In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘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.’ When 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. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
“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.” ’
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then 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.’ When 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. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On 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. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
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The ancient world was full of gods. One thinks of the Egyptian god Anubis and Ra, or looks to Hinduism, Shiva, Vishnu and Brama; we could look to the Roman gods, Jupiter and Mars and Cupid; or we look to Greece, Zeus, Neptune and Hades. Each god had a purpose, a sphere of influence. Apollo was responsible for the Sun, Zeus the sky and lightning, Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld.
The ancient world was full of gods, but there was one nation, that said no to it all. One nation refused to give homage to the gods, and they were the Jews. They said that there was only one true God, one true king of the universe; the LORD, Yahweh, the creator of all things, the reason why we exist along with time and space and everything else. This Lord of all, chose the Jewish people to be a light in the world, shining God’s goodness to the nations around them, saying, ‘this is what it means to be God’s people, where justice and peace and righteousness reign.
That was the principle, the reality is much messier. Much of scripture tells the story of how the LORD’s people fail to live up to their calling.
In ancient Israel there was no king but the Lord, One day the people of Israel see the nations around them and see that they all have Kings and they want one as well. In the Book of 1stSamuel they ask God, they say ‘Give us a King?’ and God says, ‘are you sure, because kings rule over everything, you’ll have no rights of your own. You’ll belong to the king, and he will so all kinds of awful things. And they still say yes, give us a king..’ So God gives them what they ask for.
The Jews wanted the wrong kind of king, an earthly king that would rule over their land, not a heavenly king who would rule in their hearts. They wanted to be just like the other nations, when they were called not to be like them, but to be the people of God.
Much time passes, and enter Herod, a tyrant, a wicked man who did all the kinds of things that a person does when they have power and use it only for themselves. following these verses, he orders that every child in Bethlehem under the age of two be killed. He was, ostensibly the king of the Jews. But he wasn’t really king in the true sense, in the sense of how God would be king. He was a puppet of the Roman Empire.
So, these magi came from the land where the sun rises, the east. We don’t know where from exactly, possibly Persia, possibly elsewhere, maybe they were magicians, philosophers or astrologers, again we’re not sure. A whole tradition has come up over time that they were kings and that there were three of them, but if you look at the text that is nowhere to be found.
They travel the long and dangerous road and arrive in Jerusalem and go straight to the Palace and ask ‘where is the child who has been born king of the Jews.’ Herod is naturally worried, ‘who is this king of the Jews?’ ‘I’m the king of the Jews!’
We know from extra-biblical sources that at the time there was speculation that ‘the ruler of the world would emerge from Judah.’ These Magi, had studied the stars for days, months, maybe years. They had a sense of something very important about to happen; and that somehow this new king of the Jews, was their king as well. They make the difficult journey
No doubt the Magi went through all kinds of difficult trials to get to see Jesus. The Ancient world, like today’s world was not safe. With fears of robbers and bandits and a difficult road to travel. But they persevere and persist.
And they make it to where Jesus was, and there they see him. The Epiphany, that word means a kind of ‘intense appearance’ or ‘intense showing fourth.’ It’s those moments of intensity in life where you’re shown, just for a moment, true goodness, or true beauty, true love and your stunned into silence and look in wonder. It may have been when you gazed at the horizon when the sun goes down, or you saw an act of intense generosity or you saw the majesty of the stars without all the light pollution that we experience, or you see a person living out their lives to serve others. The kind of experiences that shape our lives, and are flashpoints in our minds, the kind of thing that we always remember.
In that baby in Bethlehem there is the epiphany, God’s ‘intense showing fourth’ of his love for his people, his creation. And not just the people of Israel, but the people of the whole world. Notice in the story, the chief priests and the scribes, the religious folk, the people who were ‘supposed to know the truth,’ are over there with Herod. They don’t experience the Epiphany. They’re happily there practicing what they think is the true faith and there with their tyrant as he exercises his earthly power wickedly. But the wise men, the Magi, they have seen the heavenly power of God, the ‘intense showing fourth’ of his love. And they bow down, and worship him, and give him their gifts, fit for a King.
You know, Christians don’t believe (or most of them anyway) don’t that all other religions are false, or that there is nothing good in them. Clearly there are, there is intense goodness in so many from so many walks of life and so many ways of living, intense goodness. But what the church confesses, is that Jesus, he is the pinnacle of goodness, the fullness of truth, the one through whom we can truly know and experience God and have a relationship with him.
John uses a beloved Greek philosophical idea in his gospel, the ‘logos’ the ‘divine reason of God’ and says that ‘the logos, [the word] became flesh, and dwelt among us.’ that ‘intense showing fourth’ of the truth
My goodness me, this is real, this isn’t just a story that we tell. God has revealed himself to us in Jesus, ‘in him was life and that life was the light of men’ so John tells us in his gospel. Life itself came to dwell with us. God ‘shows forth’ his love for us in his son Jesus; and we worship him, because he deserves it. Worship him like the magi did. Make that decision today to confess that he is your Lord.
Amen
