The holiday – the holy day – is very old, older than Christmas. Almost as old as Easter.
Yet, in America, few Protestant churches celebrate the holiday, for we have become over taken by the secular aspects of Christmas – gift-giving, Santa Claus, mushy-romantic television shows that celebrate romance and family more than Jesus Christ’s arrival on this earth.
And there are the celebrations of the football bowl season – parades, games, New Year’s Eve parties.
We’ve gone back to work and here comes Epiphany on the twelfth day after Christmas, January 6. Even in this church we celebrate Epiphany on the Sunday closest to January 6th, because, if the truth be told, very few people would show up for a special Epiphany service. Would you have come to a service on Saturday, even if you’d known about it?
Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12
So what is Epiphany?
In the secular world, the word means “a sudden breakthrough or realization”, or “a sudden appearance”. In the church context, Epiphany refers to an appearance of God, and when capitalized if refers to the day that that the world first realized that Jesus was God – the day of the visitation of the wise men from the East, the Magi from Babylon, who brought three very appropriate gifts to Jesus and His family.
We know the story – how men in the east saw a star and traveled across the desert, dealing with shortages of water, sand storms, perhaps bandits, to Jerusalem, where King Herod the Great sat as king.
Herod was not Jewish, however. Herod was from Idumea, an area to the east of the Jordan Valley, in what is modern day Jordan. He was not from King David’s line – He was an outsider, a foreign king in the same way that King George of England was a German king who ruled over the English, which was part of the reason the English-American settlers in the New World rebelled against him. Herod was also an outsider and many of the people hated him for being from another country.
Likewise, the Romans had tampered with the office of the High Priest of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The High Priesthood should be for life, but the Romans removed men who were not sufficiently attentive to Roman concerns and replaced them with men who were more likely to act for the Roman conquerors.
The Magi, the wise men traveled to Jerusalem and they met with King Herod and his advisors who knew the Scriptures, who directed these men to Bethlehem where they found the young Jesus and Mary. After a journey of a thousand miles or more, they had arrived at the right village.
How many wise men were there? We don’t really know. A fourth century story decided, probably because of the gifts, that there were three men and even gave them names. But this is not based upon the rather simple Biblical record. Because they had traveled most likely from Babylon, where there was a group of men known as the Magi – the word from which we get our word “magicians” – it is likely that the party included at least a dozen or more people, perhaps a couple of dozen simply because the journey would have been very dangerous for a smaller party.
In Babylon, since the time of Daniel several centuries before, there had been a strong Jewish community. And the leaders of that community were known as the Magi, men of science and philosophy, of great Biblical learning who studied everything that could be studied. It is from this group of men that we likely get the expedition of the Magi.
No, they did not arrive on Christmas Eve. Because Herod asked when the star had appeared, and because after our passage Herod commanded all boys under the age of two to be killed, it is likely that the Magi arrived nearly two years after Jesus’ birth. You will notice that they did not meet Mary in the stable, but met her at “the house”, probably a house Joseph had built for the family over the months after their arrival in Bethlehem.
The gifts are important to the overall story of Jesus. He is given gold, frankincense and myrrh. But our culture has distorted the idea of gift-giving.
We give gifts, it is said, to show love to a member of our family or to a friend. And we go crazy with this at Christmas. We have lists and lists of people – we send emails to each other telling each other what members of the family would like for Christmas, we get upset when we don’t get the presents we want, and we also find ourselves in the dilemma of buying presents for people we really don’t know well – or like – because they are a member of the family. And so we try to estimate what the other will give us, because it just doesn’t work to receive a $50 gift but give a $9 gift, does it?
Gift-giving was a bit different in biblical times. In the Middle East and throughout the Roman world, gift-giving was a practical way of developing obligations toward you from the other. If you gave someone a nice gift, they were socially obliged to respond to you as a friend. For example, you might give a wealthy and powerful noble a fine horse – and he would in turn make sure that you were well-protected from bandits.
Jesus is given gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These particular gifts meant specific things in the world of the ancient Middle East.
