of simplicity; of the unsung heroines – Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Tamar. Basically, Christ is born into a family not a palace. The humble, the suffering and the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized easily identify with this image. The Epiphany offers them hope and they see themselves as the people of God (Matthew 1:21; 4:23; 9:35.)

What message does the story of the Epiphany of our Lord brings to you?

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: Re-Membering Africa

 

 

Remaining True to Tradition

A Child Scratches for Survival

Africa, where did our humanity and hospitality go?

A friend wrote to me these lines which give me hope (this Christmas) as I think of this child and many others like her:

You'll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through a storm

hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark.

At the end of a storm is a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,

Walk on through the rain,

Though your dreams be tossed and blown.

Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone,

You'll never, ever walk alone.

Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone,

You'll never, ever walk alone.

Whose Traditions Do I Hand Down?

It is now exactly five years since I enrolled as a PhD student at the University of Birmingham in England. It seems like yesterday. The journey has not been easy, though. Anyhow, Last month as I walked into the Aston Webb Building C to submit my dissertation, I remembered my first day at the campus. It was a cool, breezy September 24, 2004. I had already missed out with the orientation. So, armed with the campus map I promised myself to get the most out of my self-guided tour around the campus. The first thing that caught my attention was the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial tower standing majestically right opposite Aston Webb building. I was later to learn that this tower was designed after the tower of Siena Town hall in Italy, the tallest free standing clock tower in the world. The tower stands some 325 feet and was designed to be seen for miles around as an emblem of the University’s prestige.

As I entered the administration block, I could also not help noticing the statues of Beethoven, Virgil, Michelangelo, Plato, Shakespeare, Newton, Watt, Faraday, and Darwin engraved into the façade of Aston Webb building all looking down as though inviting me into the halls of learning where the future of education lies; but only after the academic traditions of the past (most importantly continuing under the great cultural heritage of European education). With all those figures from the past, one feels a dwarf, especially one who is from Africa. For a moment, I thought the stationary figures from the past casting their knowing looks on me were in fact mocking me.

Once inside the building, as I took in the architectural beauty of Aston Webb Rotunda and its architectural design, I wondered how long it may have taken the builders to bring the long magnificent Aston Webb building into being. Standing in the corridor of C block is the towering white marble statue of King Edward VII with words of his inaugural speech on July 1909 inscribed under the statue’s plinth inviting the young students to “initiate and hand down worthy traditions” to their successors. So as I wandered around I wondered which traditions I was handing down.

It also occurred to me that on 7th July 1909 when the King was officially opening the University, his representative governor was busy curving out the Kenya colony declaring it a White-man’s country. As the natives were coming out of the traditional world of war, magic and indigenous knowledge, the university was opening up avenues for young men and women who would walk the land of my ancestors declaring it the property of his majesty. It would take me five years to try and understand a past that none of my ancestors were kind enough to leave behind or was that memory emasculated? To a great measure, most of that past was obviously decapitated by the King’s young men and women, some of whom may have walked the same hallway I was now walking.

As I await my examiners’ decision whether to bestow to me the power to read (having spent years in the cold archives of Edinburgh, Cambridge, SAOS, London, Birmingham among others) I feel very proud of my accomplishment. I am excited with the research that I have undertaken. On the other hand, however, I feel sad about the very accomplishment. For whom and for what have I so much labored? Though it is difficult to answer this, I dedicate my research to the men and women whom colonialism hoped to perpetually enslave yet their resilience and ability to subvert the colonial order made them the enemy of the very King who graces the hall of the academy where, I will be (hopefully) honored to be called a Doctor of Philosophy.