Epiphany of Our Lord – Matthew 2: 1-23

As we celebrate today the feast of the Epiphany, we are invited to hear once again the story of the Magi, the wise men from the East coming to visit Jesus at his birth in Bethlehem. This year though, I wanted for us to do things a bit differently, rather than following the lectionary that cuts the passage short after the well-known quotation “They went home by another way” turned into a famous song by James Taylor. Today, I wanted us to read the whole chapter so we could hear the whole story: The Magi’s visit and the aftermath. And it makes quite a difference, does not it? If it does not send a chill through your spine, you haven’t been paying attention. As a theologian puts it: “Underneath the layers of carols, pageants, folklore, and costumes, the story of the Magi is ultimately a tragic story of ruthless power and infanticide (…)”

You know, I thought about that a lot this year when they decided, for obvious reasons, not to hold any Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem. They had Christmas services, of course, but there was indeed no carols, pageants, folklore, and costumes surrounding the whole thing. Just the plain message of the Gospel and this nativity scene in the rubble you may have seen on TV. When they did that, we could hear a lot of people lamenting that Christmas was canceled, or that it was impossible to celebrate Christmas, but it’s ironic to realize that actually the context of Jesus’s birth couldn’t be closer to what’s going on right now in Palestine: Rubble, ruthless power and infanticide. As Christians, we often think that the visit of the Magi happens after the visit of the shepherds, that it comes sort of “late in the game”, but the visit of the shepherds is told by Luke, and what we have heard this morning is the story of Christmas and the only story of Christmas Matthew has to report. We don’t think of the story of the Magi as the main Christmas story and moreover we never hear the second part of the story, it’s only read at church on Dec 28th for the feast of the Holy Innocents, a feast we would celebrate only if we were to hold daily Eucharists. So for us and for most Sunday church goers, we only know the happy part about the Magi and have turned it into a fairy tale: Yes Herod is bad, but in spite oft he the Magi found Jesus, offered their marvelous gifts and thankfully went home by another way. And they lived happily ever after. But there is so much more to it. We need to hear the whole story, and why do we need to hear the whole story? Because if we don’t, we end up believing we cannot celebrate Christmas because the world is hurting, when actually the story of Christmas is all about a hurtful and a hurting world.

So let’s have a fresh look beyond the fairy tale at what is actually the complex and layered story of the Magi, and highlight a few things we may want to consider:

– 1st layer of the story: Jesus is endorsed as the true King of Israel

We think of the Magi as kings when actually they were priests and king counselors and even more king makers. Their visit to Bethlehem is an important and rather obvious cue in Matthew’s Gospel of the significance of Jesus. Even at his birth, Jesus is acknowledged as the true King. Some have wondered why the Magi stop at Herod’s palace when the star would have guided them directly to where the child was, but I think it may be to make it even more obvious that neither Herod nor his offspring is the King of the Jews. By visiting Jesus and offering precious gifts “bowing down before him and worshiping“, Matthew invites us to believe that Jesus is even more than a mere king, and points to his divinity. At any rate, by telling the story of the Magi, we understand quite easily that Jesus is worth our best, worth the presents, worth the trip, worth the risk. A beautiful story yet a little bit unsettling for us when we think about all the efforts, time, energy, money, the Magi spent on the search for the new King. What about us, how did our Christmas look like? Did we celebrate Jesus’s birth in showing him that he was worth our offerings, worth our time, or even worth the trip to church?

– 2d layer to the story: There are two kind of seekers

Now Matthew shows us different reactions to Jesus’s birth: Joy and fear. On one side we have the Magi looking for the King out of longing, to bow down, to worship him and on another side we have Herod seeking Jesus out of fear, to destroy him, to keep the control, to defend his own throne. We hear a lot these days that we are all on a journey, on a quest. But we see in the Gospel that not all quests are valid, that not all quests are answered by God. Herod fails to find Jesus because the divine eludes people who seek themselves, their own validation, their own power. It is true for some types of people, but it is also true within ourselves: There is a part of us who wants to worship and surrender, and there is a part of us who wants to push its own agenda and be in control. There is a part of us that is enthralled by Jesus, and a part that feels threatened by the changes we have to make in our lives for Jesus. With the Gospel, we are always a little bit all the characters in the story, so we have to be attentive to that. We are all on a journey, but what is it that we are actually looking for? The story invites us to look at our own motives.