Gold was given to a king, for gold is the way to pay an army and to buy weapons and horses. The Magi acknowledged Jesus as a king. They had traveled over a thousand miles to give a gift to the next King David of Israel, the man who would restore the line of David to the throne of Israel, the man who would make Israel great. This Jesus would be the rightful king because He was descended from King David on both his mother’s side and upon Joseph’s side – and His Father was the Holy Spirit of God. One day, Jesus would ride into Jerusalem at the head of a grand procession – but He would be on a donkey instead of a white stallion. One day, though, He will return in His full power and all will bow down before Christ.
Frankincense is the dried sap from certain trees that grow on the far coast of Arabia, in the area that today we call Oman. It was burnt in temples to cover up the odor of the sacrifices made. We don’t think about the smell of dozens of cattle and sheep and lambs being sacrificed and the smell of the unburnt blood. Frankincense was burned to give a sweet smell to the temple. It was the gift you gave to a high priest. The Magi recognized Jesus as their High Priest of God, the rightful intercessor between God and humans, the only one worthy to conduct the sacrifices that God demanded. And one day, Jesus would conduct a sacrifice, a sacrifice that would save not only the people of Judea, but all the people of the world.
And myrrh. Myrrh was from a different tree, also from Oman. Its deeper odor was used by those who would prepare a body for burial, embalmers, to cover up the odor of the dead body rotting like a deer carcass beside the road. It was closely related in the world to death and resurrection. When the Magi gave myrrh to Jesus, they recognized that He held the power over death and life, that He was God. And one day, Jesus would show that the Magi were correct, that Jesus did hold the power over death and life. He holds the power over our deaths and our lives.
And to make this clear, that the Magi “got it” about Jesus, Matthew tells us that the Magi “bowed and worshipped the child.”
Throughout the recorded history of the Bible, the Second Person of the Trinity had been to earth several times before. We know that God the Father is Spirit and we know that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit, but in the Old Testament, we find several circumstances where God walks with people. In the Garden of Eden, God walked among the Garden. Abraham encountered God walking with two angels at the trees of Mamre. Later, Jacob wrestled with God. And then Joshua encountered “the Angel of the Lord” before the battle at Jericho – and this Angel of the Lord is distinguished from other “mere” angels.
Christian theologians have mostly decided that these appearances are God the Son come to earth before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
But there is something unique here.
This time, instead of God in the flesh walking up to men, instead of God the warrior suddenly appearing before our heroes, instead of God the Son finding us and meeting us in the course of our adventures, wise men went looking for God. And they found Him and recognized Him as God even though He was a mere child, an infant, a toddler without power. They knew Who He was even before He could climb on a horse without help.
These Magi, they truly were wise men. They had studied the Scriptures – which in that day meant the Old Testament – and they knew God when they saw Him, even though He did not look like the King of Israel, the High Priest of God, the Wonderful Counselor that Isaiah had predicted.
For they knew their Scriptures and they listened to the Holy Spirit of God.
How about you?
Would you know God the Son if you met Him on the street? Do you know your Scripture well enough to recognize Him? Have you listened enough to the Holy Spirit that you can hear that still, small voice through the background clutter of our daily life of commercials, distractions, and fear?
The world is filled with many things that can take us away from Christ, that can send us to the wrong city, the wrong house, the wrong god. Yet the Magi show us the way of wisdom. Study the Scripture. Ask for guidance from those who have studied Scripture. Listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. And continue onward through difficult times until you find the Savior of the world.
If you will change one thing in your life this year, let me suggest that it be to begin reading your Bible every day. If you need help staying on track, join a Sunday School group, our Sunday evening dinner group at 6:30, or our Wednesday studies at 10 am or 6 pm. That’s the real advantage of a group – we work together to help each of us stay on track.
Look for God the Son. You will find Him in the most unlikely places.
A few years ago, I was in Italy on a required seminary trip. I was in Rome on Epiphany, which that year fell upon a Sunday, and I went to the second largest church in Rome, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. There, they had a full house, celebrating Epiphany with a huge choir, trumpets, a powerful organ. They went all out. Why not?
