Word to the Wise
Sunday, January 3, 2021 - Jan. 7 (if Epiphany is Jan. 8)
[Isaiah 60: 1-6; Eph. 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matt. 2:1-12]Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance...[Isaiah] ...{T]he Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.... [Ephesians] When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the new born king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage." [Matthew]
The feast of the Epiphany of the Lord celebrates the story of the three mysterious figures who arrive in Jerusalem looking for the "newborn King of the Jews." Tradition calls them "kings" and after many years finally decided that there were only three of them. The text is silent on both points, saying only "magi from the east." Tradition has also given them names: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar! Their gifts are also symbolic of what will later occur in the gospel after Matthew's infancy narrative: gold for royalty, incense for divinity, myrrh for anointing and death. After all this tradition and imagination gets laid on, the message of the story sometimes gets lost, especially after the magi join Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the star, the stable and the shepherds in the closet or attic until next year!!!
The very title of the feast offers the meaning. Epiphany comes from a Greek word meaning to "shine out" or reveal. The "epiphany" in the Gospel According to Luke is to the shepherds - poor Jews. In Matthew, it is to Gentiles, non-Jews from outside Israel! The prophecy of Isaiah and the Letter to the Ephesians which provide the first and second scriptures for today speak to the revelation of Christ as being made to the whole world, not just to Jews or to those who are already disciples. At the end of the Gospel According to Matthew, the disciples are commissioned to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations..." In short, WE disciples are commissioned to be "epiphanies" of Jesus Christ. We may not be as exotic as the magi, or deal with paranoid rulers like Herod, but we can join the star and the magi and shine out, each of us wherever we are. We can "put skin on" the Epiphany! The magi may be back in the attic or closet until New Year, but we are still here and still shining! AMEN