Matthew’s Gospel is the only one that records the story of the
Magi. Right from the get-go, this story has the makings of a Hallmark special
movie. It has high drama, a plot which
features long journeys, astrologers, a guiding star that is possibly a remnant
from an explosion from a Super Nova, a dark force of threatening danger,
political intrigue, divine dreaming, holy whisperings, and a vulnerable newborn
child.
Over several hundred years, Christian imagination, legend, and
tradition have embellished Matthew’s story – for in his revelation he does not
tells us that the Magi were wise, or
men, or kings, or that there were three, or that they were from the Orient, nor
does he speak of their mode of transportation, and he certainly misses the mark
by not providing names of the Magi . . .
it is not so much the details that are important; it is the meaning of
Matthew’s message.
Among Matthew’s Jewish community, they were finding it difficult to
accept that God came for all, and not just a few. They were clinging to the
idea that if you want to follow Jesus, to be one of his disciples, you had to
first be a Jew. And if you were male,
then you had to be circumcised; then if you were to become Christian, you had
to continue to fulfill all the rules of the law. This is why Matthew writes this story . .
.this is the mystery, that God is now revealed to all nations, and God has come
to transform all of human history, all peoples of all times.
These Magi were Gentiles- (non-Jews –not part of the Chosen
People); they were from the Persian priestly class from the East, which is
present day Iraq and Iran. They were
star-gazers who observed the movements of the planets and stars. They were wisdom figures, interpreters of
dreams, skilled in medicine, natural science and astrology. This was condemned by the Jewish religion.
In the ancient world, it was believed that the Magi could foretell
the future from the stars, and they believed that a person’s destiny was
determined by the star under which the person was born. Scholars do not know which star the Magi saw,
but it spoke to them about the entry of a king into the world.
The Magi represent the whole Gentile world. According to medieval legends, they were
named Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar. Each of them came from a different
culture: Melchior was Asian, Balthazar was Persian, and Gaspar was Ethiopian,
representing the three races known to the old world at that time.
Author John Shea writes that there is a legend that the Magi were
three different ages. Gaspar was a young man, Balthazar in his middle years,
and Melchior a senior citizen. When they approached the cave at Bethlehem, they
first went in one at a time. Melchior found an old man like himself with whom
he was quickly at home. They spoke together of memory and gratitude. The
middle-aged Balthazar encountered a teacher of his own years. They talked
passionately of leadership and responsibility. When Gaspar entered, a young
prophet met him with words of reform and promise.
The three met outside the cave and marveled at how each had gone in
to see a newborn child, but each had met someone of his own years. They
gathered their gifts in their arms and entered together a second time. In a
manger on a bed of straw was a child twelve
days old.
The message is that Christ speaks to every stage of the life
process – the young hear the call to identity and intimacy, the middle-aged
hear the call to generativity and responsibility and the elders seek to hear
the call to integrity and wisdom. We all seek to find the Christ in each stage
of our own lives and the gift that is given us is that we find ourselves as
well.
And that is what all of us are invited to do again and again . . .
for the mystery of Epiphany is that God is perfectly hidden and perfectly
revealed.
After they experience the face of God in this fragile, tender
child, there is a newer and deeper awareness that all are welcomed, accepted,
and loved into the embrace of this newborn King. They realize that their encounter with Jesus
truly changes them and they will live life differently.
God whispers to the Magi in their dreams and warns them of the
danger they will meet if they return to Herod.
Having been in the presence of God, they discover that they need to let
go of old routes of travel, the familiar, the comfortable, and return home –
not by the same way they came, but ready to follow new paths, new stars!
They depart with a new inner knowing; they are filled with joy and
awe and try to hold the meaning and mystery of this personal encounter with the
one who is beyond all galaxies, the Prince of Peace!
Today’s feast tells us that for God there are no foreigners, no
strangers, no aliens, and no outsiders.
We all belong to our God no matter what external physical or cultural
differences there may be between us; we all belong to God no matter what our
religious convictions or lifestyle differences may be. Our God is inclusive, unpredictable,
imaginative, compassionate, forgiving, and creative.
This feast means that we are all called to be “epiphany people.” There is no turning back; just an on-going
commitment to “shine forth” with courage, compassion, vision, and hope and to
live with a restless Spirit, so as to be intensely engaged with humanity each
in our own unique way.
So let us embrace the graces of these readings and this
celebration, because it is in this liturgy of joining with one another in the
sharing of the Word, and in the breaking of the bread, that we, too, become
“epiphany people.” Here we encounter our
God – Holy Mystery– and in this place we are all changed, and we can reflect on
the seasons of our own lives when God has shown forth to us and invited us to
walk new paths under the guidance of a new star.
Finally let us pray in a poet’s words- Macrina Wiederkehr:
Creator of the Stars; God of Epiphanies
You are the Great Star; You have marked
our paths with light
You have filled our sky with stars naming
each star
Guiding it until it shines into our
hearts
Awakening us to deeper seeing
New revelations
And brighter epiphanies!