– 3rd layer: Even with good motives, we are morally ambiguous

Certainly we all like it that the Magi “went home by another way“. We often fail to see though that it also means that they chose to lie and to disobey. So much for making of the Bible a book of moral precepts. In fact, often the Bible rather invites us to look at our motives. In the story, the Magi lie and disobey to the powerful to protect the vulnerable. They don’t lie or disobey to receive a gain or even to cover up for themselves. It was actually more dangerous for them to go home by another way instead of going back to make their report to Herod. When we choose to act outside of what is common / accepted moral values, what are our motives? For example, when we lie to people we often say that “It is for their own good“? But is it because indeed we don’t want others to be hurt, or because we don’t want to look hurtful? It looks like lying or disobeying can be acceptable to protect a life, but it’s not an everyday thing we can just roll with.

Beyond that, the story shows us that even when doing their best, the Magi still fail: Yes they protect Jesus but many (probably a dozen) will die because of them. The Gospel does not downplay their role: Herod knew about the age of the children “because he had learned it from the Magi” and Herod was angered “because he was outwitted by the Magi“. Of course it’s Herod who is directly guilty of the death of the children, but the Magi still bear responsibility. In the world we live in, it’s almost impossible to do the right thing without ever having at some level some dreadful consequences. Would it be only because of the clothes we buy or the cars we drive, we too are responsible for the suffering of children and the suffering of innocent people. Do we still see ourselves as good people full of good intentions or are we ready to bear responsibility?

– 4th layer: God’s presence is manifested in the sublime and in the suffering

This passage deals quite directly with the suffering of the children and the death of the innocents. And you may have noticed, most people make of suffering one of the biggest objections to God’s presence with us. They assume that if God were real, things like the suffering of the children or the death of the innocents wouldn’t happen. God “wouldn’t allow that“so they say. In our liturgy, we assume that God’s Epiphany (God’s manifestation) in Jesus happens when the Magi come to worship, but we need to see also that God’s Epiphany happens in the midst of the second part of the story. Actually the suffering of the children in this story is a foretelling of the death of the Innocent, the blameless one, the murder of Jesus on the cross. Most of the time though, we refuse to see God’s presence in the suffering, in the one who is suffering, because we would have to acknowledge that this violence is our own doing, or at least our own responsibility. We say that if God were real God wouldn’t “allow” it, but of course God does not allow it, God forbids it but we do it anyway. When God is manifested our sins are manifested as well, would it be only, like with the Magi, in our incapacity to do anything truly good out of our best intentions.

– 5th layer: And yet, can we redeem the story, our story?

And so indeed a theologian puts it: ” Underneath the layers of carols, pageants, folklore, and costumes, the story of the Magi is ultimately a tragic story of ruthless power and infanticide.” We talked about all of that. But maybe, just maybe, if it is tragic, it is not “ultimately” tragic. Maybe there is a last layer, maybe we can come to the heart of the story. We saw that Matthew opens the story showing us Jesus as a new David, a new King. But it is important to realize that Jesus is also, and mainly, a new Moses: “Out of Egypt, I called my son“. Herod’s violence and the death of the children points directly to Pharaoh’s crimes and to the Exodus. And the Jeremiah’s quote points to the Exile and the restoration of Israel. Matthew says between the lines that in the same way Jesus will lead the people out, out of the violence and the death we have no remedy for even with the best intentions. The beginning of Matthew’s Gospel invites us to watch as it will all unfold in the following chapters, at Jesus’s death, and in his Resurrection. It’s a call to turn to him, bow down, worship and trust him to walk us home by another way.