The Feast of the Epiphany
A Sermon based on Matthew 2:1-12
In the name of Jesus; amen.
Typically we think of the season of Christmas as the season of giving, but it is on this day of the Feast of the Epiphany when we remember the gifts that were given to Christ child.
There is quite a bit of tradition concerned with this time. Tradition leads us to believe that three kings named, Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar visited the stable on the night that Jesus was born and presented three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But the truth is that we don’t know the actual names of the magi who visited Jesus. They were not kings, but astrological advisors to royalty. They arrived about two years after the birth of Jesus and visited them in a home, not the stable. And while there could have been three of them there could have been more.
I really like this story though; I even like the traditions that the church has assigned to it. I like that these magi come from other nations and that they typically look, in art, like they have come from other nations. And while I love that in Luke’s gospel it is shepherds who are the first to receive the good news of great joy there is something really cool about the fact that Matthew has gentile astrologers as the first worshippers of the King of the Jews.
The gifts that they bring him as tribute add to the story. They had value to the magi who might also have used the spices in divination which was part of their job. The gold, frankincense and myrrh had symbolic significance: gold was a precious metal and used to represent kings, frankincense which was used by priests in worship because when it burned the smoke from the incense rose to the heaven like prayer and myrrh which was used to anoint the dead. The gifts also had a practical use. When the holy family flees to Egypt they most likely used these gifts for money for their trip and to live for those years before it was safe to return home.
But there are even more subtle meanings to this story that make it one of my favorites.
Magi understood stars. Magi looked for and understood signs in the sky. A special star or other astrological event made sense to them. Matthew tells us that the Magi came from the east and that they saw the star in the east. The sign came to them where they were. God got their attention in a way that they understood and in the place where they were at.
Then there is the fact that the Magi first go to Herod. Why do they do that? Why didn't the star lead them directly to Jesus? It doesn't say that the star led them to Herod. My guess is that the star "told" them that a new king had been born. Then they assumed that if a new king had been born, he must come from the royal family. He would probably be born in the capital city. They assumed wrong. The star got their attention. The star gave them some information, but it led them to false assumptions.
The king they were looking for didn’t live in a palace, but in a little home in a little town and they found that place by talking to Herod’s religious scholars who told them about the prophet Micah who wrote, “But you, O Bethlehem, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”
Then there is the fact that Magi in Jesus' day were not actually "wise men". They were not models of religious piety. They were magicians, astronomers, star-gazers, pseudo-scientists, fortune-tellers, horoscope fanatics; but Matthew makes them the heroes in his first story following Jesus’ birth. They are heretics who most likely came from the area which is now modern-day Iraq and which was once Babylon, a nation which had been an enemy to Israel.
The first worshippers of Christ descended from his people’s enemies.
There is nothing simple about this story about the men who visit the toddler Jesus and bring him gifts that would have suprised and awed his parents. There is nothing usual or ordinary or expected about the epiphany just as there is nothing usual or ordinary or expected about God or the gifts that God gives to us.
These stories of the birth and life and death and resurrection are unexpected.
We might think we know the stories of a birth in a stable and a visit by wise men teach us over and over that God comes in ways that we need most. That God comes in humble conditions, or in signs and stars, or on a cross should surprise and excite us.
As old as these stories are, as familiar as they are they come to us new each time as gifts meant to sustain us where we are, but they are also meant to take us out of the places where we are stuck. The magi saw the star and got up and travelled far away to find the one they would worship and then went home by another road.
This too has another meaning. Yes, they went a different way to avoid Herod, but what they saw and experienced changed them. The road home was not just a physically different road, but a different path through their lives.
In this season of Epiphany and God’s revelation my hope and prayer is that we all find God in unexpected and wonderous ways. I hope and pray that those ways are illumined by the light of Christ and that we aren’t just the recepients of the gift of God’s grace, but that we also are blessed with moments of sharing and giving that grace to others.
Amen.
Typically we think of the season of Christmas as the season of giving, but it is on this day of the Feast of the Epiphany when we remember the gifts that were given to Christ child.
There is quite a bit of tradition concerned with this time. Tradition leads us to believe that three kings named, Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar visited the stable on the night that Jesus was born and presented three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But the truth is that we don’t know the actual names of the magi who visited Jesus. They were not kings, but astrological advisors to royalty. They arrived about two years after the birth of Jesus and visited them in a home, not the stable. And while there could have been three of them there could have been more.
I really like this story though; I even like the traditions that the church has assigned to it. I like that these magi come from other nations and that they typically look, in art, like they have come from other nations. And while I love that in Luke’s gospel it is shepherds who are the first to receive the good news of great joy there is something really cool about the fact that Matthew has gentile astrologers as the first worshippers of the King of the Jews.
The gifts that they bring him as tribute add to the story. They had value to the magi who might also have used the spices in divination which was part of their job. The gold, frankincense and myrrh had symbolic significance: gold was a precious metal and used to represent kings, frankincense which was used by priests in worship because when it burned the smoke from the incense rose to the heaven like prayer and myrrh which was used to anoint the dead. The gifts also had a practical use. When the holy family flees to Egypt they most likely used these gifts for money for their trip and to live for those years before it was safe to return home.
But there are even more subtle meanings to this story that make it one of my favorites.
Magi understood stars. Magi looked for and understood signs in the sky. A special star or other astrological event made sense to them. Matthew tells us that the Magi came from the east and that they saw the star in the east. The sign came to them where they were. God got their attention in a way that they understood and in the place where they were at.
Then there is the fact that the Magi first go to Herod. Why do they do that? Why didn't the star lead them directly to Jesus? It doesn't say that the star led them to Herod. My guess is that the star "told" them that a new king had been born. Then they assumed that if a new king had been born, he must come from the royal family. He would probably be born in the capital city. They assumed wrong. The star got their attention. The star gave them some information, but it led them to false assumptions.
The king they were looking for didn’t live in a palace, but in a little home in a little town and they found that place by talking to Herod’s religious scholars who told them about the prophet Micah who wrote, “But you, O Bethlehem, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”
Then there is the fact that Magi in Jesus' day were not actually "wise men". They were not models of religious piety. They were magicians, astronomers, star-gazers, pseudo-scientists, fortune-tellers, horoscope fanatics; but Matthew makes them the heroes in his first story following Jesus’ birth. They are heretics who most likely came from the area which is now modern-day Iraq and which was once Babylon, a nation which had been an enemy to Israel.
The first worshippers of Christ descended from his people’s enemies.
There is nothing simple about this story about the men who visit the toddler Jesus and bring him gifts that would have suprised and awed his parents. There is nothing usual or ordinary or expected about the epiphany just as there is nothing usual or ordinary or expected about God or the gifts that God gives to us.
These stories of the birth and life and death and resurrection are unexpected.
We might think we know the stories of a birth in a stable and a visit by wise men teach us over and over that God comes in ways that we need most. That God comes in humble conditions, or in signs and stars, or on a cross should surprise and excite us.
As old as these stories are, as familiar as they are they come to us new each time as gifts meant to sustain us where we are, but they are also meant to take us out of the places where we are stuck. The magi saw the star and got up and travelled far away to find the one they would worship and then went home by another road.
This too has another meaning. Yes, they went a different way to avoid Herod, but what they saw and experienced changed them. The road home was not just a physically different road, but a different path through their lives.
In this season of Epiphany and God’s revelation my hope and prayer is that we all find God in unexpected and wonderous ways. I hope and pray that those ways are illumined by the light of Christ and that we aren’t just the recepients of the gift of God’s grace, but that we also are blessed with moments of sharing and giving that grace to others.
Amen.
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