8 January 2006

8 January 2006
Epiphany Sunday

Well, today we celebrate Epiphany, the feast day which recognizes the visit of the wise men to young Jesus. Epiphany is surrounded by far away majesty, mystery, and myth. Indeed, a crèche of poor shepherds and animals are joined today by colorful men in rich robes.

What we read in today’s gospel is almost all that is biblically said about these wise men. So clearly, much of what we “know” and “love” about Epiphany indeed has no biblical reference.

Superficially, I question the term “wise men.” The gospel mentions that these men went to King Herod to ask for direction. What, were they nuts? I’ve yet to meet a man who will ask for directions.

That aside, they asked a power hungry king where they could find a new born king of the Jews. Is there any way that could have been a good idea? As many of you know, a few days after Christmas we observe a feast day called “Holy Innocents.” This day recognizes the babies who were killed by Herod after these so called wise men mentioned Jesus’ birth.

There are still many other aspects of Epiphany which we are ‘sure of’ which do not hold biblical reference. Let me start with the hymn “We three kings.” In all honesty, I’m not really a fan of this hymn. Though the dirge-like tune does have a bit to do with my dislike, I tend to be even more perturbed at the phrases in this hymn which have become common beliefs about this day. Now mind you, this hymn did not begin any of these myths, however it has served to perpetuate them.

From the beginning, this hymn begins “We three kings of Orient -are.” Three… kings. The gospel says nothing about three nor about kings. Three. In the gospel these men knelt down and paid Jesus homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Three gifts. Three gifts, then three kings.

Maybe.

But - my godmother gave me a pair of black socks, a pair of maroon socks, and a gift card for Christmas. Three gifts, one person. Likewise, from a family of three, I received a nice perfume scent. Three people, one gift.

In all reality, these gifts could have been from any number of people. The Venerable Bede (the historical person, not the vicar’s cat) is the first finding of the use of the names Balthazar, Casper, and Melchior, that I could find though I couldn’t exactly where he pulled them from. According to the song, these men were from the Orient. Why? Because the Orient is to the East. And the gospel says they were men from the east. Now as we all know, there is other stuff to the east of Bethlehem. Russia, India, Persia, and other parts of the Middle East. No, they didn’t have those names then, but they still were not called Orient.

Next, kings. Yeah, that’s just weird. Three wise men, who spent their time staring at stars wandered west to Bethlehem. That’s a long walk – ride, whatever. Traveling from the east to the west takes a while. Historically, this isn’t the sort of trip kings made – visiting poor children born in a manger. If they would even respond to such a rumor as the birth of the new king of the Jews, they would have most likely sent lackies.

Similarly, the bible tends to be really good at mentioning kings. Today’s gospel clearly refers to Herod as a King and the gift-bearers as men. Yeah, no title here. These men are actually believed to be astrologers – as they were reading the stars – they “observed Jesus’ star rising”.

If these kings, nay, wise men, nay astrologers were sent to find the one born king of the Jews, and were later saved Herod’s wrath by a warning in the form of a dream, then the celebration of the Epiphany is no longer a sign of glamorous adoration by wealthy kings, but a sign of mercy and promise to sinners.

Through looking for meaning in the stars these astrologers, these heretics, were led to the young Son of God. Now, when we think of astrologers we think of those people who write for the local newspapers or people like Miss Cleo with strange infomercials. It wasn’t much different then. The Magi were quite possibly Zoroastrian astrologers. If you don’t know, Zoroastrianism was an early semi-monotheistic tradition.

Even at Jesus’s time Jews were warned not to consult astrologers. Jewish leaders said that they were idolatrous and deceiving, much as we as Christians are told today.

Yet somehow, these idolatrous deceivers, these quacks and whack jobs were certain enough of what they saw to follow the stars, and were led to the young son of God. God led these astrologers – these men who were blatantly working in direct contrast to God’s will – to Jesus. This really is rather odd.

God welcomed, indeed God brought these men to stand beside the Messiah. These men, along with the shepherds. Not Sadducees or Pharisees, though clearly as a Jew, eight days after Jesus was born he was in the presence of Jewish religious leaders. Not kings. But regular people who just happened to bring clearly odd though awesome gifts.

So where does this leave us? Does the deconstruction of much of the myth and mystery surrounding Epiphany leave it meaningless? Or do we become sad because it’s another beautiful faerie tale gone. Or does the humanization of these so called wise men leave us, relieved?

God chose foreign sinful men to be with Jesus during this holy time. Not the rich or high in statue or moral value, but those who needed it most. Indeed, this trend continues through out the gospels in such cases as Jesus eating with tax collectors and cripples, yet seems to have been most forgotten in the form of a few men who traveled a long distance to find this new born king of the Jews.

PAUSE

We all know on some level – whomever or wherever we are, that God calls to us and that God wants us to follow him and be his. Sometimes, however, this is hard to remember. It is hard to remember that even when we do something that appears to be in contrast to what it seems God would want, he still calls to us. God wants us. We can repent and we can go to the Lord. When ever we fall short, we have to remember God wants us and loves us,

And like the wise men, still desires us to adore and be close to Jesus.