Texts: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12
The Nativity Creche is Wrong
The meme is a picture of a nativity set – the stable, Mary
and Joseph, shepherds, and the magi – with a cat sitting in the middle of the
set where the manger and Jesus should be. In the caption for the meme, a
question is asked, “What is wrong with this picture?”
The obvious answer is, of course, “The cat.” But the humor
and comedy is presented in the answer given, “There were no magi at Jesus’
birth.”
Now, there is plenty more that is inaccurate and “wrong”
about the popular narratives of Christmas that we have been handed, but that is
for another time. For today, we will focus on the arrival of the magi to honor Jesus.
In the Matthew account of Jesus’ birth and infancy, the magi
enter a house in Bethlehem in which Mary and Joseph are living. Not some cave
or a stable with a manger. And after the magi arrive and when they do not
return to Herod, Herod orders the murder of all male infants under two years of
age. Thus, we should understand that some time has passed between the birth and
the time the magi arrive – as long as two years.
Epiphany Is Supposed to be Important
And that introduces us to the difference and separation
between Christmas and Epiphany. Epiphany is supposed to be one of the most
important holy days, holidays, or feast days in the Christian calendar, but in
most of our experiences and memories, it is treated more as an afterthought to
Christmas – the day when Christmas officially comes to an end. In churches that
don’t follow the liturgical calendar, like the one I grew up in, Epiphany may
not even be in their vocabulary.
Another interesting tidbit about Epiphany is that its official
date falls on January 6. Which means it will occur tomorrow; not today. Today
is the twelfth day of Christmas. But because Epiphany is so important, or
because it is supposed to be, most liturgical churches move and observe it on
the first Sunday after the New Year. Which it is today.
I became curious to see when Epiphany and Sunday coincide,
and it turns out, not very often. The last time the two came together was in
2020. The next occurrence takes place in 2030.
Why is Epiphany Important?
Each Sunday during the season of Epiphany reveals something
about Jesus and what he reveals about God and the gospel of God’s kingdom. The
beginning of Epiphany starts with the arrival into Judea of non-Jewish seekers
of God’s Anointed, the Christ. Next Sunday we remember the baptism of Jesus.
The Sunday after that we will encounter Jesus performing his first sign. And so
on.
Today we focus on the arrival of the magi to worship Jesus. The
day of Epiphany, the day marking the beginning of the season of Epiphany, is
considered one of the high holy days in the Christian calendar. It is on the
same level as Christmas and Easter. So, what does this reveal about Jesus
Christ that is so very important? The lections assigned for today give us clues
that point in the same direction.
The Isaiah reading includes, “Nations will come to your
light and kings to your dawning radiance.” (60:3) From the Psalm reading, we
heard, “Let all the kings bow down before him; let all the nations serve him.”
(72:11) The author of Ephesians wrote, “His plan is that the Gentiles would be
coheirs and parts of the same body, and that they would share with the Jews in
the promises of God in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (3:6) And in the
gospel reading from Matthew we heard, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the
territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to
Jerusalem.” (2:1).
Prophecy: descriptive, not predictive
It is easy and maybe natural, especially for modern
Christians, including us, to interpret these and other additional texts and conclude
that the older testament predicted the arrival and birth of Jesus. And in fact,
that is what has happened.
Especially when reading Matthew, where the author uses
phrases such as, “This fulfilled,” and points to a text from the older
testament, we as moderns assume that this means that the older prophecies
predicted what was going to happen in the future.
But that is not how prophecy in the Bible works. Prophetic
oracles and texts found in the Bible are descriptive, not predictive. Even
where the text could be seen as predictive, the timeframe for the prediction is
short term, no more than a single lifetime in most cases.
Prophetic texts describe a better future, an idealized
ruler, and how a fully reformed and restored people act toward one another. When
seen this way, when Matthew and other writers say that Jesus “fulfilled” some
prophetic text, what they mean is that Jesus fits the description of the idealized
and better that was written and spoken about. They do not mean that the
prophets anticipated a specific individual at a particular point in history.
This interpretation is prophecy needs to carry over to how
we read and understand prophetic texts today. It cannot be overstated that we should
not be reading prophetic texts and interpreting them as predicting specific
events and persons in the future. I realize this is a very common way of
reading and interpreting in certain traditions, and it is one that I was raised
in. But in broader Christian history and in more mainstream biblical scholarship,
that is not how biblical prophecy was and is understood.
“Chosen” does not mean better or more privileged
Another potential pitfall in interpreting prophetic texts is
when we discern what it means for God to “choose” someone or a group of people.
Who were chosen by God? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Israelites, David, and according
to Paul, Christians, too, were chosen by God.
It is easy to then conclude that chosen individuals and
groups are therefore privileged in some way. However, God chooses out of God’s
own prerogative. According to the prophets, God often chooses those that have
no merit of their own, and often the ones that are cast aside by peers and
viewed as having no value or worth.
But it is natural, that after one is chosen by God, to
assume that it is deserved and with being chosen, it brings special privileges.
However, nothing more is deserved. And instead of privileges, it comes with
responsibilities. God chooses so that those chosen by God will be God’s
instruments in carrying God’s message to the rest of the world.
When one combines the misunderstanding of prophecy as
predictive and the misunderstanding of God’s choosing as a deserving act, we
end up with a toxic mix. When a person or a group interprets scripture as
specifically predicting God’s selection of them, it is nearly impossible to
avoid pride, arrogance, exclusivism, and intolerance that arises from the sense
of assumed “specialness.”
It cannot be overstated that any choosing of God is for
God’s purposes so that God’s grace, and mercy, God’s care for all the world, and
God’s character of self-sacrificing love can be demonstrated through the ones
God chooses.
Any attempt to use God’s choosing to acquire power and
privilege, to assert power and control over others, to exclude and create
hierarchies, to force others to believe and act in certain ways is wrong and
entirely opposed to God’s ways.
God’s Ways
Psalm 72 reveals several ways that God expects God’s chosen
ones to act. Among them: emulate God’s way of righteousness and justice (vv. 1,
2), show concern for the poor (vv. 2, 4), work for peace (v. 3), care for
children (v. 4), and work to stop oppressors and oppression (v. 4).
When these things are done, then God is manifest among those
who do not yet fully know God. This is the epiphany that attracts people to
God. It is important to emphasize that the attraction is to God and not to the
people or groups that are doing these things. As Christians and a church, our
only concern is to demonstrate God to the world to bring people to the
knowledge and love of God. We should be wary of any program or activity that
seeks to promote our own existence. This goes against all types of branding and
marketing maxims, but I believe that however well-intentioned they may be, they
are still tools of this world. If we are faithful to God and seek to uplift God
only, if God would like to bless us, God will. It is entirely God’s choice as
to what people and groups God will use now and in the future.
Conclusion
On this day in which we commemorate and celebrate God’s
epiphany of Godself through Jesus Christ, let us remember that we are merely
tools that God has chosen to reveal Godself through. Too many times and for too
long, we have thought of our specialness to God as something to be flaunted
instead of something to accept with humility and awe. We have used our
specialness to exclude, judge, and condemn rather than to accept, embrace, and
include.
Let us commit to being epiphanies of God that point to God
through our words, thoughts, and actions that imitate God’s love, mercy, grace,
and justice.
