Today is Epiphany Sunday. In the first few centuries of the Church, Epiphany was celebrated in
honor of the Lord’s baptism. In the Eastern Orthodox Church it still is. We’ll be observing the Lord’s
baptism next week, however, and we’ll be celebrating it with the baptism of one of our own, little
Isabella Blasini.
But in the Western Church, of which we Anglicans are a part, Epiphany came to mark the first
appearance of Christ to the Gentiles. These Gentiles were the Magi—the three wise men from the
East who visited the baby Jesus some time after His birth. As we just saw, the gifts given the baby
Jesus were endowed with deep meaning. This morning I’d like to spend a few minutes taking a look
at the different responses to Jesus’ birth and see what Epiphany has to say to us as 21st Century
Christians.
You may remember that Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means “appearing.” The word
implies something or someone of splendor, and so it translates well as “glorious appearing.” But as
we’ll see, not everyone welcomed this glorious appearing. To help us get a perspective on all of
this, some background may be helpful. The Magi were a priestly caste of Gentiles, probably from
Persia, which of course we now know as Iran. All around the Near and Middle East there had been a
growing anticipation of the coming of a great king. The Roman historian Suetonius wrote these
words: “There had spread all over the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that
time for men coming from Judea to rule the world.” Another Roman historian, Tacitus, wrote that
“there was a firm persuasion… that at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers from
Judea were to acquire universal empire.” The Jewish historian Josephus wrote similar words.
So within this electric atmosphere of expectation, the Magi were convinced by a sign they’d seen, of
the precise time and place of this great birth. And this sign, this star, led them to Bethlehem. The
Magi may not have known just how universal and eternal this new kingdom was to be, but they knew
that the great, expected King had been born.
They went to Jerusalem and began asking around. "Where is this one who’s been born king of the
Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." And presently they found their
way to Bethlehem.
Now, there are three reactions to the birth of this baby that we can see in the text. The first and
most dramatic is that of King Herod. Historians tell us that Herod was an especially brutal and
paranoid leader. He’d had his own wife and mother-in-law killed, as well as three of his own sons.
Anyone who presented a potential threat to his power was promptly eliminated. King Herod had his
henchmen and spies all around Jerusalem, scanning for any possible threats. Word got back to him
about this new infant king and he was quick to act. Matthew says Herod called in the Magi and
asked them where to find the baby, so that he could go and worship him, too. And of course we
know the outcome of all of that. King Herod had all of the male infants and toddlers of Bethlehem
killed, forcing Joseph, Mary, and young Jesus into exile in Egypt. We now remember this event as
the Massacre of the Innocents.
Of course, now we see King Herod as the profoundly evil person he clearly was. Far be it from us to
see in ourselves any similarities in behavior or motive with such a monster. But the sobering thing
is, monstrous behavior often stems from very human emotions.
Herod was afraid. He was afraid that his own sovereignty was threatened. He was afraid that there
might be an authority greater than himself—someone to answer to—and he knew he must prevent
this at all costs.
My question is this: How many in our world today are similarly threatened by an authority outside
themselves? How many rankle and spit angry words at the suggestion that there’s a God out there
who loves us, but, yes, who expects something from us as well? Thankfully, there are relatively few
in our world today who would literally kill a man in response to this threat. But how many
metaphorically kill the Lord to ensure that themselves and themselves alone are in the driver’s seat
of their lives?
You see, the person whose aim is to be exclusively in control of his own life has no use for Jesus.
And from time to time it’s very important to remind ourselves that the Christian life is centered
around the lordship of Jesus Christ. That there is, thanks be to God, an authority higher than
ourselves, and if we conform our lives to His will, fulfillment and life itself are ours.
The second type of response to the appearance of God in the flesh is that of the chief priests and
scribes. They’re mentioned in today’s text, but you have to read a little between the lines to get the
picture. They told the Magi about the things they’d expect surrounding the birth of Messiah, but
where were they in all of this? They were conspicuously absent. The sign given the Magi
apparently didn’t affect them, and they went on with their own lives in temple and home. Until they,
too, were directly challenged by Jesus’ authority later in his life, this new baby was irrelevant to them.
