A meditation from the Rev Peter Munson
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men* from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,* and have come to pay him homage.’ 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah* was to be born. 5They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd* my people Israel.” ’
7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men* and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ 9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,* until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped,* they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
The Epiphany and Our Epiphanies
The twelve days of Christmas have just ended and today we celebrate the Epiphany, the manifestation of Jesus as the Christ to the Gentiles – in this case, to the wise men or “magi”. Anyone who was “born king of the Jews” (verse 2) would be seen as a threat to King Herod, and so, just a few verses after these verses, Joseph and Mary and the newborn Jesus are fleeing to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod. Many other innocent infants, two years old and younger, were not fortunate enough to escape to Egypt, and were massacred. (Matthew 2:16-18) Even in the very beginning of Jesus’ life, then, there was turmoil, division, and violence. Even in the very beginning of his life, “the powers that be” were threatened. If we take his words seriously and truly follow him, my hunch is that the powers that be will always be threatened, for Jesus’ kingdom, as he himself said right before he was crucified, “is not from this world.” (John 18:36) But how did I get from Jesus being born to Jesus being crucified, and it is only January 6? Obviously I am getting ahead of the story.
In my dictionary, besides the reference to the Epiphany (celebrated today) that I have already mentioned, I find these definitions for epiphany: “an appearance or manifestation of a god or other supernatural being; a moment of sudden intuitive understanding; flash of insight; a scene, experience, etc. that occasions such a moment” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, p. 457)
The wise men from the East encountered the one born Messiah and king of the Jews because they were paying attention and on the lookout for a manifestation of God. When they finally got to Bethlehem and found the child, “they knelt down and paid him homage” and offered him gifts. (verse 11) They paid homage to a child because they were paying attention, and God revealed to them that this was not your typical child – though each of us, from the time we are born, is the beloved of God. And because they kept paying attention, because they kept being open to the leading of God, they left for their own country by another road (verse 12), instead of reporting back to Herod as he had requested (verse 8).
I sometimes wonder how many epiphanies – how many appearances of God – that I miss. How many moments of “sudden intuitive understanding” do I miss, because I expect to see only certain things, because of old, ingrained patterns of seeing and thinking, because I am not always open to learning new things, because I trust only what I see with my eyes (and sometimes not even that!) and not what I experience and know on a deep, intuitive level? How many epiphanies – how many appearances of God – do I miss because I am not paying attention?
God, according to the Bible, is quite frequently showing up on the human stage, quite frequently showing up in our world. God is constantly trying to make contact with us, in an ongoing, continuing process of revelation. No, revelation did not stop once the canon of Scripture was decided upon back in the second or third century A.D. (I forget the exact date of that Council!). God is Emmanuel, God is with us, and God keeps revealing God’s self to us. And that is really good news, for without God, we are only left with the option provided by kingdoms of this world. And what we really need to emerge in this world is the kingdom of God, which is a very different thing.
So… may you and I be paying attention a lot this year. May we be on the lookout for God. Perhaps, in the end, this is what it really means to be wise men and wise women. Perhaps we only become wise when we stay open to learning, when we stay open to experiencing – with “sudden intuitive understanding” – the next manifestation of God in our midst.
May you have many epiphanies of God in 2010!
Peter+