Manifestation of Glory

According to Wikipedia, “The best known Magi are the "Wise Men from the East" in the Bible, whose graves Marco Polo claimed to have seen in what is today the district of Saveh, in Tehran, Iran.”

When one ponders the theological implications of Epiphany and the meaning it has for us Gentiles, it is simply amazing that it has sunk into such obscurity in our society. Actually, considering the highly secularized nature of America, it really is not amazing at all. Yet, to that faithful remnant of orthodox believers, both Western and Eastern, the Epiphany has an element of blessedness that may be almost as important as the Nativity itself. The Epiphany is a symbol, a foreshadowing of Christ’s earthly ministry, as the first official visitors, after the shepherds, were the three mysterious strangers from “the East.” By including this story of the Magi in his Gospel, is St. Matthew signaling, or pointing towards the universality of Jesus’ Ministry? I believe he was. God works through symbols and mystery in dealing with us, yet every symbol has a purpose.

In this case, three strange men, obviously learned and rich, show up in Jerusalem, asking the whereabouts of a new-born King of the Jews, whose star they had seen in the east. Matthew tells us that the Magi came into Jerusalem and began asking questions. Of course, Matthew tells us, “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” We know from history and from the Scriptures that Herod was a tyrant, bloodthirsty and cruel, whose only god was earthly power. Imagine his shock and amazement, as well as his fear, upon receiving these three strange men. The appearance of three well-heeled, stately visitors would have done that, indeed.

In this case, Herod hurriedly summoned the chief priest and scribes and demanded where the Messiah was to be born, according to prophecy. No doubt they read to him the passage from Micah 5:2:

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

Armed with this knowledge, Herod sends the Magi to Bethlehem, giving them instructions to find him and then return, so that he might also worship the new King. Of course, this is fatuous and insincere to the extreme. As later shown by the massacre of the Holy Innocents, Herod’s true purpose was obvious.

The Magi did indeed find Jesus and rejoiced with great measure. They fell down before the newborn King and offered him their treasures: gold, incense and myrrh. The Church has always understood these gifts as symbolizing the three great offices of Christ. The gold symbolizes his Kingship over all creation. The incense symbolizes His role as our Great High Priest, which the New Testament tells us about in detail in Hebrews 4. Finally, the myrrh, a substance used for preserving the dead, symbolizes his role as Prophet. In this case, Jesus is the Greatest and Last Prophet, as he seals the New Testament in his blood. Recall that many of the prophets died as martyrs, like “righteous Zechariah,” who was stoned by an angry mob. Legend has it that Isaiah was sawn in two by the apostate king of Judah. Thus, Jesus, when threatened by the Pharisees that Herod would kill him, replied in Luke 13:33:”Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” The myrrh thus symbolizes and foreshadows the upcoming Passion and death of our Lord.

After this period of adoration, the Wise Men depart to their own land, being warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod. This is the literal sense of the passage. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is manifested to the world, symbolically represented by the Magi. This manifestation is symbolic, as mentioned, and cosmic. Recall that the Magi said in Mat 2:2:

“Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

Church tradition has always held that the Wise Men were astrologers, as well as students of ancient prophecy. How did they know about the star? How did know about the King of the Jews? We do not know from Scripture specifically, but the very fact that they knew about “his” star is simply astounding.  Obviously, these men, well versed in ancient prophecy as well as the movement of the stars themselves, had been waiting for this event for a long, long, time.

There are a couple of other ways that we could view this text. One is through the use of allegory, as many of the Medieval Church fathers sought to see all of the Scripture. The Sentences of Peter Lombard provided glossae or allegorical interpretations for virtually the whole Bible and this was the main use of Scriptures for a long time. Or, we could, as some of the early Fathers like Origen or Tertullian did, try to find an anagogical, or hidden spiritual meaning for the passage. This also could be valid.

Perhaps the best use of this passage for us today is one of example. The Wise Men did several things that we would do well to mimic. What did they do? They sought and found, they rejoiced, they opened and gave, they worshipped, and they went their way.

Let us examine these actions in light of our own lives. First, like the Magi, we need to seek Christ. We need to seek him daily through prayer, both in our conscious and unconscious minds, through constant prayer, both formal and spontaneous. That is, in a special “quiet time” each morning and evening, read the Psalm and lessons appointed for the day, as found in the Lectionary. They are your guides to spiritual growth and fulfillment. Also, during the day, constantly give thanks and praise to God. For example, my grandmother Stults used to pray and praise while she did dishes. Many of the great monastics in the Middle Ages discovered that God is usually discovered not in the “wham bam” moments of life, but in the quiet mundane, ordinary things.

One might call it “blissful monotony,” I suppose. The need for constant excitement and agitation, not only in our lives, but in our worship, is not godly, but is worldly and destructive.

Next, we need to rejoice when we find Him. Or, as the case may be better stated, when we are “found” in Him. God’s Grace, whether it is prevenient or contiguous, as the Medievals thought, pulls us to God in a mystery too deep for us to understand. The joy inherent in this means that depression, despair, and sorrow, although they happen to all of us, are not our natural state as Christians.

We are victors in Christ and inheritors of Joy, because as Christ said in John 16:33: ”These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Next, we ought to open and present our treasures to Christ our King. First, our “gold,” that is, those gifts God has given us, now need to be offered back to Him for His service. Has the Lord blessed you with a gift that you are hiding under a bushel? Jesus said, in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” God always takes our gifts, be they of time, treasure or talent, uses them, and returns them to us; manifold and in better shape than when we lent them to Him.

Next of our treasures is our incense, or our prayer and praise. Just as the purpose of incense is to offer a pleasant odor of something precious burnt and floating up to God, so our prayers should float up daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and for all eternity. God does not need our prayers, but He desires them, both because we need to pray and He uses them as one of His means to have a relationship with us, now and forever.

Finally, the last of our gifts, we offer our “myrrh” to God. We seek to die daily to sin and we seek to accomplish the death of the old self in our process of sanctification.

Thus, the myrrh symbolizes our repentance and contrition. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t like what I see in myself, as God permits me, from time to time, to see what a truly wretched man I am. As Luther told us, we are “peccator et iustus”, both justified and sinful at the same time. God sees us as justified to Himself through his Son, yet we continue to strive, and oftentimes lose, against sin daily.

Luther also said, being a man of like passions as are we, “To be justified is to begin again.”

Like the Magi, having worshipped the King, having given him our best and rejoiced with unspeakable joy, we are to depart into our various ways, bearing the light of Christ into the world.

As we do these things, we will experience the unfolding Epiphany of Christ in our lives. He will become the overarching reality to us, bestowing gifts and blessings worthy of children of the King.

All of this comes to us because of the wonder of the Epiphany. God chose to manifest His only-begotten Son: Immanuel, God with us, “Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God” in a Judean stable some two thousand years ago.

This is the wonder and Glory of God. This is the majesty of the Epiphany.

“Thine O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou are exalted as head above all.”