Matthew
2:1-12
It’s January 6th—a
very special day in the Church – the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus
Christ. As we heard in our reading from
the gospel of Matthew today we celebrate the wise men’s visit to the child
Jesus. And those wise men have captured
our collective imagination. You, like I,
may have a few of them around your house rubbing elbow with shepherds in a
nativity scene. Almost universally we
imagine them with long flowing robes, beards, and turbans. Sometimes we think of them as kings, like in
the hymn we sang this morning. Now it’s
not my intention to burst anyone’s bubble here, but odds are these men were not
kings at all – that notion likely came from Psalm 72 because it speaks of
foreign kings paying homage to God’s Messiah.
Even referring to them as “wise men” puts us on shaky ground. Despite the reading in our translation, the
original Greek calls these men magi - which was a class of priest-astrologers
of the Zoroastrian religion. Given that,
the east from which they traveled, was likely the Persian Empire which means
that they surely did not arrive on the night of Jesus’ birth nor twelve days
later, but more likely a year or so after the big event. And the names Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar
are ones that tradition has given them.
It’s really anyone’s guess along with how many magi there were - two,
three, ten, thirty? The number three
just comes from the number of gifts given.
We actually know very little about the Magi apart from the fact that
they were foreigners and definitely not Jewish. And add to that one more thing - probably
the most important thing to know about them.
That is, they had an openness of spirit that enabled them to first notice
and then follow a star that did not provide them with all the answers. They
were willing to set out on a journey with an end that was not clear at the
beginning.
But they had some
ideas. Since they were looking for the
child who had been born King of the Jews it was natural to expect that they
would find him in Jerusalem, the seat of Jewish power. So upon their arrival
they began to ask around. Now here would
be a perfect place to insert some joke about how uncharacteristic it is of men
to ask for directions. But really that’s
an old joke for a different time. In
today’s world no one, man or woman, asks for directions anymore. Want to find out how to get from point “A” to
point “B”? Just plug it into your GPS
and voilà within a matter of seconds a custom made map appears with the route
highlighted and your destination flagged along with the miles it will take to
travel, how long it will take to get there, and notifications about any
potential slow-downs. There’s no
guesswork, no ambiguity. The journey is
clearly laid out and plans can be made accordingly.
Obviously, the
Magi had no technology at their fingertips which, perhaps, was part of what
helped them to remain flexible and open to readjusting their expectations. Now when they arrived in Jerusalem they must
have thought that their long journey was over.
But instead it was there where things took an unexpected turn. First of all, when they inquired about the
newborn king no one knew what they were talking. It took a while until King Herod, after
consulting with the Jewish leaders, informed the Magi that the Messiah was to
be born not in Jerusalem, but Bethlehem.
Who would have thought? We take
it for granted that the Magi took this news in stride, but it really is quite
remarkable. They do something that is,
indeed, very wise and yet often very difficult to do – they let go of their own
expectations trusting that the one whom they seek may actually be found in a
way and a place that they never expected.
So they continue their journey to the backwater town of Bethlehem. And when they find what to all appearances
looks to be a regular child born to a peasant mother in a humble home they
aren’t disappointed by this unlikely scene.
Rather they are overwhelmed with joy – joy that comes with encountering
God even, or maybe especially, in the unexpected.
We call that
encounter the Epiphany – when God in Christ is revealed to the Magi, who really
serve as a stand-in for all of us. For
Jesus came into the world not for a certain, select group people, but for
everyone. And just as it was then, so it
is now that God’s desire for us to know the light of Christ’s presence in our
lives. Now often we think of such
manifestations or epiphanies as big “aha” moments. Perhaps you can think of such a time where
you experienced a deep peace in the midst of crisis, an inner knowing when
nothing at the time was knowable, or a release that came forgiving someone who
had terribly hurt you. Those are
spiritual experiences are special and should be treasured. However, if epiphanies are that remarkable
and rare, something that happens just a handful of times in one’s life, if
you’re lucky, then, honestly, there’s not much to celebrate today.
But thank God
that is not the case. The Epiphany of
our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t just happen when the journey was finished and the
Magi arrived at Jesus’ house. Rather
their entire experience was epiphanal.
Seeing the star at its rising, traveling to Jerusalem, continuing on to
Bethlehem, seeing the child in his humble surroundings, offering him gifts,
then traveling back home by another way – all along that journey the light of
Christ shone and God was being revealed.
As we begin a new
calendar year most, if not all of us, have plans about how we’d like this year
to go. And, if we’re lucky, some of
those plans will go off without a hitch.
But eventually, as we journey into this new year we will encounter the
unexpected. But as people of faith our
lives are not to be about clinging to neatly laid out plans, counting on some
kind of spiritual GPS to provide us with all of the details of our route. Rather, following Jesus means that we journey
on a path where few things are certain and flexibility and openness are
necessary – necessary so that we are able to readjust or sometimes even let go
of our expectations trusting that the one we seek and, more importantly, the
one who seeks us is found in ways and places that we never expected. Epiphanies don’t just happen when we arrive
at our planned destinations. They happen
throughout the journey – in all sorts of places and under all sorts of conditions:
in homes and in hospitals, in arguments and in reconciliations, in bible
studies and in business meetings, in
grocery stores and in bars, in mangers and even on crosses. The light of Christ shines and epiphanies are
happening all the time, often in the most unexpected of places - sometimes even
sometimes in church - and that is something to celebrate!
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