Feast of the Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6

Matthew 2:1-12

Let’s start out by stating we have no way of knowing whether the three Magi saw a star, spoke with King Herod, or visited Jesus and Mary. We don’t “need” to believe this happened either, because the saving truth of Jesus’s life and message does not depend on this story. What we can learn from today’s reading is something about Matthew’s Jesus as well as the prophetic vision of the Christ.

Placing the the first reading alongside the gospel is a reminder of Matthew’s concern that Jesus fulfill the predictions of the prophetic tradition: “And nations shall come to your light.” Check. “They shall bring gold and franckincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.” Check.

What are magi? The Greek word is magoi; it means a wizard, sorcerer, or a Magian–a member of an originally Median sacred caste who conformed to the Persian religion of the time while retaining some of their old beliefs. They were seen as experts in astrology, science, the interpretation of dreams, and other secret arts; in other words, magicians according to Bauer’s Greek lexicon.

The New American Bible translation says the Magi have come to Jesus “to do him homage.” The Revised Standard Version says they have come “to worship him”; David Bentley Hart uses the word “obeisance.” The word translated here is proskunesai. It can mean the homage one pays to a human superior; for Persians and many from the East, this involves prostration. But the word can also mean the worship given to polytheistic idols or to God, according to Bauer.

The ambiguity of the word means we cannot be certain whether the Magi see Jesus as (only) an extraordinary human being or divine. Matthew uses this same Greek word when describing the disciples’ worship of Jesus once they fully recognize him to be the divine Son of God ad the end of this gospel in 28:17.

Why do the Magi come to worship Jesus? I see them as representing the pinnacle of ancient Gentile sacred wisdom. Their worship of Jesus shows that he transcends the deepest thinkers, the most profound insights the world has to offer.

Why do the Magi follow a star? St. Gregory tells us the shepherds listened to the preaching of angels while a star guided the Magi because the shepherds, though uneducated, were Jews and therefore capable of using their reason. As a “Gentile” myself, I now take for granted that I am a Jew by adoption, thanks to Jesus–and St. Paul. But I should not take this for granted. In fact, celebrating our adoption into Israel is at the heart of the feast of the Epiphany. Another reason to be grateful for the Incarnation, and for St. Paul’s mission to the Gentiles, is that now I am just as able and worthy to hear the Word as Jews have been for thousands of years.

It is fitting the Magi arrive well after the shepherds and the birth of Jesus. All the first Christians were Jews. We Gentiles arrived late to the party, just like the Magi. Although Judaism and Christianity are now, unfortunately, separated, we should never forget our Jewish heritage in Jesus Christ, the disciples, and the apostles.

John Chrysostom offers another reason the Magi needed the star. There was nothing extraordinary about the place where Jesus was; as Chrysostom puts it, “The inn was ordinary. The mother was not celebrated or notable. The star was needed to manifest and illumine the lowly place.”

The NJBC tells us that ancient people could feel oppressed, imprisoned by a fate they were powerless to alter, by the claims of astrology. The star’s alignment with Jesus’s birthplace as well as the worship of the Magi establish that Christ’s birth liberates us from the trap of fatalism.

Why was King Herod and all Jerusalem troubled by the Magis’ question: where is the newborn king of the Jews? Herod was afraid of losing his power. Matthew is telling us that “all Jerusalem” was afraid of this as well. In other words, Jerusalem was quite comfortable with the status quo. Jewish religious and political leaders were complicit with Roman rule and the oppression of Jews. A new king might mean a risk to the wealth and power they enjoyed. Maybe the new king would want to rule from some other city or prefer new counselors and officials. I live in Washington, DC, so I understand very well how an entire city profits from the political status quo. Chrysostom writes of Jerusalem that while God was offering them new freedom, they were once again mindful only of the fleshpots of bondage in Egypt.

When Matthew writes that Herod assembles the chief priests and scribes to help him understand where the Christ will be born–so he can kill him–we can see it as a dress rehearsal for Jesus’s trial by the Sanhedrin at the end of the gospel. Jerusalem was against Jesus of Nazareth right from the start.

Notice that in Matthew the Magi find Jesus in a house or inn rather than a stable, as in Luke. And where is Joseph? Presumably the holy family moved out of the barn once they found room in a more comfortable place. Of course we cannot know the details of the infancy narrative are historically accurate. Reading that Jesus is now in a house, however, helps me appreciate the beauty of him lying in a manger, surrounded by animals.

I love Gregory the Great’s spiritual interpretation of the Magi returning to their home “by another path. Gregory writes that our true home is paradise and we have been expelled from it by sin. Christ invites us to return to this home, but we need to go there by a different road from the one we took to get where we are now. We need to repent, change our hearts, and follow him there.