The Magi Have Come
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem.They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.” When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. They said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote: You, Bethlehem, land of Judah, by no means are you least among the rulers of Judah, because from you will come one who governs, who will shepherd my people Israel.” Then Herod secretly called for the magi and found out from them the time when the star had first appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him.” When they heard the king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route. -Matthew 2:1-12 (CEB)
The magi did not come to study Jesus. They came to worship a newborn king by following a special star. Sacrificing time and comfort, they brought gifts to a baby who demonstrated no outward signs of prophetic confirmation. They held no assurance of how the story would end. All they had was prophetic knowledge of a star and a coming messiah. Reflected in their eyes was an economically limited toddler, in modest surroundings, lying in a teen mother’s arms. To the intellectually perceptive, this scene was not a scholar’s formula for future success. Yet, by grace, the magi had the faith to experience unbridled joy. They beheld the substance of things hoped for and humbled themselves to worship the gift of God. Jesus was the promise of salvation for the world and the gift of joy that sent the wise home by another way.
The Magi came asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” Tradition has it that there were three Magi, probably because the Bible account names three gifts (gold, frankincense, and myrrh.) The names used for these Magi are Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, and tradition also says that they are of three different ethnic groups, signifying that Christ comes not just for one nation but for all people.
In fact, that is what we celebrate in January at Epiphany: Jesus Christ as the Light of the world. We celebrate Christ as Light to the whole world, not as the Light to one small group in the world.
Arise! Shine! Your light has come; the LORD’s glory has shone upon you. Though darkness covers the earth and gloom the nations, the LORD will shine upon you; God’s glory will appear over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to your dawning radiance. Lift up your eyes and look all around: they are all gathered; they have come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters on caregivers’ hips. Then you will see and be radiant; your heart will tremble and open wide, because the sea’s abundance will be turned over to you; the nations’ wealth will come to you. Countless camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah. They will all come from Sheba, carrying gold and incense, proclaiming the LORD’s praises. -Isaiah 60:1-6 (CEB)
Many Christians mark Epiphany in only cursory ways, as if everything about Christmas ends at midnight on December 25. We do seem in a hurry sometimes to put away Christmas. … Most of us stop playing Christmas music, too, as if the songs are inappropriate at any other time of the year. …
Commentators have said we seem in a hurry after Christmas to box up once again our patience, our tolerance, our generosity and put them back in the attic, as if we can sustain good behavior for a few weeks but wouldn’t want to risk making it a way of life. We may also put away our willingness to give a bit more, to be more forgiving, even to be more patient in traffic as we often are during the holidays. Perhaps we even box up our desires to hope and our openness to miracles and mystery, as if the messages of the Christmas stories can’t quite survive the rigors of real life in the rest of the year. The Magi call us to continue our observance of Christ’s coming after December is over.
Being Wise Women and Men
Christmas is great and all. It represents the celebration of the incarnation of God into the world but that wasn’t enough. What if God came and no one realized it. As we approach Epiphany, we realize that it wasn’t enough for God to just come to us – God had to reveal himself to us and save us from ourselves.
This is why I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ for you Gentiles. You’ve heard, of course, about the responsibility to distribute God’s grace, which God gave to me for you, right? God showed me his secret plan in a revelation, as I mentioned briefly before (when you read this, you’ll understand my insight into the secret plan about Christ). Earlier generations didn’t know this hidden plan that God has now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets through the Spirit. This plan is that the Gentiles would be coheirs and parts of the same body, and that they would share with the Jews in the promises of God in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I became a servant of the gospel because of the grace that God showed me through the exercise of his power. God gave his grace to me, the least of all God’s people, to preach the good news about the immeasurable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. God sent me to reveal the secret plan that had been hidden since the beginning of time by God, who created everything. God’s purpose is now to show the rulers and powers in the heavens the many different varieties of his wisdom through the church. This was consistent with the plan he had from the beginning of time that he accomplished through Christ Jesus our Lord. In Christ we have bold and confident access to God through faith in him. -Ephesians 3:1-12 (CEB)
Perhaps the greatest mystery of faith is why Christ would choose to make us his servants in the first place, we who would be in the last place when compared to greater saints, we who are sinners, we who consistently break the laws of God. The mystery of faith is not a case to be solved, nor a problem seeking solution, nor a contest of wills. Paul’s mystery reaches its pinnacle at the precise moment we understand there is no game. The contest is already won. Epiphany. The comprehension of Christ’s entry into our lives is a moment of purest epiphany. We become wise men and women, not when we find the baby Jesus, but when we realize the crucified Jesus has found us.
The Light of the Glory of the Lord
Arise! Shine! Your light has come; the LORD’s glory has shone upon you. Though darkness covers the earth and gloom the nations, the LORD will shine upon you; God’s glory will appear over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to your dawning radiance. Lift up your eyes and look all around: they are all gathered; they have come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters on caregivers’ hips. Then you will see and be radiant; your heart will tremble and open wide, because the sea’s abundance will be turned over to you; the nations’ wealth will come to you. Countless camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah. They will all come from Sheba, carrying gold and incense, proclaiming the LORD’s praises. -Isaiah 60:1-6 (CEB)
We are just a week or so past the celebration of the incarnation of God into the world. We talked about, sang about, and prayed about light coming into the world and being all around us. We spent four weeks in the darkness as we journeyed towards the light.
The light of the glory of the Lord is akin to the kingdom of heaven: it is already breaking into reality around us, but we often fail to see it. Insofar as the light is also identified with Christ, one might also reflect on Matthew 25’s description of Jesus as present all around us in the hungry, sick, and imprisoned, but recognized in none of these forms. During the holiday season, rather than being too downcast to lift our eyes, we may instead be too busy and distracted, and may thus miss the true light of the world.
“Now when the Human One comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his majestic throne. All the nations will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right side. But the goats he will put on his left. “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’ “Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’ -Matthew 25:31-40 (CEB)
These revelations of increasing light, in Jerusalem and in the Christ, draw us closer to the nature of God and allow us to see ourselves more clearly. Indeed, we might ask ourselves: How do I respond to God’s initiative of grace? What gift do I bring to the Christ and to this congregation gathered in his name? How is the global church drawn together in adoration of the Christ? What do the “outsiders” in the passages from Isaiah and Matthew’s Gospel teach us about who we are and who Jesus is?
Consider this question today: what gift(s) do you bring to Christ through participation in a specific congregation or in the world as a whole?
