EpiphanyB

Feast of the Epiphany, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

How many wise men came to bring gifts to the infant king of the Jews? We always say “3”, don’t we? What does Matthew tell us? Actually, he doesn’t list a number. Mark’s Gospel account doesn’t cover the birth of Jesus. Luke doesn’t mention these wise men at all. John, like Mark, doesn’t really talk much about the event of Jesus’ birth; John is more focused on the significance of it. We only have Matthew to go by. “Many Eastern branches of Christianity has their numbers at twelve or more [wise men]. The Eastern interpretations could go towards explaining why they are sometimes referred to as the three wise kings.” [Who Were The Three Wise Men? - Scripture Catholic] So, why do we think it’s 3 wise men? Most likely we associate the number of gift-bearers with the number of gifts. Three gifts must mean one gift per person, right? Well, that’s how our brains work. There’s nothing in Scripture that says exactly how many of them there were. But “it would be safe to assume that the three men that presented baby Jesus with the gifts, were either the leaders of the group.” [Who Were The Three Wise Men? - Scripture Catholic]

Do you know what their names are? Again, Matthew doesn’t mention any of their names. But the Christian tradition has made the attempt to identify them over the centuries. They do have Hebrew names, but I think most of us would only recognize their Latin names: Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior. Caspar, according to some historians, is thought to be a king from the area between Iran and Afghanistan in the early 1st century; he gave the gift of frankincense. Balthazar may have been a king of Arabia, who brought myrrh to the newborn king. Melchior was possibly a king of Persia, who brought the gift of gold to the Christ child. The names have been traced to a Greek manuscript dated around 500 AD, but this is not Scripture. All we know for certain is that there were three gifts, and they were gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

These gifts had a significance of their own: Gold has carried immense value throughout the ages. It is commonly associated with wealth and importance. By presenting Jesus with gold, the Magi were declaring their belief in Jesus being the King of Kings. They were also acknowledging his priestly role. The gold could have been used to help smuggle Jesus out of Bethlehem in order to escape from King Herod. Frankincense is used in perfumes and incense. Incense was and is commonly used during prayers. By presenting Jesus with frankincense, the Magi were declaring their belief in Jesus being our great high priest. They were also acknowledging him as the son of God and his own Godhood.

Myrrh is an aromatic plant resin used as an anointing oil during embalming. In giving Jesus the Myrrh, the Magi were acknowledging that he was here to die for us, suffer for us and that he was a sacrifice for us. Giving Myrrh may appear to be an offensive gesture (“here’s a present for when your baby dies”) but Jesus’s life was foretold throughout the old testament, and the Magi were more than aware of his importance to us. [Who Were The Three Wise Men? - Scripture Catholic]

Were they kings? That’s what the song says, right? “We three kings of Orient are...” What does Matthew tell us? “Wise men” is the translation in today’s lesson. You probably also know the Greek word here: “μάγοι” or Magi as we commonly say it. There are a few different ways to translate this word from Greek, but “here [it] means the ‘possessor of special (secret) wisdom,’ especially concerning the meaning of the course of the stars and its interconnection with world events.” [Kittel, 358] That doesn’t really make them kings. Actually, the best reason might be from our Psalm today: “May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!” These men also appeared to be fulfilling prophecy, by bringing gifts to the Messiah. And the psalmist says they would be kings bringing gifts.

One more thing I’d like to point out about these visitors from the east - they were NOT at the scene of the birth. How do we know that? What did the lesson today say? Verse 11: “And going into the…” Stable? Manger? No, they didn’t visit the manger. They visited the family in a house. It could have been days, weeks, months, or possibly years later. We don’t know for sure…but they were certainly not present on the day of His birth.

The Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 - 13 days after Christmas. So yes, the 12 Days of Christmas are finally over, and we will now take down our trees. This feast celebrates the revelation (which is what epiphany means) that Jesus is the Son of God. It focuses primarily on this revelation to the Three Wise Men - who witness to his identity as the Son of God, but it also focuses on his baptism in the Jordan when God’s voice reveals Him as the Son of God, and at the wedding at Cana, where He performs the first sign to reveal Him as the Son of God. Today, January 7, is also when we recognize the Baptism of Christ, which is an alternate set of lessons we could have used today. All of these serve the same purpose: to reveal Jesus to us and the world as the Son of God made flesh, come to fulfill prophecy and to save the world. This whole season of Epiphany is centered on that very theme.

Our lesson today - the revelation of the Christ to the Magi - is important not because of the gifts… rather this is important because these men, however many they were, were NOT Jews. They did not worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They may have known about the Jewish people from the Babylonian captivity, but they were not men of the Israelite faith. So these visitors, although they genuinely *did* come to worship the infant king, were Gentiles. Think about that for a moment. After Jesus’ resurrection, the Good News wouldn’t be shared with Gentiles until after Peter and Paul resolve their differences on the matter. That’s not until several chapters into the book of Acts. That these outsiders were the first to honor the King of the Jews makes the later rejection of Jesus by his own people even more revealing. These Gentile kings are an early sign that Jesus’ saving sacrifice is for everyone, not just the Jews. THAT is what makes these Magi special.

They also set an example for us. These wise men followed a star and came to Bethlehem for no other reason than to worship the Lord. Isaiah paints a picture for us that kings come to him who is the light shining in the darkness. They will come on camels bringing their wealth as offerings. These are all acts of worship. If they traveled as far was we think they did, they were on the road for many weeks, maybe months. That’s quite a ways to go just to worship.

And these gifts they brought were not insignificant. Gold has always been a precious metal, recognized across all cultures for its great value. Frankincense and myrrh were some of the most valuable materials in the ancient world… The trees from which they are taken are impossible to grow outside the Arabian peninsula, so they were always scarce. And because of that scarcity, frankincense and myrrh were divine in many cultures, which increased their value. Archaeologists have found residue of frankincense in Egyptian temples, and it was used for worship by both the Greeks and the Romans. [Frankincense and myrrh: medicinal resin worth more than gold - Hektoen International (hekint.org)] These were certainly gifts fit for a king.

These Magi/kings/wise men knew why Jesus had come - he brought salvation to the whole world. To them, his arrival was the fulfillment of prophecy. They knew their salvation had arrived. If God would send His Only Son to be with us in flesh, then the plan had already succeeded; it simply needed to play out. The death and resurrection of the Messiah is unquestionably the most important event in our faith, and as far as I’m concerned, in the history of the world. But there is no death without his birth. And there cannot be a resurrection without his death. So, the incarnation - God-made-flesh in his birth, sets the plan in motion. In his birth, the Christ is revealed to the world as Emmanuel - “God with us”.

Like the Magi, we have come to worship this Christ child - the Messiah foretold by the prophets. We are gathered to worship him in prayer and song. And because of His death and resurrection, we are blessed to have Him revealed to us in the Sacrament of His Supper. We will taste His broken body and His precious blood, given and shed for us to ensure our salvation.

Like the Magi, we have received this Good News. What will we do with it? It’s a new year, and there is plenty of opportunity to share. We can and should be in worship of the Christ who saved us. We can give gifts - which include our time and our talents. Our time spent in reading Scripture and in prayer, and our talents offered to others to give glory to God. Let us go into the world around us, among the people who are even today covered in thick darkness, and share a little of that light that we enjoy. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at what a difference His light can make.

I’ll close with prayer that I’ve borrowed from our Orthodox brothers and sisters. Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, like the Magi, we offer our treasures and we offer the little child the most precious things we have. In spirit we offer gold, the sign of Jesus’ sovereignty over all riches and all created things, a sign also of our own detachment from earthly goods. In spirit we offer incense, the sign of adoration, for Jesus is not only the king of the universe, he is our God. We offer in spirit myrrh, the spice with which we honor in advance the death and burial of Jesus and through which too, is represented our own renunciation of bodily pleasures. Lord Jesus, accept our offering. In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.