Epiphany
The Unexpected Hour: Be the Sign!

Text: Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12

Good morning. This is Epiphany Sunday and we are happy to be starting a New Year, mindful of new opportunities and perhaps ready with new resolutions.

The theme for our Advent series of Sunday meditations has been “The Unexpected Hour.” Certainly for me, one of the unexpected things of this hour is that am speaking this morning. Kelvin, as you know, is recovering from another bout with pneumonia. Myra and I had volunteered to help lead the worship this morning and when we heard of Kelvin’s illness, our first concern was that he be able to rest and not have worry about preparing a message. Kelvin spoke last Sunday about the arrival of the Wise Men seeking the child who had been born “King of the Jews,” and I looked forward to hearing what Kelvin would say this morning. I am not one of the Wise Men and, at the least, my pale substitution for Kelvin may motivate you to pray for his swift recovery.

That said, I confess I have always been fascinated by the story of the Wise Men (or Magi, or Kings, as they also are called). And I am not alone in this fascination.  Down through the centuries, hundreds of artists have portrayed the visit of these important persons to the Child Jesus in a scene that usually is called “The Adoration of the Magi.” If you are a student of art, you may recognize some of the painters’ names: Bottecelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Fra Angelico, and many more.

Their Adoration paintings have a number of common elements: the Magi are there (usually three or more), dressed in rich, exotic Eastern clothes, and bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh; the mother Mary is there, holding on her lap the young child Jesus; and there is also a detailed setting, either biblical or contemporary to the lifetime of the painter.

As we reflect on the Scripture passage from Matthew 2:1-12, I would invite you to picture with me an alternate scene, that of “The Wise Men visiting King Herod” in Jerusalem. The scene would have three important groups of figures—the Wise Men, of course, freshly arrived and still wearing their travel cloaks; King Herod, seated on his throne, listening anxiously to what the Wise Men have to say; and the Chief Priests and Scribes, to whom Herod turns for background information on Hebrew prophecy.

Perhaps the first thing to note is that the Wise Men are asking directions. During our Sunday School Advent Study, we read Luke’s gospel account of the angels appearing to the shepherds...and wondered why did they go to them, instead of to the scene of Jesus’ birth?  Pearl mused that, like many men, they might have wound up on the outskirts of Bethlehem because they were too proud to ask directions.

So, in our picture this morning, I would like to note that we are dealing with Wise Men and they are getting directions. They’ve come from the East, following a star (or some kind of astrological sign) that portends an important birth—the birth of “the King of the Jews”--and now they’ve reached Jerusalem.
It seems quite logical that they would come to Herod. He is the current “King of the Jews.”

Down through the centuries, many kings have been concerned to have a child who is their designated heir, one who will assume the throne when they die. About the time that Herod became king, Julius Caesar named his great-nephew Octavian as his heir, and now at the time of Jesus’ birth, this Octavian—known as Augustus Caesar—is the ruler of the Roman Empire.

The Wise Men might well expect to find Herod the proud father of an infant son, the one who has caused the star to appear. Of course, we know from Matthew’s gospel, this is not the outcome. Herod is an old man; his children are grown; and he is as much in the dark about this next “King of the Jews” as anyone. Yet he immediately grasps the implication of the Wise Men’s question. It is a threat to his power.

Let’s look briefly at the main characters in our picture of “The Wise Men Visiting King Herod,” starting with Herod himself.

HEROD

• As we’ve said, he is the current “King of the Jews.”
• He has been in office for more than 40 years and is the only ruler of Palestine who has succeeded in keeping the peace (Barclay, Matthew, v. 1, p. 28).
• He has been a good military leader, making himself useful to the Romans in their various battles and re-conquering Jerusalem and deposing a Parthian (or Iranian) ruler.
• He is a builder, constructing a number of wilderness fortresses, a Mediterranean port city named Caesarea Maritima, and—his crowning project—a grandiose reconstruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.
• He is a shrewd diplomat and what today we would call “a survivor.” When the Roman Empire was wracked by civil war, Julius Caesar’s young heir—Octavian—was pitted against the army and navy of the great general Marc Antony and also the army and navy of Egypt’s Cleopatra. Herod was no fool and he sided with his friend Marc Antony. When Octavian was unexpectedly victorious—and Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, Herod was in a tough spot and likely to be killed by Octavian. He prostrated himself before Augustus Caesar and said: “Don’t think of whose friend I was. Think of what a good friend I was.” Caesar accepted Herod’s pledge of future friendship and restored him to his throne as “King of the Jews.”
• Herod was a complex man: Arab, by ethnic heritage; Greek, by education and culture; Jewish, by religious upbringing; and Roman, in his political allegiance.
• And, by the time the Wise Men visit him, he was also a very dangerous man—sick both physically and mentally.
• He had ulcers, “convulsions of every limb,” uncured gangerine, rotting feet, and—if that wasn’t enough--terrible bad breath.
• Much of the time he seemed mad. He had had his favorite wife put to death, then wandered the palace halls at night looking for her. When the servants he sent to find her returned empty-handed, they were severely beaten.
• He feared that one of his sons might overthrow him and he had several of them put to death. Caesar Augustus, who kept him in office, once said it was safer to be one of Herod’s pigs than one of his sons.
• Herod tells the Wise Men that he too would like to come worship the child, but in his devious way, he’s already forming plans to have the baby killed.
• Painting such a figure would be no easy task, requiring the use of light colours and dark shadows to capture the good and bad in his character.

CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES

The next figures in our picture of the Wise Men Visiting King Herod are the Chief Priests and Scribes. Herod was not well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures so he called on the experts. They would have read such a passage as Micah 5:2—"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

As religious leaders and interpreters of the Scripture, they should be overjoyed to hear from the Wise Men of the Messianic prophecy being fulfilled.

But they are not. They are in cahoots with Herod; they are his collaborators. He is rebuilding their temple—it is already one of their world’s architectural wonders—and they know who is buttering their bread. Herod might seem crazy, but they are not going to rock the boat or embrace someone who threatens their power and privilege.

THE WISE MEN

And, finally in our picture, we have the Wise Men. Much has been written about them, and yet we know surprisingly little. Some scholars think they came from Persia; others say Babylonia or Mesopotamia; still others suggest Arabia.

They are Astrologers, which at that time was not seen as superstition, but as height of scientific learning.  They studied the movement of planets and stars and meteors, seeking signs of important change in the world. Today, we might call them trend-spotters or futurists. 

The account in Matthew doesn’t tell us how many there were. It simply says, “Magi from the east came to Jerusalem…” (Matt. 2:1). Early tradition suggested there were twelve or more. Later the number came to be three—probably because there were three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Eventually, they even were assigned names:

• Melchior—an old and white bearded man;
• Caspar—a young, beardless fellow
• Balthazar—a dark-faced man of colour

In our own time, they are portrayed as Three Kings, bearing lavish gifts—an image that perhaps fits our consumption-driven culture, but misses the real point of their visit. The Wise Men did not come to suggest that Christmas is all about getting nice presents (much as we might enjoy them), but rather to show how we should give of our bounty and ourselves to God as an act of worship.

In Matthew’s gospel account, the gifts and the Wise Men play a symbolic role.

• Gold was the king of metals and the gift for a king.
• Frankincense was a sweet perfume and used by priests in worship.
• And Myrrh was for embalming, a gift for one who is to die.

As William Barclay says, these gifts foretold that Jesus was to be “the true king, the perfect High Priest, and in the end the Supreme Savior of men” (Barclay, Matthew, Vol. 1, 32).

The Wise Men also play a symbolic role in Matthew’s story. As St. Augustine intimated centuries ago, the Wise Men represent the whole Gentile world.  And they point forward to the very end of Matthew’s story—to the Great Commission when Jesus instructs his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). This opening story of the Wise Men sets up our understanding that Jesus’ redemptive life is for all—Jew and Gentile alike.

I’ve talked this morning about two pictures or paintings: “The Adoration of the Magi” and “The Wise Men Visiting King Herod.” Both pictures deal with these religious Seekers—the Wise Men--as we find them in the biblical accounts. I would like to close by considering them in yet another picture, one more contemporary.

Some of us are old enough to recall Dr. Albert Schweitzer, a medical missionary, a famous musician, a renowned theologian. In his Memoirs of Childhood and Youth, Schweitzer wrote how troubled he was as a child over what became of the Wise Men of the East. They simply disappear from the story of Jesus.

I would suggest this morning--as we consider our third and final picture--that their costumes may have changed, but that the Wise Men are still with us today, still on their journey, still seeking “the one who has been born King of the Jews.” And when they come to us, in the form of friends and acquaintances--asking for direction, posing questions that may threaten the power and privileges we take for granted—what picture will we offer?

Will we be fearful, like King Herod, the chief priests, and the scribes in Matthew’s story? Or will we be the Sign that God is calling each of us to be in the world of 2011?

As Isaiah prophesied centuries ago:

“Arise, shine, for our light has come
And the glory of the Lord rises upon us…”

Let this be our picture…and these words our New Year’s prayer.  Amen.

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