What would it have been like to have seen the “star rising in the East” and wonder about it with my friends? What would it have been like to decide to follow that star to a foreign country, to be drawn to give homage to an infant king of that country, even though I was a stranger to their language, religion, and culture? I wonder.
Surely the Magi had had some interaction with Jewish tradesmen or descendants of Jewish exiles in Assyria or Babylon to have known to associate the star with a promised Jewish Messiah. Would it have been curiosity or something deeper and stronger that pulled them to Bethlehem?
Might it have been the same “pull” that caused Noah to build an ark and Abram to set out for Canaan? Might it have been the same pull that led me to ask my parents (at the age 10) to take me back to the church our scout troop had visited? Might it have been the same pull that led you to begin reading reflections on the daily Scriptures?
I wonder.
Today we celebrate Epiphany. The word “epiphany” means manifestation or showing or realization. On Epiphany (not celebrated in some places until January 6th, the 12th day of Christmas) every year we read these same readings. Every year we celebrate that from the beginning of his life, Jesus was ‘God-with-us’ for all peoples. When Jesus was born, God revealed Himself in a new, wonderful way to both Jew and Gentile, to both rich and poor, to people who had been following His Law for centuries and to people who had no understanding of “one, true, living God.”
Today the readings lead us to contemplate the wonder of God’s revelation of Himself to the Magi—and to us.
Isaiah 60: 1-6
This passage comes from “Third Isaiah.” Although there is only one Isaiah in the Bible, it was written during three time periods. Today’s glorious predictions poetically describe the perspective of the returned exiles from Babylon. This collection includes chapters 56-66. They describe a coming glory as the people move from tepid faith toward the glory of Israel when the Messiah comes.
Its imagery, like the Psalm that follows, evokes wonder, joy, and hope for fulfilled expectations. There are images of light in the darkness. These images are expressed as fulfilled in the New Testament in John’s Prologue, “The light shines on in the darkness, a darkness that did not overcome it” (John 1:5) and in Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world…in the same way your light must shine before men” (Matthew 5: 14, 16) God speaks here to his returned-from-Babylon exiles of the coming ruler who will not only be a perfectly just and righteous king, he will also bring great glory to Israel and goodness to the whole world. Considering how prevalent images of light in darkness are to describe Jesus, it is no wonder that God punctuated his prophesies with that star, rising in the East!
These are images that seem to dance in joy on the page of glory for Jerusalem and glory for God. Interestingly, gold and frankincense are mentioned in this passage, but not myrrh. Myrrh was an expensive spice used for burial. Its inclusion by the Magi came from something (the pull of God?) outside of the traditional prophesies. This passage from Isaiah anticipates an earthly style kingdom with a victorious king. That the Magi brought myrrh says that there is more to the story than even the prophets understood. God’s revelation is gradual.
Perhaps that’s why, when Jesus came, he and those who protected him had a rough go of it from the beginning. As a line from the song “El Shaddai” says, “God’s most awesome work was done in the frailty of his son.”
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
This short reading from Ephesians is a part of the letter that explains God’s plan to include Gentiles in the Kingdom of God. While it is almost unimaginable to us today that the Kingdom of God would not be for everyone, we know from multiple scriptures that the opposite was true in the early years of the church. In those days, the Messiah was to be the Jewish king for the Jewish people. While the way Jesus did ministry from the beginning indicated his caring included non-Jews, it was just incomprehensible that the Messiah would establish a new religion, a new way to be with God. It was incomprehensible that in this new “Way” a person would not have to become Jewish before becoming Christian.
Today’s reading is an explanation: God’s plan to include ALL in Christianity is a mystery that was never comprehended until after Jesus’ death.
The part of this reading that jumps out to me today is the phrase, “stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me.” Stewardship means the “right use.” The author is saying, in effect, “the right use of the time, talent, and treasure of my teaching is that God’s generosity and life (grace) extends to ALL PEOPLES. It is saying, in effect, “God so loved the [ENTIRE] world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
That inclusiveness may not seem like a Mystery to us, but it IS A MYSTERY. Let your mind rest in it. Ask yourself, how does my stewardship of my faith express God to EVERYONE in my life—store clerk, not-practicing brother-in-law, next door neighbor—Am I a “city set on a hill” in my everyday life?
Matthew 2:1-12
A Christmas song comes to mind as I read this: “I wonder as I wander out under the sky/How Jesus the Savior did come forth to die/for poor lonely people like you and like I/I wonder as I wander out under the sky.” The melody is haunting as I picture myself as a Magi on a camel going to an unknown place because I am drawn by a star toward something I don’t quite understand. I am drawn, and that is enough to put me on the journey.
The story in Scripture is familiar: the Magi come, politely stopping by Jerusalem to ask the current king Herod about what they most likely thought would be Herod’s newborn son. They find out this is not so.
In fact, their inquiries introduce the conflict that is forever around Jesus: the conflict between good and evil. Notice the images that introduce it. Herod is “troubled” by their inquiries, “and all Jerusalem with him.” We return to the story line of the plot of Satan in Genesis. Herod pretends and lies to the Magi, as the serpent did to Eve. Then there is murder of the innocent, as Cain slew Abel. The powers of darkness come quickly to make the plot of the New Testament a replication of the plot of the Old Testament.
But, God is revealing something new: God reveals himself in a dream to the Magi. They “are overjoyed” and quietly go home without returning to report to Herod. God then reveals the danger to St. Joseph, and he obediently takes himself, child, and Mary in the night out of Herod’s power. Their love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control say God’s new revelation CHANGES the action. There is now a new plot to the old story.
No repetition of Eden here. God is revealing Himself more clearly. As He does, the plot changes. It does not change from the perpetual battle of good and evil, but it changes in the ability for God’s Light to be maintained and escape THROUGH the darkness. God has entered our world as one of us, and, as one of us, has the power to change it from within.
Application
In socializing with friends this Christmas week, more than once it has been said, “These are troubling times,” “I hope 2022 is better than 2021,” “There is so much evil in the world today.”
Perhaps it is those conversations that draw me to the multiple images in today’s readings that say “God sends Light in the darkness. That Light is Jesus, who is the Christ.”
My mind stays on the scene in Bethlehem. Jesus, who is God, is also a baby, as dependent on parent and community as any other baby. Jesus, who is human, is also the Light of God, the manifestation of God in a world plagued through and through with darkness, evil, sin.
This is where and how God chose to come: fully human, fully divine. He chose to come in ways that did not protect him from the human condition or human culture. He chose to reveal himself to the poor and rejected (aka shepherds) and to rich, wise seekers (aka Magi). He revealed himself in Jewish history and culture (the wise men of Jerusalem knew of his predicted coming). He revealed himself OUTSIDE politics (Herod learned about him, but did not have power over him).
As I rest in the wonder of all this, it seems Jesus lived in the same world, the same darkness, as I live in. He was, AND STILL IS, Jesus, the Christ, my Lord. I feel the pull of God.
Prayer
As I pause for just another day or so, my prayer is to rest for a few days more in the pull of God to adore: “O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.”
For He is, still today, Joy to the World. May Jesus, the Christ, be revealed to each of us every day in 2022. And may we not be confounded in our expectations.
