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Isaiah 60:1-6 • Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 • Ephesians 3:1-12 • Matthew 2:1-12
So today we celebrate the Epiphany or the visit of some ‘wise men’ to the child Jesus. Just like last week’s gospel – today’s Matthew gospel is the only place in the Bible where the story of the visiting wise men or Magi is told. We think we know this story so well, but let’s take a closer look. Nowhere in our gospel reading do we hear that the wise men who visited Jesus were kings, nor do we hear that there were three of them. William Barclay’s study Bible has a lot to say about these wise men https://www.studylight.org/comment.../eng/dsb/matthew-2.html. He begins with the older term ‘Magi’ which has often been seen as short for magician … and unless you’re a Harry Potter fan, you may think that magic is a bad or at least frivolous thing. Barclay cites the Greek historian Herodotus saying that the Magi were a tribal part of the Persian empire. They became teachers of the Persian king, and were known to be skilled in philosophy, medicine and natural science – as well as being soothsayers and interpreters of dreams. Barclay also mentions that in early days, tradition said there were twelve of them, but the idea of only three wise men may have come from the mention of only three gifts. Later legend made them kings and even mentioned three names – Caspar, Melchior & Balthasar – but none of this is in our Bible. I’ve also seen good arguments in favour of them being Zoroastrian priests. I mention all this because it’s amazing what we think we’ve read in the Bible, which is actually not there.
We know from last week’s gospel that Herod supposedly had all baby boys under the age of two killed – in his quest to jealously protect his power from a potential rival. So according to the biblical narrative, the child Jesus may have been up to two years old by the time the Magi arrived. In fact, our gospel today says that “On entering the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary …” So, we see that they now live in a house, not in a manger, and that Jesus is described as a child rather than a baby. Our gospel today also does NOT say that the wise men went to Bethlehem. It only says that Herod directed them to go there. We only know that they kept following the star, but we are not told in which town or city they found the child Jesus. I feel a little bit like Perry Mason when I make these points, and also like a bit of a party pooper -- given our glorious nativity scenes as they are completed with the supposedly kingly figures of three wise men, bearing precious gifts to a baby born amidst the hay and animal poop of a stable. There’s also an idea that Jesus was born in a cave, but that seems to be tied to Emperor Constantine’s approval of a cave site in the year 335 – to be turned into a holy site known as the Church of the Nativity. If nothing else, picking apart these details can be a good exercise for building humility rather than hubris. We really know so little about a seemingly simple story like the nativity, and almost every detail can be called into question by an inquiring mind. Therefore my nativity scene made in Peru with a log cabin, a moose and a fox, and Mary & Joseph wearing toques is just as believable.
Alrighty then … having dealt with those kinds of details, let’s now turn to the richly symbolic and deeper meanings of Epiphany. Merriam-Webster gives us this more secular meaning of the English word epiphany: “a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something”. A famous New Yorker cartoon from years ago, that you may have seen, shows two hamsters each in their own turning wheel. One is running and continually spinning the wheel, while the other has stopped … and is just sitting in the motionless wheel. The one sitting says to the one still running and spinning: “I had an epiphany.” This simple old cartoon speaks volumes to the human ‘rat race’ that keeps spinning in wheels of continual pursuit of wealth or fame or whatever. As many wisdom teachers have said: it’s when you stop chasing things that they often come to you. In light of that wisdom, we might stop and consider that meaning of epiphany. We can ask God, especially Holy Spirit Divine Wisdom – what can I do, or rather not do, in my life to stop spinning in meaningless and stressful circles?
Another important focus for today’s celebration of Epiphany, which is presumably the third most important Christian holy day after Christmas and Easter – is that we Gentiles or non-Jewish people – were there from the early days of the child Jesus. This can be seen as a strong sign that God made it clear from the beginning that Jesus was meant to ultimately be seen as the Cosmic Christ – not a figure belonging just to Christianity, or just to his Jewish biological roots on earth. There’s even a Wikipedia article on Cosmic Christ as a view of Christology which emphasizes the extent of Jesus Christ’s concern for the whole cosmos. We know from biblical texts like the prologue of John’s gospel that all things came into being through Christ, and without him not one thing came into being (v3). So clearly the Creator’s concern is for all things of Creation – not just humans, and definitely not just Christian humans. Some scholars of modern eco-theology have also embraced this concept – that the Incarnation which we are still celebrating today – does not only bring the ‘historical’ Christ into the material world in a certain time and place. Rather something much bigger is happening as well. While we mere humans cannot take the full measure of how the Divine continues to be present and manifested in all of Creation, we can at least make a deep internal bow to the awesomeness of this great and loving mystery. And again one of our excellent avenues for pursuing deeper knowledge in this realm is through indigenous spirituality that has traditionally understood creation to be totally infused with the Creator’s loving presence and action. Celtic spirituality has also traditionally thought in these or similar terms. As we humbly move forward beyond the Christmas narrative, may we keep in mind and soul this blessed epiphany of God’s cosmic presence and loving concern for all that God has made. And may we also be wisdom seekers looking for epiphany moments in our lives – moments when we see glimpses of the eternal, hidden in the ordinary, and learn to make deep bows to all these divine surprises, Amen.