A Concord Pastor Comments: Epiphany mysteries: : a visit, a flight, a massacre, a homecoming

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EPIPHANY!

Over the next 24 hours I'll offer a series of posts related to this Sunday's feast of the Epiphany. This is the first installment.

You can read of the magi's place in the Christmas story in Matthew 2. And you can only read it there because Saint Luke, our other source for the story of Christ's birth, does not mention the magi. (Mark and John make no mention at all of the birth of Christ.)

The Visit of the Magi.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:

‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
    who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage. After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

The Flight to Egypt.
When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him." Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

The Massacre of the Infants.
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

   A voice was heard in Ramah,
       sobbing and loud lamentation;
   Rachel weeping for her children,
        and she would not be consoled,
           since they were no more.”

The Return from Egypt.
When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean.”

Although the magi appear in nativity scenes in churches and in our homes, the scriptures offer no evidence for these visitors from the east ever having come to the stable where Jesus was born. Indeed, a careful reading of Matthew, particularly Herod's role in that story, suggests that the magi met Jesus in Nazareth when he was a toddler, perhaps already 2 years old!

For centuries, the story of the magi has captured the imagination of Christians in art, song and legend. These elaborations on the scriptural evidence have shaped our popular understanding of who the magi were and of their importance in Christian spirituality. Because the magi brought three expensive gifts, we have concluded that they were a wealthy, royal trio. But Matthew does not refer to the magi as kings - nor does he say how many of them there were. In fact, magi were Persian Zoroastrian priests!

Over the next 24 hours I'll offer a number of posts focusing on the magi and how we have come to know them in art, poetry and song.

We'll begin with T.S. Eliot's poem, The Journey of the Magi. Here are two recordings of the work. The first is by Eliot himself, recorded by the BBC during World War II and with a video of accompanying images. The second is a reading of Eliot's piece by poet Arthur L Wood, with the poem's text in the video.

If two videos don't appear below, click here!