They were celebrating a very ancient Christian holiday, one that was celebrated before Christmas was even on the calendar. They were celebrating the day that a group of men – and a woman – realized that Jesus was God on earth, worthy of worship, our king, our high priest, our God. “And they bowed down and worshipped him.”
Will you do the same?
So what is Epiphany?
In the secular world, the word means “a sudden breakthrough or realization”, or “a sudden appearance”. In the church context, Epiphany refers to an appearance of God, and when capitalized if refers to the day that that the world first realized that Jesus was God – the day of the visitation of the wise men from the East, the Magi from Babylon, who brought three very appropriate gifts to Jesus and His family.
We know the story – how men in the east saw a star and traveled across the desert, dealing with shortages of water, sand storms, perhaps bandits, to Jerusalem, where King Herod the Great sat as king.
Herod was not Jewish, however. Herod was from Idumea, an area to the east of the Jordan Valley, in what is modern day Jordan. He was not from King David’s line – He was an outsider, a foreign king in the same way that King George of England was a German king who ruled over the English, which was part of the reason the English-American settlers in the New World rebelled against him. Herod was also an outsider and many of the people hated him for being from another country.
Likewise, the Romans had tampered with the office of the High Priest of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The High Priesthood should be for life, but the Romans removed men who were not sufficiently attentive to Roman concerns and replaced them with men who were more likely to act for the Roman conquerors.
The Magi, the wise men traveled to Jerusalem and they met with King Herod and his advisors who knew the Scriptures, who directed these men to Bethlehem where they found the young Jesus and Mary. After a journey of a thousand miles or more, they had arrived at the right village.
How many wise men were there? We don’t really know. A fourth century story decided, probably because of the gifts, that there were three men and even gave them names. But this is not based upon the rather simple Biblical record. Because they had traveled most likely from Babylon, where there was a group of men known as the Magi – the word from which we get our word “magicians” – it is likely that the party included at least a dozen or more people, perhaps a couple of dozen simply because the journey would have been very dangerous for a smaller party.
In Babylon, since the time of Daniel several centuries before, there had been a strong Jewish community. And the leaders of that community were known as the Magi, men of science and philosophy, of great Biblical learning who studied everything that could be studied. It is from this group of men that we likely get the expedition of the Magi.
No, they did not arrive on Christmas Eve. Because Herod asked when the star had appeared, and because after our passage Herod commanded all boys under the age of two to be killed, it is likely that the Magi arrived nearly two years after Jesus’ birth. You will notice that they did not meet Mary in the stable, but met her at “the house”, probably a house Joseph had built for the family over the months after their arrival in Bethlehem.
The gifts are important to the overall story of Jesus. He is given gold, frankincense and myrrh. But our culture has distorted the idea of gift-giving.
We give gifts, it is said, to show love to a member of our family or to a friend. And we go crazy with this at Christmas. We have lists and lists of people – we send emails to each other telling each other what members of the family would like for Christmas, we get upset when we don’t get the presents we want, and we also find ourselves in the dilemma of buying presents for people we really don’t know well – or like – because they are a member of the family. And so we try to estimate what the other will give us, because it just doesn’t work to receive a $50 gift but give a $9 gift, does it?
Gift-giving was a bit different in biblical times. In the Middle East and throughout the Roman world, gift-giving was a practical way of developing obligations toward you from the other. If you gave someone a nice gift, they were socially obliged to respond to you as a friend. For example, you might give a wealthy and powerful noble a fine horse – and he would in turn make sure that you were well-protected from bandits.
Jesus is given gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These particular gifts meant specific things in the world of the ancient Middle East.
Gold was given to a king, for gold is the way to pay an army and to buy weapons and horses. The Magi acknowledged Jesus as a king. They had traveled over a thousand miles to give a gift to the next King David of Israel, the man who would restore the line of David to the throne of Israel, the man who would make Israel great. This Jesus would be the rightful king because He was descended from King David on both his mother’s side and upon Joseph’s side – and His Father was the Holy Spirit of God. One day, Jesus would ride into Jerusalem at the head of a grand procession – but He would be on a donkey instead of a white stallion. One day, though, He will return in His full power and all will bow down before Christ.
