“Nations will be drawn to your light, and kings to the dawning of your new day.” Isaiah 60: 1-6
Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem: “Where is the new-born king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” Matthew 2: 1-12
As we begin this reflection, I remind readers that all stories are true and some of them are factual. If you were to read the large tome written by prominent Scripture scholar, Raymond Brown and entitled The Birth of the Messiah, you will end up with doubts regarding the historical accuracy of Matthew’s story in today’s gospel-reading. To begin with, Matthew does not number the Magi. Over centuries, devout Christians have concluded that they were three in number because they came with three separate gifts. According to Raymond Brown and many other Scripture scholars, it is possible that they were astrologers, yet highly unlikely that they were kings. Matthew is the only one of the four Evangelists who mentions the Magi and he called them neither astrologers nor kings. Moreover, none of those who have embellished Matthew’s story has been mercenary enough to suggest what Mary and Joseph might have done with the gold. Matthew shaped the story as a teaching aid to instruct his community about the identity of Jesus the Messiah and the Messiah’s mission to the world.
All that said, it is appropriate that we focus on what exactly Matthew wanted to teach. The most obvious point of the story is that the love of God and the light of the world personified in the infant born in Bethlehem are intended not only for the people of Israel but for the people of every nation of the world to whom the Scriptures refer as “the Gentiles” and “the Nations”. Matthew used the Magi from the east as a symbol of the non-Jewish peoples of the world coming on pilgrimage to discover, pay homage to and find the real significance and identity of an Israelite baby whom they were bold enough to call “the infant king of the Jews”. It was the title of “infant king” that riveted the attention of the Jewish religious leaders and King Herod, all of whom sensed the possibility of trouble ahead.
Bear in mind that the birth of a baby, in a stable of all places, to a Jewish couple who were not locals, would not have gone unnoticed by the burghers of Bethlehem. It was so far out of the ordinary to be newsworthy. As such it would have been the talk of the town. So, when a group of foreigners, dressed in strange garb, began asking questions that showed they had some knowledge of a birth that was a surprise to all the locals, they had no difficulty getting accurate directions to the stable in which Joseph and the heavily pregnant Mary had taken shelter. News travels fast, so it was no time before Herod heard of the arrival of the strangers who were asking difficult questions. Herod, in turn, called for advice from the Jewish religious leaders who explained to him what the Prophets had foretold about the coming of the Messiah. Their accurate unfolding of the Scriptures was enough to unsettle Herod, whose response was to invite the new-comers to a private audience in which he questioned them about the time of the rising of the star they had followed. Convinced by the details they provided, he urged them to pursue their searching to its conclusion and return to tell him exactly what they might discover. Buoyed by the fact that the star they had followed moved ahead of them and settled over the stable, they went inside and, moved by what they discovered, bowed in worship of the infant in front of them and proceeded to offer him gifts that represented the emotions deep within their hearts. Later in his Gospel, Matthew went on to state what we would do well to treasure in our hearts. He recorded what the adult Jesus has said when he was teaching about prayer: “It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being” (Matthew 6:21). The Magi had reached the place that they treasured, and their hearts resonated with what they had discovered.
The exchange that took place between the visitors and Herod revealed that the Magi had come from afar in humble search of a mystery to which they had been directed by the light of a star. They had come to the centre of Judaism whose leaders, well versed in the Prophets, had accurately explained to Herod what those Prophets had taught about the coming of the Messiah. The tragic irony that Matthew revealed through this story was that the religious leaders were unable to absorb for themselves what they had explained to Herod. Through Herod, they would assist the Magi in locating where Jesus had been born, but they could not recognise the revelation of God in the very child, born in a Bethlehem stable. They could not manage to accept that the Messiah could come among them as a child born in the humblest of circumstances.
What is the relevance of all this for us? Imagine, for a few minutes, how we might respond to a group of devout practitioners of Shinto and Hinduism who turned up in our Parish, greeted us with the word namaste (I greet the God within you), and asked us to explain why we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas and to describe how Jesus, born as a human being like us, has shaped the way in which we now live our lives. What might we do in response? Would we quickly refer the enquirers to the local Pastor? How might we respond if the priest allocated to lead us in the Sunday Eucharist had not yet arrived. Alternatively, let’s stop and articulate for ourselves how we would answer the question if there were no practitioners of Shinto and Hinduism lined up at our church door asking it of us. Can we explain for ourselves how Jesus, born into the world as we were born, has impacted on the way in which we live and act?
Forgetting that Matthew was telling a story that fitted the culture and practices of wisdom figures in nations different from Israel, we might slip into making fun of elders who searched for truth and enlightenment by following the stars. The Magi from the east in Matthew’s story came in search of the “newborn king of the Jews”. The religious leaders of the time had expectations that would not admit of a child fitting that description being born in humble circumstances. What the Magi discovered simply did not measure up to the expectations of Israel’s religious leaders. The Magi were not afraid to ask questions and seemed oblivious to the fact that their questions disturbed the comfort of people in high places, Moreover, it seemed as though they had no reservations on what they hoped to discover.
The readings of this Feast of Epiphany add up to an invitation to each of us to examine what we hope to discover about the Jesus at the centre of today’s gospel-reading. The reading from Isaiah challenges people clinging to the ruins of ancient Jerusalem to wake up and open their eyes to a new and different future. It is a call, also to us, to recognise that God’s light shines in our world despite the darkness that we can let get in its way. We can settle for the cold comfort of a Church that resists change and renewal, and is cautious to let God’s light in. The reading from Ephesians gives us a picture of Paul in the role of a steward, intent on making sure that the benefits God has for the Christian community reach those for whom they are intended. And Matthew confronts us with the story of the Magi to shake us out of our comfort and to set us on a search to discover the God who is present to us in places and people we least expect to find the God who loves us unceasingly.
