Epiphany:

A Stellar Course Correction 

(The Good News of Inclusion)

 

To the church in the diaspora[1]

January 7, 2007, Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6     Ephesians 3:2--6     Matthew 2:1-12

 

Introduction

Epiphany: East and West

Today is the feast of Epiphany. It’s a Greek word meaning a manifestation. In theology it refers to a heavenly manifestation.  In the Eastern Church Epiphany focuses especially upon the Baptism of the Lord. That, indeed, was an epiphany--a heavenly manifestation. Scripture says, “After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water, and the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending upon him like a dove. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, `This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased’” (Mt 3: 17). On Epiphany the Eastern Churches bless water and baptize their little ones.

 

In the Western Church, the feast focuses on the adoration of the magi.  That too was an epiphany-a heavenly manifestation. A star rose in the east to lead the magi, and it came to rest over the stable. There the star pointed one of its fingers to an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Mt 2:1-12).

 

In the course of time tradition dressed up the feast with a lot of glitz. It assumed that the magi were kings. (They weren’t kings but astrologers-gazers at the stars.)  Recalling the words of Isaiah , chapter 60, tradition put crowns on their heads and loaded their arms with gifts of gold and incense for the infant in the crib (Is 60: 5-6). Tradition numbered the magi as three because somewhere along the line a third gift of myrrh was added. By the middle of the 3rd century, Western tradition even gave the magi names: Melchior of Nubia, Caspar of Tarshish, and Baltazar of Chaldea. In the church of San Apollinare in Ravenna there is an ancient mosaic dating back to 550 AD which depicts Baltazar as middle-aged with a black beard, Caspar as an old man with a white beard and Melchior as a beardless young dude. By the 9th century, tradition claimed that the three magi represented the whole human family: Baltazar was Asian, Caspar a white European and Melchior was African and therefore black.

 

Epiphany: a course correction

The Medieval focus on the magi as three glitzy kings from the East is cute and a great delight for kids small and big. But it is not very profound. Some work at debunking the story of the magi.  More profound than the glitz of the story or its debunking is the story’s religious meaning already reflected in the 9th century tradition that the three magi represented the whole human family. The Western tradition of Epiphany as the manifestation of Jesus to Gentiles (to the nations of the world) and to astrologers reflects a course correction for those who are locked up in a limited view of God’s action.

 

Course correction in Matthew 2:1-12

There’s a stellar course correction reflected in the Epiphany gospel. Matthew writes, “When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, magi (astrologers) from the east arrived in Jerusalem, asking, `Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage’…So Herod called the magi to learn from them the exact time the star appeared…. After their audience with the king, the astrologers set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its arising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was” (Mt 2:1-2, 7, 9).

The magi as astrologers (readers of the stars and heavenly bodies) were following a course forbidden to Jews. The Law of Moses severely forbade the people to use heavenly bodies for anything except to determine times and seasons. Deuteronomy warns the people, “If there is found among you…a man who or woman who has sinned against the Lord…by worshipping and serving other gods or the sun or the moon or the stars…then take that person outside the town and stone him to death” (Dt 17:2-5).

The prophet Isaiah in poetic style rails against astrologers and those who listen to them.

Let your astrologers come forward and save you—

those people  who study the stars,

who map out the zones of the heavens

and tell you from month to month

what is going to happen to you.

 

They will be like bits of straw,

and a fire will burn them up!

They will not even be able to save themselves—

the flames will be too hot for them,

not a cozy fire to warm themselves by.

That is all the good they will do you—

those astrologers you have consulted all your life.

(Isaiah 47: 14-15)

 

So the Epiphany story of astrologers being led to Jesus by the guidance of a star reflects a course correction for Jews locked up in a limited view of God’s action: Yes, you Jews, God can, indeed, use a star to manifest his son Jesus!

 

Course correction for the Magi

In his poem Journey of the Magi T. S. Eliot indicates a course correction not only for the Jews but also for the magi themselves. One of the magi recalling the journey says,

 

A cold time we had of it,

just the worst time of the year

for a journey, and such along journey:

the ways deep and the weather sharp,

the very dead of winter.

And the camels galled, sore footed, refractory,

lying down in the melting snow….

Then the camel men cursing and grumbling

and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,

and the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters….

 

All this was a long time ago, I remember,

and I would do it again….

 

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,

but no longer at ease here [course correction]…

with an alien people clutching their gods.

 

The Epiphany gospel expresses a mystical course correction for the magi when it says, “They returned home by another route” (Mt 2: 12). There is a tradition which claims that the magi never  returned to their Eastern homes at all, and that their skulls were later carried from Constantinople and Milan to Cologne, Germany, where they are now the chief treasures of the Cologne Cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

Course correction in Isaiah 60: 1-6

Course correction is reflected also in the first reading of Epiphany. The prophet Isaiah tells Jerusalem lying in ruin to “Rise up in splendor. …The wealth of the Gentiles[2] shall be brought to you. Great caravans of camels will come from Midian and Ephah. They will come from Sheba, bringing gold and incense, and they will proclaim the praises of Yahweh" (Is 60: 1, 5--6). Imagine how jarring it must have been for Jews who knew how chosen they were (and how “un-chosen” the Gentiles were) that they were going to benefit from the generosity of Gentiles! Imagine how jarring it must have been to be told that if Jerusalem (lying in ruins) was to be rebuilt, the Gentiles would have to help in the rebuilding!

 

Course correction in Ephesians 3:2--6

The course correction quietly reflected in the gospel and first reading for Epiphany is loudly proclaimed in the second reading from Ephesians. Paul writes, “I reveal to you a secret hidden from former generations but now revealed to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. The secret is this: the Gentiles share with the Jews in God’s blessing; they are members of the same body and share in the promise that God made in Christ Jesus (Eph 3: 5-6). A more free-styling but very meaningful translation is found in the Living Bible: “I reveal to you a mystery which God revealed to me: namely God’s secret plan to include the Gentiles in His kindness.” Paul proclaims the same course correction to his fellow Jews when he tells the Gentiles that they are “not foreigners or strangers any longer but are now members of the household of God “(Eph 2:19).

 

The mysterious writer of the Letter of Aristeas of the first century B.C. glories in the fact that, "The Lawgiver has fenced us Jews in with impregnable ramparts and walls of iron that we may not mingle at all with Gentiles but remain pure in body and soul." Imagine what a difficult course correction it must have been for Paul’s fellow Jews to accept the fact that God’s loving kindness now included the Gentiles. They must now tear down their impregnable ramparts and walls of iron and hobnob with Gentiles!

 

In the great temple in Jerusalem there was constructed that famous Wall of Separation which divided the outer court of the Gentiles from the inner court of the Jews, so that the Jews might not defile themselves by rubbing elbows with Gentiles. Imagine what a difficult course correction it must have been when Paul announced to his fellow Jews that by his death on the cross Jesus tore down the Wall of Separation that kept Jews and Gentiles enemies. Between the two races Jesus now made peace. Out of the two races Jesus now made one new people (Eph 2: 14-18). God’s loving kindness now includes Gentiles, and Jews must now correct course and tear down the Wall of Separation and make room for Gentiles in the very house of God.

 

Who hides good news?

Paul calls the inclusion of Gentiles in the kindness of God a mystery—"a secret plan hidden from former generations” (Eph 3:3).  We chuckle at that. We wonder who hid this good news that Gentiles also are included in the kindness of God? Did God hide that good news from the Jews of old, or did they hide that good news from themselves? Why in the world would God want to hide such good news in the first place?[3]

 

Today we ask who hides the good news that women in the church are also included in the kindness of God? Does God hide that good news from the church or does a male-ridden church hide that good news from herself? Today we ask who hides the good news that gays are included in the kindness of God? Does God hide that good news from the religious right or from homophobes, or do they hide that good news from themselves? Who hides the good news that

“cafeteria Catholics” or Call to Action Catholics are included in the kindness of God? Does God hide that good news from the institutionalists or do they hide it from themselves? Who hides the good news from Allah that Western infidels are included in his kindness?  Does Allah hide that good news from Islamists or do they hide it from themselves?  If there’s mystery here, it is this: why would God or Allah or anyone else would ever want to hide the Good News of Inclusion? Epiphany is the good news of course correction towards Inclusion.

 

The colossal course correction of Vatican II

Looking back now (almost a half century) we see that Vatican II was nothing less than a colossal course correction for the church--the Bark of Peter.  To a hierarchy of 3000 bishops assembled in the great nave of St. Peter’s Basilica the council proclaimed that the laity also are included in the kindness of God—that the church is not the hierarchy but “the People of God.” [4] To a self-proclaimed “one true church” assembled in Vatican II the council proclaimed that the Orthodox Churches of the East and the Protestant Churches of the West also are included in the kindness of God.[5]   To a church which was forever at odds with the world the council proclaimed that even the very world itself is included in the kindness of God.[6] To a Church with a long history of persecution of Jews [7] the council proclaimed that Jews also are included in the kindness of God.[8] Much of that colossal course correction mapped out by Vatican II is still only on paper, but it is at least a start.

Conclusion

Openness to course correction

The glitz of the gospel story of magi (astrologers) turned into splendiferous kings bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh  for the Infant in the crib is a feast for the eyes of kids little and big. More profound, though, is the story’s religious meaning: Epiphany invites us and our church, locked up in a limited view of God’s action and loving kindness, to become star gazers and to leave ourselves open to course correction.

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now  come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish.

 

[2]  English translations sometimes use “Gentiles” here and sometimes “nations.”  The use of “Gentiles” carries much more theological meaning. It is interesting to note that the only word Latin has for Gentiles is “Nationes.”

[3]  It’s strange how history can turn the tables.  After the Holocaust we now ask who hid the good news from the Nazis that not only German Gentiles but also German Jews were included in the kindness of God?   Did God hide that good news from the Nazis or did the Nazis hide it from themselves?

 

[4] Dogmatic Constitution on the Church--Lumen Gentium

[5] Decree on Ecumenism—Unitatis Redintegratio

[6] The Church in the Modern World--Gaudium et Spes.

[7] The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 declared Jews may not appear in public during   Holy Week; that they must pay tithes on their houses to the Church; that they must wear distinctive dress from their twelfth year on.

[8] (Declaration on the Church’s Relationship to Non-Christian Religions -- Nostra Aetate).