Thoughts going in, Sunday Jan 5th

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 6 " 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.' " 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

            Regarding this Sunday, we're presented with a certain fork in the road. Most properly it is the second Sunday after Christmas. It is also, however, the Sunday closest to Epiphany (Jan 6th). Epiphany is one of the "Greater Festivals" of the Church. It is on par with Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, etc. By rights we should have special services every Epiphany--but it just doesn’t work out like that in the real world. Because of that, it's all too easy to forget Epiphany, and what it's all about. The alternative is to do what we typically do at LCHS... transfer the observance to the nearest Sunday & call it "Epiphany Sunday."

            So, to begin at the beginning WHAT IS meant by Epiphany? Very simply it's a word that comes over to us from a compound Greek word meaning "to shine forth" (literally)... or more to the point, "to be revealed" or "to be made manifest." Historically, the Church used this special day to talk about three episodes in the early life or ministry of Christ in which it 'shone forth' that he was God in the flesh. The first such shining-forth was when nature (the star) revealed to the Gentile Magi the birth of the Christ-child. The second shining-forth was at the Baptism of Christ when the voice of heaven declared him to be the 'beloved son.' And the third shining-forth was at his first public sign/miracle, the changing of water into wine at Cana. As the church's liturgical observance developed, the Baptism of Christ got it's own Sunday (the Sunday following Epiphany), so that will be our concentration next week.

            For now, there are some interesting things going on both textually and thematically in our reading from Matthew. It should be mentioned that Matthew's Gospel is the *only one that mentions this event. He says very little about WHO these guys are. They're not really "kings" (as in the carol "We Three Kings"); nor does the term "wisemen" properly describe them. In the Greek they are simply called Magi--hence most modern translations default back to that term. But who are Magi? That's a toughie.... because the term had some specific nuances, but also some very general application. It helps to remember that in the ancient world all of the stuff that we would call WISDOM, PHILOSOPHY, MEDICINE, ASTROLOGY, ASTRONOMY, and even ECONOMICS... all fall under the ancient concept of "magic." This is special knowledge of wonder passed on within private castes of the learned. Those of such castes then frequently became important 'advisors' among the ruling class of their country. These men, however many there were, evidently were of such a caste. Many questions remain unanswered, however. Were they on their own or were they representing their government, etc. etc? Matthew doesn't tell us.

            Interestingly, according to Matthew they show up asking for the one born "Kind of the Jews," which rightly disturbs Herod. As historians remind us, Herod was a usurper who was given that very title by the Roman Senate and who tried to legitimize himself by marrying a princess from the ruling class and having all other rightful claimants to the throne banished or killed. But Matthew does something very interesting in the text. He goes from talking about a born-king of the Jews (vs 2) to talking about the 'Messiah' (vs 4). In other words, Herod doesn't enquire if another, closer, claimant to his throne has been born, Herod jumps right to the [proper] conclusion that the King of all Kings has been born--the Messiah.

            There are a lot of interesting directions this text can take in terms of a sermon. At the very least this is the tale of 2 kings... Herod and Jesus. Herod is in his comfortable quarters in Jerusalem--one of many opulent royal residences. Jesus, fresh from being born in a stable is now living in a shack in Bethlehem. Herod is outward, worldly, power. Herod is the power of this world which automatically sees itself as incompatible with Heaven's power come down. Herod represents everything that will align itself in bitter combat against Heaven's power come down. Yet, for all of his opulence and for all of his worldly authority, Herod's power is also quite temporary. Christ's power, the power of goodness and grace, the power come down from heaven to be "God with us" is forever.

Cheers,

TM