And this is indeed another of the possible responses here and now to the news of Jesus. For
whatever reason, when the good news is made known, many simply suppress a yawn and go on with
their lives. What should be the best news imaginable, that we’ve been offered salvation and eternal
life, seems all too often to be greeted with complete indifference.
Strangely, this can even happen in the church itself. We can get so focused on the form that we
miss the spirit. We can go to church as a routine activity. You know, because our parents did or
because it seems like a nice thing to do in some intangible way.
And I suppose this is better than not going at all, but how much more meaningful it is when we
actually listen intently to the scriptures and teachings, and reflect deeply on the sacraments, and
most of all, encourage our hearts to worship and adore the one who was born in Bethlehem all those
years ago and bought our salvation with his very life.
And this is precisely the third response to Jesus. Worship and adoration are the response given by
the Magi. They may not have had a thorough understanding of the significance of this baby, this
new king, but the Magi were so convinced of the supreme importance of this birth in Bethlehem that
they rushed straight to where the Holy Family was staying. Listen to what Matthew writes: “When
they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother
Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented
him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” They bowed down and worshipped Him.
The 4th Century Church Father St. Chromatius writes this about the visit: “Immediately the Magi fell
to their knees and adored the one born as Lord. There in his very cradle they venerated him with
offerings of gifts, though Jesus was merely a whimpering infant. They perceived one thing with the
eyes of their bodies but another with the eyes of the mind. They discerned the lowliness of the body
He assumed, but the glory of His divinity is now made manifest. A boy He is, but it is God who is
adored.”
And my friends, the most wonderful thing for us this morning is this: The Jesus who appeared
gloriously to the Magi as the infant king, and ultimately to the astonished witnesses of His
Resurrection, is the same Jesus who offers Himself as our King, our great High Priest, our Savior,
and our God in this new year of 2008, and one day He’ll be back to receive His people. I pray that
each and every one of us will keep the precious faith passed down to us, and unwaveringly see
Jesus for who He really is, as we await his glorious re-appearing.
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
honor of the Lord’s baptism. In the Eastern Orthodox Church it still is. We’ll be observing the Lord’s
baptism next week, however, and we’ll be celebrating it with the baptism of one of our own, little
Isabella Blasini.
But in the Western Church, of which we Anglicans are a part, Epiphany came to mark the first
appearance of Christ to the Gentiles. These Gentiles were the Magi—the three wise men from the
East who visited the baby Jesus some time after His birth. As we just saw, the gifts given the baby
Jesus were endowed with deep meaning. This morning I’d like to spend a few minutes taking a look
at the different responses to Jesus’ birth and see what Epiphany has to say to us as 21st Century
Christians.
You may remember that Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means “appearing.” The word
implies something or someone of splendor, and so it translates well as “glorious appearing.” But as
we’ll see, not everyone welcomed this glorious appearing. To help us get a perspective on all of
this, some background may be helpful. The Magi were a priestly caste of Gentiles, probably from
Persia, which of course we now know as Iran. All around the Near and Middle East there had been a
growing anticipation of the coming of a great king. The Roman historian Suetonius wrote these
words: “There had spread all over the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that
time for men coming from Judea to rule the world.” Another Roman historian, Tacitus, wrote that
“there was a firm persuasion… that at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers from
Judea were to acquire universal empire.” The Jewish historian Josephus wrote similar words.
So within this electric atmosphere of expectation, the Magi were convinced by a sign they’d seen, of
the precise time and place of this great birth. And this sign, this star, led them to Bethlehem. The
Magi may not have known just how universal and eternal this new kingdom was to be, but they knew
that the great, expected King had been born.
They went to Jerusalem and began asking around. "Where is this one who’s been born king of the
Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." And presently they found their
way to Bethlehem.
Now, there are three reactions to the birth of this baby that we can see in the text. The first and
most dramatic is that of King Herod. Historians tell us that Herod was an especially brutal and
paranoid leader. He’d had his own wife and mother-in-law killed, as well as three of his own sons.
