Sermon January 6, 2008

The Day of the Epiphany of Jesus

So who were these visitors? I asked that last year - what do you remember? So here's a quick review of the actual text:

There could have been three visitors, or thirty - we guess three because of the three gifts but Matthew never tells us how many came.

Matthew doesn't refer to them as "kings" but, in Greek, as "magoi", what we translate as Magi.

It's not accurate to translate "Magoi" as "wise men" because that's just too generic, like calling Robert E. Lee just a soldier. "Magoi" were political-religious advisors - perhaps a little of what Carl Rove was for President Bush, or what Bill Clinton is for Hillary, but then add a big dose of Billy Graham to the mix!

In other words, these are not your 'run-of-the-mill' visitors - these are very important people.

And they're V.I.P.'s not just in their own countries either (present day Iran and Iraq) - look how they worried Herod. But why did they worry Herod? Why was this visit so important? To know the answer to that, we need to know how the Magoi were viewed in the ancient world of the Near East.

If you were to study the history of the period you'd discover that the Magoi, as advisors to the Eastern kings, led the resistance to the imperialistic designs of Phillip the Macedonian and his son Alexander the Great to conquer the ancient Near Eastern people.

In other words, they represent Near Eastern resistance to western, Greek imperialism - they were symbols of the struggle against the oppression of empires throughout the Near East.

Everyone in the Near East - including everyone in the Kingdom of Herod the Great - would be very aware of the enormous significance of the Magoi had in that struggle.

And what do they represent? Well, what I've just said was that the Magoi were known for their centuries-old opposition to the imperialism that came from the West and imposed itself on the East. Their appearance would immediately remind every Near Easterner of the continuing imperial domination that originated to their west, lately symbolized by the Roman sword.

And these Magoi now not only show up at the manger, they submit themselves to Jesus, a new "king of Judeans.".

Now there's an interesting message - and one that would have resounded way beyond the confines of Israel to the entire ancient Near East: "Here in this babe is the new King of Kings. Here begins the restoration of true Eastern kingship." (John Pilch).

Is it any wonder that Herod, long in the pocket of the real masters, the Romans, would squirm? Is it any wonder that he would do his best to eradicate what he saw as a threat?

What made the Magoi's actions worse, what added insult to injury, was that Matthew's gospel interprets the visit of the Magoi as saying that liberation from foreign domination and restored Eastern kingship has come not from the elite but rather from the poor and humble in a hamlet (Bethlehem) of a rather insignificant principality (Judea)." (Ibid)

From the very beginning, Matthew reminds us, Jesus is a political figure, a threat to the elites, to the establishment, to the normal way of doing business.

From the very beginning, Jesus overturns the normal way of things.

We know the rest of the story. He continues to overturn things, he continues to raise up the lowly, to bring good news to the poor, to widows and orphans, to proclaim God's justice with equity.

And it will be the last thing - in his lifetime, at least - that he overturns - the tables of the money-changers in the Temple precincts (a symbol for the domination system of rich over poor, strong over weak if ever there was one), it will be the overturning of the moneychangers' tables that finally gets him crucified.

That's one part of the story, and a very significant part, at that.

There's another part.

We Christians have, quite rightly, overlaid the visit of the Magoi with Christian tradition and liturgy; we have understood this event through engaging symbolism and rich interpretations. That is good and helpful for all of us.

As we enter the Epiphany season we see in Isaiah's proclamation the announcing of the season of illumination, highlighting God's revelation to all humanity - the light that reveals to us that we are much, much better and more than our worst acts.. We see beyond the political implications of the Magoi's visit the more profound theological statement that now all Creation can, through this child, experience God's glory. We hear the good news, long awaited, that God continues to act through God's revealing light and we see that the challenge to self-interested and nationalistic political leaders, a challenge that is truly good news for all humanity.

In other words, both parts of this story - the political and the theological - are necessary for us fully to understand Epiphany. We cannot allow either part of the story to overwhelm the other - if we do so we end up with a Jesus who is either a political revolutionary or a disembodied God figure completely out of touch with the real world.

We need both parts of this story.

We need to be engaged as Christians in the worship and prayer of the body of Christ, the Church, where we encounter the true light which, John's gospel reminds us, came into the world in Jesus.

And we need to be engaged as Christians in the plain history, the real stories, the every day ups and downs of human beings going about their lives - engaged, actively, vocally, intentionally.

For if we are not engaged in both of these ways then we're really not living fully into our identity as pilgrims following in our Master's footsteps.

So here's the invitation of Epiphany: "[In Epiphany] the way beyond is not about security and prosperity but about vulnerability, neighborliness, generosity, [and] a modest future with spears turned into pruning hooks and swords into plowshares." (Walter Bruggemann)

May that be our Epiphany journey.   Amen.