Epiphany Sunday
Isaiah 60:1-6
Future Glory for Jerusalem
60 “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see.
For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you.
2 Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth,
but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you.
3 All nations will come to your light;
mighty kings will come to see your radiance.
4 “Look and see, for everyone is coming home!
Your sons are coming from distant lands;
your little daughters will be carried home.
5 Your eyes will shine,
and your heart will thrill with joy,
for merchants from around the world will come to you.
They will bring you the wealth of many lands.
6 Vast caravans of camels will converge on you,
the camels of Midian and Ephah.
The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense
and will come worshiping the Lord.
This is the week of Epiphany Sunday.
Epiphany Sunday is the week where we celebrate the day that it was revealed to us that Baby Jesus is God incarnate. It’s the celebration of the revelation of the incarnation. I was reading that in wales every year on Jan 6th, they have this festival with cake, special gifts to surprise people and it’s a huge deal.
I want to do that!
Well, if this week is to be focused on revelation I wanted to share a revelation that I had this week that inspires the way that I read Isaiah. I walked into Emmaus Ministries which is located right across the hallway from me, to say hello. Emmaus Ministries teaches the Bible, the history of the Bible, and all things Bible, to any and everyone who is interested. They have a saying, “Know your Bible, Change your life.” They are really nice people so I walked in to their offices to say hello.
I looked at their library and they have a large collection of commentaries and dictionaries on the Bible. Right away I could tell that they only had books written by white males. Not one Latinx, or African American, or African, or Asian, or even Jewish.
So I told them, “You guys need more commentaries from non-white people.” They said, “Well if you can give us some that would be great. They are expensive.” I immediately replied, “They are hard to find and a little pricey.” Then I remembered I had a commentary from Willie Jennings in my office. So I told them I’ll be right back and I returned with the commentary. It was my baby. But I gave it to them any way. They appreciated it.
As I reflected on that day I had a revelation.I realized that (part of) my purpose is to help the church learn, experience and know Christ from a diverse perspective. What does that have to do with today’s scripture? Besides the fact that this year my word is clarity? And this revelation brought some clarity to my calling?
Well…When we read Isaiah 60 (and any other scripture) we must try to read this scripture from the lens of our context and from the lens of others.
We have to ask ourselves these ,and many more, questions:
How do the poor read this text?
How do the rich read this text?
How do our brothers and sisters in Asia, Africa, Latin America read this text?
How do the Jews read this text?
How do children read this text? College Students?
Young Adults? Married? Single? LGBT?.....etc
We cannot ever think that one group of people in the United States has a monopoly on the interpretation of the Bible. I think that’s blasphemy. Yet, at the same time scripture is contextual. It can mean different things in different places. So there’s that dynamic that we must also take into consideration.
But for today’s devo read Isaiah 60 and begin to ask yourself if you are only interpreting this verse with your perspective only? Or only from one culture?
Seek diversity.If you need help finding diverse voices ask me, I’m here to help.