Anyone who presented a potential threat to his power was promptly eliminated. King Herod had his
henchmen and spies all around Jerusalem, scanning for any possible threats. Word got back to him
about this new infant king and he was quick to act. Matthew says Herod called in the Magi and
asked them where to find the baby, so that he could go and worship him, too. And of course we
know the outcome of all of that. King Herod had all of the male infants and toddlers of Bethlehem
killed, forcing Joseph, Mary, and young Jesus into exile in Egypt. We now remember this event as
the Massacre of the Innocents.
Of course, now we see King Herod as the profoundly evil person he clearly was. Far be it from us to
see in ourselves any similarities in behavior or motive with such a monster. But the sobering thing
is, monstrous behavior often stems from very human emotions.
Herod was afraid. He was afraid that his own sovereignty was threatened. He was afraid that there
might be an authority greater than himself—someone to answer to—and he knew he must prevent
this at all costs.
My question is this: How many in our world today are similarly threatened by an authority outside
themselves? How many rankle and spit angry words at the suggestion that there’s a God out there
who loves us, but, yes, who expects something from us as well? Thankfully, there are relatively few
in our world today who would literally kill a man in response to this threat. But how many
metaphorically kill the Lord to ensure that themselves and themselves alone are in the driver’s seat
of their lives?
You see, the person whose aim is to be exclusively in control of his own life has no use for Jesus.
And from time to time it’s very important to remind ourselves that the Christian life is centered
around the lordship of Jesus Christ. That there is, thanks be to God, an authority higher than
ourselves, and if we conform our lives to His will, fulfillment and life itself are ours.
The second type of response to the appearance of God in the flesh is that of the chief priests and
scribes. They’re mentioned in today’s text, but you have to read a little between the lines to get the
picture. They told the Magi about the things they’d expect surrounding the birth of Messiah, but
where were they in all of this? They were conspicuously absent. The sign given the Magi
apparently didn’t affect them, and they went on with their own lives in temple and home. Until they,
too, were directly challenged by Jesus’ authority later in his life, this new baby was irrelevant to them.
And this is indeed another of the possible responses here and now to the news of Jesus. For
whatever reason, when the good news is made known, many simply suppress a yawn and go on with
their lives. What should be the best news imaginable, that we’ve been offered salvation and eternal
life, seems all too often to be greeted with complete indifference.
Strangely, this can even happen in the church itself. We can get so focused on the form that we
miss the spirit. We can go to church as a routine activity. You know, because our parents did or
because it seems like a nice thing to do in some intangible way.
And I suppose this is better than not going at all, but how much more meaningful it is when we
actually listen intently to the scriptures and teachings, and reflect deeply on the sacraments, and
most of all, encourage our hearts to worship and adore the one who was born in Bethlehem all those
years ago and bought our salvation with his very life.
And this is precisely the third response to Jesus. Worship and adoration are the response given by
the Magi. They may not have had a thorough understanding of the significance of this baby, this
new king, but the Magi were so convinced of the supreme importance of this birth in Bethlehem that
they rushed straight to where the Holy Family was staying. Listen to what Matthew writes: “When
they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother
Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented
him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” They bowed down and worshipped Him.
The 4th Century Church Father St. Chromatius writes this about the visit: “Immediately the Magi fell
to their knees and adored the one born as Lord. There in his very cradle they venerated him with
offerings of gifts, though Jesus was merely a whimpering infant. They perceived one thing with the
eyes of their bodies but another with the eyes of the mind. They discerned the lowliness of the body
He assumed, but the glory of His divinity is now made manifest. A boy He is, but it is God who is
adored.”
And my friends, the most wonderful thing for us this morning is this: The Jesus who appeared
gloriously to the Magi as the infant king, and ultimately to the astonished witnesses of His
Resurrection, is the same Jesus who offers Himself as our King, our great High Priest, our Savior,
and our God in this new year of 2008, and one day He’ll be back to receive His people. I pray that
each and every one of us will keep the precious faith passed down to us, and unwaveringly see
Jesus for who He really is, as we await his glorious re-appearing.
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesus and the Magi
(Matthew 2:1-12)
(Matthew 2:1-12)
January 06, 2008
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton