Isaiah 60:1-6

 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you; the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

Matthew 2:1-12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem,  asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”  When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road

Where is the Child King?    

On Friday afternoon, Shari and I drove into Rockland to do some shopping. The sun was incredibly bright and low in the sky at about 3:30. It was shining with that midwinter brightness, so bright it hurts, the glare limiting visibility and making driving dangerous.

I squinted my way into Home Depot and did my shopping, and by the time I came out of the store, the light had softened and the sun was setting.

As I walked across the parking lot I saw overhead, the full moon rising. A perfect full moon disc, the enormous circle of the moon, just hanging there in the pale blue sky. An hour before it hadn’t been there. But there it was now, this surprise, this unexpected full moon, appearing out of nowhere.

Epiphany

An epiphany is a surprise experience, a surprise shining upon us, the moon appears, the star appears, God is manifested for all the world to see. Epiphany is the Divine shining upon us, for all the world to see, an expression of God, for Jews and for Gentiles, for the ancient wise men, and for us, right here and now. Epiphanies occur all the time. Each new moment presents us with the potential of an epiphany, God manifesting to us.

Our reading this morning tells the story of the magi. In the New Testament, this story is only found in Matthew’s Gospel. And since we are taking an in-depth look at Matthew this year, this is a good place to ask, “Why only in Matthew? Why isn’t this story, which is the basis for Epiphany, why isn’t it found in Mark, Luke, or John? And the answer is, because each Gospel was written for a particular purpose. Each Gospel was written for a particular and specific Christian community. And by that, I mean, Jewish-Christian community.

White Supremacy and Antisemitism

So in the first century, the first followers of Jesus were Jewish. Jesus was Jewish, and all his disciples were Jewish, and all the authors of the New Testament were Jewish. Christianity began as a Jewish movement, a sect within Judaism. This is often overlooked. But it’s important to remember the close connection between Judaism and Christianity. Especially these days, when the horrible specters of white supremacy and antisemitism continue to loom large. As Christians, we need to remember that these are sinful views, based on hatred. To be blunt, for Christians, belief in white supremacy is a sin, and antisemitism is a sin, these views are based on racism, hatred, ignorance and wrong understanding of who we are as human beings.

The Most Jewish Gospel

This is a theme I want to bring out as we move forward in our discussion of Matthew, and it comes up naturally because the Gospel of Matthew is considered to be the most Jewish of the four Gospels. And as we read Matthew together this year, we are going find these Jewish elements, and in so doing, find the common connections between Judaism and Christianity. So this will be a launching point for a discussion about interfaith dialogue.

Herod the Great

In the story, the magi go to Jerusalem, meet with Herod, and ask him about the child born “king of the Jews.” Now this is Herod the Great that the magi meet. Remember, there were several Herods. Herod the Great was Jewish, born in Edom, south of Judea, around 72BC.

About ten years after Herod’s birth, Rome conquered Jerusalem in 63BC. So Jerusalem and the entire region of Judea became part of the Roman Empire. And Jesus was born into this Empire. Rome occupied Judea at Jesus’s birth.

Now Herod’s father was in good standing with the Roman Emperor Julius Ceasar, and because of this relationship, Julius Ceasar made Herod a “client king” of Judea. That meant that Herod was the local king, but he answered to Rome. Herod was “King of the Jews,” by Roman authority. He was working for Rome. And so we can see why he was frightened when the magi showed up and asked him, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” We can imagine he was thinking, “Well, what about me? I’m supposed to be King of the Jews. Is there something I don’t know about?”

Matthew’s Community

Now the questions comes up, “Why did Matthew, and only Matthew, include this story about the magi?” (Incidentally, there were other Gospels, the so-called “apocryphal texts,” not recognized as Scripture, that do include the story of the magi. But these texts did not make it into the canon of Scripture that became the New Testament.) And so the answer is, Matthew included this story about the magi because the Gospel of Matthew is written for a specific community, a community of Jewish Christians trying to figure out who they are in the chaos of their social context with everything that is happening in their 1^st century world. And we will talk more about this social context as we go along. The author of this text wants to shape this community, that is, he wants to help them create their sense of identity as Christians, by establishing Jesus’ identity as the Messiah and the King of the Jews.

Matthew’s message is that Jesus is born into this Jewish context to revitalize God’s relationship with the people of Israel. And the magi see this, too. They see the star, the sign of God’s epiphany, even from far off in another country. And so we know by this that the Messiah is intended for all people, even for the Gentile world outside Judea.

Next week we will continue our discussion of Matthew, what makes this Gospel unique and what this says about the community for which it was originally written. Amen? Amen.