Frankincense is the dried sap from certain trees that grow on the far coast of Arabia, in the area that today we call Oman. It was burnt in temples to cover up the odor of the sacrifices made. We don’t think about the smell of dozens of cattle and sheep and lambs being sacrificed and the smell of the unburnt blood. Frankincense was burned to give a sweet smell to the temple. It was the gift you gave to a high priest. The Magi recognized Jesus as their High Priest of God, the rightful intercessor between God and humans, the only one worthy to conduct the sacrifices that God demanded. And one day, Jesus would conduct a sacrifice, a sacrifice that would save not only the people of Judea, but all the people of the world.
And myrrh. Myrrh was from a different tree, also from Oman. Its deeper odor was used by those who would prepare a body for burial, embalmers, to cover up the odor of the dead body rotting like a deer carcass beside the road. It was closely related in the world to death and resurrection. When the Magi gave myrrh to Jesus, they recognized that He held the power over death and life, that He was God. And one day, Jesus would show that the Magi were correct, that Jesus did hold the power over death and life. He holds the power over our deaths and our lives.
And to make this clear, that the Magi “got it” about Jesus, Matthew tells us that the Magi “bowed and worshipped the child.”
Throughout the recorded history of the Bible, the Second Person of the Trinity had been to earth several times before. We know that God the Father is Spirit and we know that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit, but in the Old Testament, we find several circumstances where God walks with people. In the Garden of Eden, God walked among the Garden. Abraham encountered God walking with two angels at the trees of Mamre. Later, Jacob wrestled with God. And then Joshua encountered “the Angel of the Lord” before the battle at Jericho – and this Angel of the Lord is distinguished from other “mere” angels.
Christian theologians have mostly decided that these appearances are God the Son come to earth before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
But there is something unique here.
This time, instead of God in the flesh walking up to men, instead of God the warrior suddenly appearing before our heroes, instead of God the Son finding us and meeting us in the course of our adventures, wise men went looking for God. And they found Him and recognized Him as God even though He was a mere child, an infant, a toddler without power. They knew Who He was even before He could climb on a horse without help.
These Magi, they truly were wise men. They had studied the Scriptures – which in that day meant the Old Testament – and they knew God when they saw Him, even though He did not look like the King of Israel, the High Priest of God, the Wonderful Counselor that Isaiah had predicted.
For they knew their Scriptures and they listened to the Holy Spirit of God.
How about you?
Would you know God the Son if you met Him on the street? Do you know your Scripture well enough to recognize Him? Have you listened enough to the Holy Spirit that you can hear that still, small voice through the background clutter of our daily life of commercials, distractions, and fear?
The world is filled with many things that can take us away from Christ, that can send us to the wrong city, the wrong house, the wrong god. Yet the Magi show us the way of wisdom. Study the Scripture. Ask for guidance from those who have studied Scripture. Listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. And continue onward through difficult times until you find the Savior of the world.
If you will change one thing in your life this year, let me suggest that it be to begin reading your Bible every day. If you need help staying on track, join a Sunday School group, our Sunday evening dinner group at 6:30, or our Wednesday studies at 10 am or 6 pm. That’s the real advantage of a group – we work together to help each of us stay on track.
Look for God the Son. You will find Him in the most unlikely places.
A few years ago, I was in Italy on a required seminary trip. I was in Rome on Epiphany, which that year fell upon a Sunday, and I went to the second largest church in Rome, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. There, they had a full house, celebrating Epiphany with a huge choir, trumpets, a powerful organ. They went all out. Why not?
They were celebrating a very ancient Christian holiday, one that was celebrated before Christmas was even on the calendar. They were celebrating the day that a group of men – and a woman – realized that Jesus was God on earth, worthy of worship, our king, our high priest, our God. “And they bowed down and worshipped him.”
Will you do the same?
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