Last week we read of Mary and Joseph and the sojourn they were forced to take in Egypt, and
this week we read of magi coming from what was once Babylon. Such an unlikely couple and an inauspicious birth
attracting what would have been for that time "world wide" recognition. Both events are seen as fulfillments
of ancient prophecies, but even more, they are the longings of a nearly destroyed people who look forward to a
day when the world will recognize their worth.
"Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." These words spoken by the
prophet Isaiah to a people whose minds were still filled with images of leveled villages and slaughtered family
members seemed almost impossible to believe. Think of Afghan farmers today believing that one day world leaders
would come to them for guidance and you will have a better understanding of the impact of those words. When one
is sharing a meager meal in a ramshackle hut as a captive in a foreign land, the image of kings coming to you bearing
gifts of "gold and frankincense," in order to proclaim the praise of the Lord" certainly requires
more than a good imagination. It requires great faith!
These two places, Egypt and Babylon are not chosen by coincidence. They are the sites of Israel's enslavement and
exile in the past, and they play critical roles in Matthew's story. Perhaps, as the gospel writer to the Jewish
people 2000 years ago, he was trying to say that the day was coming when these people shall no longer be seen as
enemies-but that all would live in peace. Clearly that day has not yet come, but it is a vision worth longing for!
As you have heard in the past, Matthew does not give these strange nocturnal visitors names, nor does he mention
their number. It was from later Christian traditions that we began to believe there were three, and that they were
called Balthassar, Melchior and Caspar. Most of us however never made the connection that Balthassar is a Greek
corruption of the Babylonian name Belshazzar familiar from the Book of Daniel; which means "O Lord, protect
the king." Melchior, which means "The king is my light," is an Aramaic name often encountered in
Assyrian and Babylonian texts, and Caspar (sometimes spelled Gaspar) is a Roman corruption of Gondophares (Gadaspar),
a Parthian name (the language of the people who ruled Persia in Matthew's day). The names of the magi suggest that
they came from Babylon, a Parthian royal city and one of the most important centers of astronomical and astrological
knowledge of that time. The reason three is used is because the number was symbolic of a "complete act of
God." The Western Church assumed that because there were three gifts there were three magi.
Beyond being one of best loved and most charming parts of the nativity story of Jesus, and the reason for a celebration
of Epiphany or "Enlightenment" Sunday, there may be far more for us to ponder in these events which speak
to our situation today.
The encounter between these foreign magicians and a Jewish peasant family should be seen as an encounter with wisdom
itself, and therein is the reason they are called "wise." They were non-Jews who came seeking an embodiment
of divine wisdom in human form. They fell down and worshipped this child as "Lord Wisdom," an ancient
concept of "logos" stolen by the Greeks, and one which formed the basis of the last gospel, the Gospel
of John. When Alexander the Great captured Persia, he destroyed the libraries, temples and many other aspects of
that highly developed culture, but not without first plundering many great philosophies which he and his Greek
culture later took credit for.
"Gold, frankincense, and myrrh" were not the only gifts which Jesus was endowed with by the Magi. "Wisdom
incarnate" is a wonderful concept and it is not stretching historical evidence at all to suggest that this
is who the Magi believed him to be. So not only were impoverished people being asked to believe that one day the
world would look to them for wisdom, but also that a peasant child, born under the worst of
circumstances would one day be their most famous and successful leader. Think no further than Martin Luther King,
Jr. or Mother Theresa and one has the image of leadership emerging from places and people no one would have suspected.
"Light of the world" is another concept that has been labeled as part of the "gnostic" influence
in the gospel of John. Yet long before the merger of Christian and Greek cultures, "light of the world"
was a concept central to the beliefs of the Magi.
There is a beautiful line in Noah ben Shea's story of "Jacob the Baker" which says: "The furthest
a wise man can travel is to the border of his own ignorance. The furthest a wise man can see is to the beginning
of his own blindness."
These "seekers" believed in the possibility that God could and would do anything. They lived expectantly,
looking for a sign, and they stepped outside of their own boxes in faith, traveling to foreign places, encountering
hostile forces, and even risked going "home" by a different route than the one they knew.
Once again we find the theme of "openness" on the part of people on the outside of traditional religious
piety to God's actions, an openness "hidden" from those who considered themselves people who ought to
be "in the know."
The religious authorities dug into their files on scripture and came up with a logical guess to the question they
had been asked, but it is clear that they made no move to investigate the matter further. They obviously had the
correct answer, but also believed they had better things with which to concern themselves.
As I thought about this, I thought back on how many times in my own experience of personal faith journey, of the
Church and the predilections of clergy of many persuasions to inquire into the Bible, or examine tradition in order
to consider the future directions they should be taking when God has written the answer in the sky, so plainly
that even foreigners, strangers to this kind of logic, can read and know what is going on, and what should be done.
The message of the rainbow in the sky in the time of Noah is an immediate parallel to the star of Epiphany. The
message of God's mercy for all people written in the clouds for all to see. It didn't need someone with a theological
degree, someone with mystical powers or someone with fluency in ancient languages to decipher. It was there for
all to see - the sheer beauty of it made the message quite unmistakable, even to the most untrained of observers.
Is it so hard for us to believe that God has a far wider agenda than the often petty concerns of the church? Do
we actually think that God is interested in the continuing preservation of our own particular strand of pietism?
When I look at the world today, I see, at least a beginning, a growing nucleus of individuals who champion the
acceptance of people of different races, colors, creeds or preferences for intimacy. People who actually think
that many of those things that have preoccupied our attention for so long should have been settled a long time
ago, and that the only reason those things remain something of an issue, is to distract others from seeing the
star, from seeing the rainbow, from seeing the wideness of God's mercy.
Some people have indeed a vested interest in not seeing. Yet Epiphany signals a coming to the light, the revelation
of God's ever expanding glory. There was a hymn in the previous UM Hymnal that was dropped from our present one
that embodies so much of this philosophy central to the meaning of Epiphany. I would like you to hear the first
and last verses of that hymn before we join our voices in renewing the Wesleyan covenant.
Light of the world we hail thee, flooding the eastern skies;
Never shall darkness veil thee again from human eyes.
Too long alas withholden, now spread from shore to shore,
Thy light, so glad and golden, shall set on earth no more.
Light of the world, illumine this darkened earth of thine,
Till everything that's human be filled with the divine.
Till every tongue and nation from sin's dominion free,
Rise in the new creation which springs from love and thee.
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