Contrary to what we learn from most nativity sets we have ever seen, the wise men and the shepherds probably did not show up in Bethlehem at the same time. In fact, they aren't even in the same story. Luke tells us about the shepherds, while Matthew tells us about the wise men (or kings, or magi, depending on which translation you happen to be reading at the time). It may have been as much as two years after the birth before the wise men showed up, visiting Jesus not in a stable but in a house.

Traditionally, the Church has recognized the significance of the wise men's visit at the feast of Epiphany on January 6th. It represents the movement of the Christian faith on beyond Christmas and on beyond the local confines of the Jewish people. The dictionary describes Epiphany this way -- "A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi." It is something like what happens when you throw a pebble into a still pond. The ripples which spread out from the center start out small, but soon they encompass the whole pond. God coming into the world as Emmanuel, God With Us, is a reality which cannot be restrained or contained.

The thing about Christ which makes him worth believing and following is also the thing which makes him dangerous. Not only is he notoriously unpredictable in terms of where we will find him, but even when we find him he cannot be pinned down or contained. He was born in stable, but he didn't stay there. In the beginning only a few people knew about him, but they told people who told people. Down through the years people have constructed and maintained countless walls which they thought could contain their faith and their God. They believed that such walls would provide them with strength and security in the midst of a hostile world. Sometimes those barriers were defined in terms of ethnic or religious heritage. Sometimes they have been defined in terms of color or nationality. Of late they have included such widely diverse divisions as sexual orientation or political correctness or social status. What these walls always have in common is that they leave some on the inside and some on the outside. But regardless of what materials we have used to construct such dividing walls, God in Christ has refused to be so contained.

And that is what we celebrate at Epiphany. The God who came to earth as one of us did not come just for some of us. God did not come only for shepherds, or Jews, or people living in the first century, or anyone else who ever thought they had an exclusive corner on the God market. As far back as Isaiah, God was proclaiming, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." (Isaiah 60: 1) The star announcing Christ's birth shone across the geographical, political, religious and social borders of the day. It was an announcement sent not just to an exclusive few, but posted instead on telephone poles and street corners everywhere. As the angel says in the story which I tell on Christmas Eve, "Make glad all people. God's pican be born in Bethlehem." All people.

So the message of Epiphany serves as both good news and warning for us. The good news is that we are included in those for whom Christ came. There are still signs which announce Christ's presence among us. There are still stars which will lead us to where the God among us may be found. They are not always easy to discover. They are not always easy to follow. But Christ is in the world and we are called to be open to this reality.

The warning is that we do not hold an exclusive claim to Christ's presence among us. Sometimes we are tempted to think that for someone to truly experience Christ they need to think like us, or act like us, or look like us, or believe like us. It is a common temptation and we would not be the first people (nor probably the last) who have ever fallen prey to such a trap. But whenever and wherever such thinking occurs it is a mistake. God's light shines where it shines. God's presence is found where it is found. Building up walls and barriers to confine and contain God is precisely not the point. Reaching out in love and grace to the whole world is what God has always been about.

At Epiphany we celebrate the Christ who is for the whole world. That is good news for us. Let us not hesitate to share it with the rest of the folks for whom Christ came.