Transitional Moments (The Epiphany of Our Lord)

Sermon on YouTube…

Over the years, the Star Wars franchise has caused many new words and phrases to become part of our regular vocabulary.  One of those words is “padawan.”  In the Star Wars series, a “padawan” is a young apprentice, often one training to be a Jedi knight.  A “padawan” can be a young adult, but that person might also be a small child.  In any event, it refers to someone who is on the way to something greater, but isn’t there yet.

Nobody seems to know exactly how George Lucas came up with the term “padawan.”  Some suspect he got it from a Sanskrit word which sounds similar.  But it’s also possible that it’s a reworking of the Greek word “paidion”, which means “child” or “child learner”.  In Greek, a “paidion” is no longer a baby, but a young child who is developing into something more.

And that’s the word that Matthew uses to describe Jesus in today’s Gospel reading. As the story begins, three “magi” (a word more closely related to “magicians” than kings!) arrive in Jerusalem and they ask Herod and his court where they can find “the paidion who has been born king of the Jews”.  Later, we find out that these guys may have been on the road for two years, based on what they told Herod about the appearance of the star (which apparently nobody else had noticed!)

And so when the Magi arrive in Bethlehem, the enter a “house” where Mary and Joseph are living.  In spite of the fact that we always show the Magi visiting Jesus in the stable, that’s not what Matthew says.  In his understanding, Mary and Joseph live in Bethlehem until they’re forced to flee from Herod.

And because this is possibly two years later, the Jesus they encounter is a Padawan!  He’s a young child.  He has no speaking lines at all (because most 2 year olds don’t!), but he is old enough to be personally presented with gold, frankincense and myrrh (they don’t give these gifts to Mary on his behalf). 

And because the Magi meet Jesus while he’s a padawan, they’ve encountered Jesus at a transitional moment in the story.  Jesus is no longer a baby in the manager.  But he’s not yet an adult.  At this point, they can’t ask Jesus for any insightful comments about God.  Jesus performs no miracle for them to see.  And they can’t stick around for another 30 years until the next thing Matthew tells us about happens.  Indeed, they may not even live that long.

And yet, the Magi are not put off by this!  Somehow, even though they probably knew they would find a “paidion”, they set out on a long journey, intent on seeing what some god that they probably didn’t know anything about might be doing in a far-off land.

So although we don’t know much at all about these guys (we don’t even know how many of them there were – we only know there were three gifts mentioned), it is clear that these Magi:

• Looked for, and expected, God to be acting in a transitional moment – they didn’t go looking for a grown king in the midst of his glory – they went looking for a “padawan” – the transition to something coming, even though they didn’t know what it all meant or how it would all turn out.  This was a transitional moment, but they knew something meaningful was happening, and they wanted to be part of it…

• Were willing to invest themselves in that transitional moment – they got on their camels and took a long and probably dangerous trip.  And when they got to the house, which clearly wasn’t a palace, they didn’t hesitate to pull out their wallets and offer big gifts.  They invested themselves and their resources in this transitional moment God had put before them…

• Had the patience to wait to see what God would do next – I mean, I want to know what happened with these guys after this story!  Did they live long enough to find out who Jesus became?  Did they secretly return and visit periodically?  Or did they just live in the contentment that God was doing something great, and God had made them part of it.  Perhaps somehow, what they had done would be part of the story in ways they couldn’t image.  Indeed, it would probably shock all of them to find out that people would still be reading about them 2000 years later…

But sometimes, that’s how you live when you’re living through a transitional time.  And indeed, today as we read this story and celebrate the Epiphany (which means the “revealing”) of Jesus, we transition from the Christmas season to the stories of Jesus’ adulthood.  Since Epiphany always happens in the first week of the new calendar year, we’re all living in a time of transitioning to a new year, with what will surely be new opportunities as well as new challenges.  And through it all, we’re still figuring out how to transition to a new way of life after Covid.

Living through transitions can be challenging.  I don’t know about each of you, but often, when I’m going through a time of transition in my life, I’m sometimes tempted to shut down and wait for things to settle out before I’m ready to apply myself to a new reality.

But not the Magi!  For all that we don’t know about them, the Magi show us how to live in transitional moments in our lives.  And that’s because, like the Magi, God is often calling us to be people who:

• Recognize and even expect God to act in transitional moments in our lives – so often, we’re tempted to see transitional moments as a time between when God acts in decisive ways.  But the Epiphany story reminds us that God is still doing things in the transitions – indeed, Jesus as a padawan reminds us that sometimes the transition is the very place where we meet God.  And so this story reminds us, especially in times of transition, to look for what God is doing, and where it is that God might be challenging us to get up and journey towards…

• Act boldly and faithfully, especially in transitional moments – so often, we’re tempted to respond to transitional moments by sitting back and waiting to see what develops.  Then, when it’s clearer, we tell ourselves we’ll act.  But the Epiphany story reminds us that the transitional moments are often the most important times to invest ourselves and our resources.  Often, the transition is how you get from one place to the next, and if you don’t invest yourself in the journey, as the Magi did, you don’t get to the next thing that God is calling you to be a part of …

• Have the stamina to wait and see what God does with what we do, even and especially if it’s for somebody else – even people we’ll never know – often, my problem with transitional moments is that I want to find out what this transition means for me.  And that’s a perfectly fine question to ask.  But like the Magi, the transition is an inflection point in God’s story.  And that story isn’t just for me.  And like the Magi, the importance of acting in the transition may be for somebody else – it may be so that our neighbors, our kids, our wider world will get included in that story.  Sometimes, if we’re waiting just to see what this transition will mean for me or for us, we’ll miss the importance of the story to which God is calling us…

And so whenever we face a transitional moment in our lives – whether it’s a transition to a new year, a new season of life or just a generally squirrely moment when we’re not sure exactly where things are headed – we should remember the example of the Magi and their encounter with the padawan Jesus.

For their example reminds us that God is always present and at work in the midst of every transitional moment we face.  Their example can encourage us to invest ourselves and our resources into the transitional moment, even when we don’t know how it will all turn out.  And their example can give us strength and courage to wait and see what God has in store next for us and for the world around us.

Amen.