The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
The Church celebrates the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, and it is a
major feast of the Church. But because many people are unable to come to a
mid-week service, the church permits us to use the Epiphany Gospel today.
The twelve verses of the Epiphany Gospel are short, and tell a well-known
story. But when we begin to unpack them, dig below the surface of the story,
there is much to think about.
We begin with the three wise men from the East. Our best deduction from
history, archaeology and folklore is that they came from somewhere in the area
that is now called Iraq and Iran. Iran, specially, which was formerly known as
Persia, was famous for astrologers, and there was a fairly large colony of
Jewish people living there, too. The wise men (they are really not kings) appear
to have been astrologers, since they came to Israel by following a star that
moved across the sky. That tells us that they were not themselves Jewish, but
found their wisdom in the stars rather than in the Holy Word of God. Still, they
may have known of the predictions about the birth of a Messiah from the Jews who
lived in their area. This reminds us that people who do not follow our God may
still have bits and pieces of knowledge about God's word and the history of
God's relationships with people.
The wise men came to Jerusalem and went to the palace of King Herod to ask
for more specific directions to where the new baby king could be found. Now, we
need to remember that Herod was not brought up as a Jew. He was converted from a
pagan family, and became a Jew only so that he could ask Rome to make him King
of Judea, which was part of Israel. He did not live strictly according to Jewish
ways; he broke many of the laws God gave the Jews, including killing his wife,
his sons and brothers, and anyone who he was afraid might push him off the
throne. He then married the wife of one of his dead brothers, which was
forbidden by God's Law. He lived a life of luxury and extravagance. He was not
respected by the Jewish people, but he did one thing that made them more-or-less
accept him as King: he rebuilt the Temple and did a good job of it, making it
bigger and more beautiful than it had been before. He had become King only by
the power of the Roman army, so that the people were stuck with him whether or
not they approved of him and his lifestyle.
Herod was always worried that someone, somehow, would force him off the
throne, so when the wise men came to him asking about the new baby king, he saw
this as a major threat to himself and his power. Since he did not know the
Scriptures very well, he immediately called for the scholars to search the
Scriptures and find out what they said about a child born to be king, a child
from the family of King David, because he worried that the people would be more
likely to accept a king of David's family than to accept himself as king.
That is why he told the wise men to go search for the child in Bethlehem, the
city which had been the home town of King David. And, because he was so worried
about losing his power as king, he told them to come back and tell him, when
they had found the baby. He said he wanted to go and worship the child, but of
course he wanted to see that the child was killed so that there would be no
threat to Herod's kingship.
And so the wise men went on to Bethlehem, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
After some searching, they found the child Jesus, and Mary his mother, and
Joseph her husband. The Bible tells us that the family was now living in a
house, not a stable. Bible experts have calculated that it probably took the
wise men about 2 years to get to Bethlehem after they first saw the star, so
Jesus would be close to two years old by now. It seems that Mary and Joseph had
decided to stay in Bethlehem for awhile, perhaps living with some of Joseph's
family there, instead of returning to Nazareth where they had lived before.
The gifts that were brought to the child Jesus were valuable. Since money
was, and still is, different in each country, it made sense to bring valuable
gifts that could be sold or used anywhere, instead of money from the wise men's
own country. Most scholars think that the money from the sale of these gifts
enabled the family to flee to Egypt after they received the warning from the
angel that night, so that they would be safe from King Herod's soldiers. Herod,
you see, had sent soldiers to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem under 2 years
old, to keep his throne safe for himself.
And the wise men were told in a dream to return home by another way, not go
back to King Herod to tell them where the child was. We do not hear any more
about the wise men.
One interesting thing about this gospel is that at the time of Jesus, the
government, which really meant the king, was responsible for taking care of the
people. That's why there are so many references in the Bible to the king as a
shepherd of God's people. It was the king's responsibility to look after the
poor, the widows, the orphans, the sick and handicapped people, and the
strangers in the land. The king was supposed to be sure that they had what they
needed for reasonable living conditions and for justice in their situations.
This is still the case today: welfare, unemployment compensation, worker's
compensation, aid to dependent children, Medicare and Medicaid, and such things
as flood and tornado relief all go back to this idea. So do such things as
public education, health and safety laws, and pure food and drug laws.
Another thing about this gospel is that it is the beginning of a theme that
runs through the four gospels: Jesus, the Messiah, is seen as another Moses,
sent to save and lead the people. You remember that Moses was born at a time
when the king of Egypt had ordered that all baby boys born to the Jews were to
be killed. Moses was saved, and grew up to lead the Israelites out of slavery in
Egypt and home to Israel. And here we have the story of how Jesus' life was
endangered by King Herod, and how he was enabled to flee to safety in Egypt,
returning later to Israel where he began to teach the people and lead them by
his example of how to live in relationship to God and to each other. He finally
died on the cross, leading the people to heaven, out of the slavery of sin and
the eternal death that is the punishment for sin....leading us back home to God,
who made us and gives us all we need. If you read the gospels closely, you will
find that many of the things in Jesus' life remind you of things in Moses' life.
Both were saved from death as babies so that they could lead their people to
freedom: freedom from slavery to Egypt in Moses' case, and freedom from slavery
to sin in Jesus' case.
A third point that we need to remember is that the Epiphany story is the
beginning of a new age in Scripture. The first age was from Creation to the time
Joseph brought his family to Egypt, so that they could live while Israel was
suffering from a famine. This is the period when God and the people were
learning to live together, the time of the patriarchs, the forefathers of
Israel. Then came the time of the kingdom of Israel, beginning when Moses
brought the Israelites out of Egypt and back to Palestine, and taught them to
live according to God's laws. Eventually they developed a government of kings
under God, and kept to themselves, separate from other nations that did not
follow God but followed idols and pagan gods and goddesses. And now with
Epiphany, we begin a new age: people from pagan nations seek out the people of
God, the Israelites, and as time goes on, this enables the Law of God to spread
over the world. We are still in this new age today, still sending out
missionaries and still preaching God's Word to non-believers.
These three important points are good for us to reflect on and think about
during Epiphanytide this year, from now until the beginning of Lent. You may
wish to read the gospels with an eye out to seeing parallels between Moses and
Jesus, and think about them, too. After all, Epiphany means "showing forth", and
it is during this time we reflect on how God shows us his plans for us and the
universe. Amen.
