“Where is the
child who has been born King of the Jews? For we observed his star at its
rising and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew
2:2)
I’m going to get a jump
start on Epiphany this year and celebrate it just a little early. This feast,
which has been an excuse for a party for Christians ever since the fourth
century of the common era, is supposed to be observed on January 6th
which falls on a Monday this year. I’m guessing that most folks in the US won’t
be too anxious to come back to church on a regular workday even if Epiphany is
considered a major festival on our liturgical calendar. This means we only get
to celebrate Epiphany every seven years or so when the 6th of
January falls on a Sunday. Some Christian Churches, such as those in Canada and
New Zealand, just decided to celebrate the feast on the Sunday closest to
January 6th, which seems like a pretty good idea to me.
Epiphany (which comes
from a Greek word meaning “manifestation” or “appearing”) is the day after the
Twelfth Day of Christmas and celebrates this story in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew
2:1-12) about some astrologers from “the East”—possibly from Babylon (which is
modern-day Iraq)—who’ve determined that an unusually bright star is a heavenly
portent that a new king is being born.
Being good diplomats,
these clever fellows set off to follow the star to Judea where they intend to
offer some pricey birthday presents to the new little sovereign, possibly on
behalf of their nation and the folks back home. The trouble is, as you can readily
tell from the gospel reading, the guy who currently occupies the throne of
Judea isn’t too tickled to know there’s a new king on his turf, so he plans to
use the stargazers as spies so he can find the little tyke and snuff out his
competition.
Here's a little back
story: The Wise Men[i],
as we call them, may likely have been Zoroastrian priests who were revered for studying
the heavenly bodies and predicting their influences upon the earth. They
probably learned a good deal of real astronomy by so doing. On our Christmas
cards we always depict them as being three in number even though Matthew only
indicates that there was more than one[ii]. We picked the number
three because of the three gifts Matthew mentions.
Our Christmas cards also
suggest that these guys encountered the Holy Family while they were still holed
up in the stable in Bethlehem, but if you read the biblical text, it says the
wise men entered a house where they met Jesus and Mary (v.11). Down in
verse 16 Herod plans to kill all children born in Bethlehem in the last two
years, so you can figure Mary, Joseph, and Jesus had enough time to find
nicer accommodations by the time they received these foreign visitors.
The miraculous star may
have been a comet or possibly a close conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter
which astronomers believe occurred around the end of the reign of King Herod[iii].
Over the years Western
tradition has decided—without any biblical proof, mind you—that there were
three Wise Men who were named Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. Our iconography
has depicted them as a young man, a middle-aged fellow, and an old, white-bearded
geezer in order to indicate that Jesus came for all ages and times. They are
also depicted as a Middle Easterner, a Sub-Saharan African, and a European,
indicating the three continents and races known to our early Christian
ancestors. This depiction in Renaissance or High Medieval art (and sometime in
Christmas lawn ornaments) underscores Matthew’s point that Jesus came for all
people all over the world of every race and nation.
So, what does this story
mean for us?
We could, of course,
discuss King Herod and lament all politicians who put their own desire for
power and position above the wellbeing of the people they are supposed to serve[iv]. We might also read down
to the end of the chapter and read the story of the Holy Innocents—the children
Herod slaughtered in his insane desire to hang onto his throne. We could use
this story to concentrate on the suffering of the children in Gaza and all
children around the world who are dying from hunger or living in refugee camps.
We might want to consider that the Wise Men in this story were foreigners
and remember that God sees no distinction among people and races, or that the
Holy Family themselves became refugees seeking asylum from a murderous and
oppressive regime.
Politics aside, we might
just want to identify with the visitors in this tale and say our goal, like
theirs, is to seek Jesus. That’s actually our job as Christians, don’t
you think? We owe it to ourselves and the God who has been so gracious to us to
be in constant dialogue with Christ, seeking His ways and His will for us. Our
purpose is to cultivate the way of the Savior in our everyday lives. It’s a
call to be loving, compassionate, inclusive, generous, and forgiving. It’s also
a call to see the way of Christ in other human beings and to celebrate that
holy presence when we recognize it.
I see our Christian
Church here in America evolving. I hope in the future we will be less hung up
on doctrines and traditions and just, like the Wise Men, seek Jesus. We won’t
care about our position in society, but we will care about the hungry,
the hurting, and the lost. We won’t insist on conformity, but we will open
centers for the healing and comfort of all people, no questions asked. We won’t
be like King Herod and build enormous temples. Instead, we could convert the
wealth of our real estate into homes for the homeless. We won’t seek political
power, but we will speak truth to power when necessary. We will look to the
cross and be grateful for what Jesus has done for us.
May this New Year be a
time when you draw closer to Jesus. Thank you for reading. Please visit me
again!
[i] We
also call them “Magi,” the Latin version of the Greek “Magoi,” which comes from
the term “Magu” which Zoroastrians called their priest. Our English word
“magic” derives from this term.
[ii]
The Eastern Christians say there were twelve of them, but those guys always
like to be different.
[iii]
There’s a pretty good discussion of all this in Asimov, Isaac: Asimov’s
Guide to the Bible. (New York: Wing Books 1981). You could, of course, live
your whole life without knowing this stuff, but I thought you might find it
interesting.
[iv] I
think about this every January 6th.
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