The Feast of the Epiphany

Happy Feast of the Epiphany!

Otherwise known as 

the Feast of the Three Old Wise Guys...

You know,

John Wayne, Quentin Tarantino, and Clint Eastwood

Oh! wait, not those wise guys!

While we have no idea if the magi who showed up

to honor Jesus as a little child

were men, or wise, or kings, or other political or religious officials

or even if there were three of them,

Traditionally, the Magi are 

Casper from Arabia, 

Melchior from Persia, 

and Balthazar from India.

And of course, we don't know how the three of them ended up together,

or at least, showing up in Bethlehem around the same time.

Yet, we celebrate this story of Epiphany

because it is the first 

in a long, long, series of stories

about people recognizing Jesus

as the Son of God,

the Savior.

And it has such valuable political ramifications

that it has been used in situations 

over and over again

as a story of the subversion of political rule

by religious authorities.

This story sets up a drastic dichotomy

between the King set up by the Romans

and the King set up by God.

This is going to be a continuing struggle 

throughout Jesus' life

and the gospel of Matthew

and the understanding of his followers.

King Herod

while officially being King of the Jews

under, of course, the Emperor Augustus,

was by no means

well known for being a good Jew.

Case and point,

he doesn't even know where the Messiah is supposed to be born.

You know,

the One everyone was waiting for...

He tries to be a Jew

some of the time

but most of the time 

he spent his time caring about building grand structures

brutally ruling his kingdom

and being very suspicious of everyone around him.

In summary,

The political reality of the time in Judea

was

"Not Good."

Into this reality,

God sends his only Son,

Jesus

as a vulnerable, helpless baby.

And who comes to greet him

a new King 

three foreign magi.

These three men were probably political or religious officials

they were people with power

they were the people in charge

of something, we don't know if they had kingdoms or congregations or what

but, they were somebodies.

And they probably had people over them,

kings or high priests

who they owed allegiance to 

so the fact that they go on a special journey to find a new ruler

a new King

and one just born as a baby

portrays some serious significance.

Either these men came on their own,

showing disloyalty to their previous kings

or their rulers were recognizing Jesus

as the true King of the Jews.

Foreign rulers often sent ambassadors to greet and give gifts to other new rulers.

Precious metals

costly spices

were appropriate gifts for a new ruler.

Can you imagine any of our political leaders these days

going to look for a higher ruler

who shows up as a baby?

Most of our current political officials

would rather be the center of attention,

power and authority 

at all times

in all places

Our political leaders do not always know how to accept another's jurisdiction

Yet these three (or maybe even more)

wise men

(they are wise in so many ways)

they recognize Jesus' 

power and authority

they recognize their own place

in this great universe

Herod

unfortunately

has a hard time recognizing anyone else's power or authority

he wasn't always that great at following his Emperor's commands

and he eventually had restrictions placed upon him because of how he ruled

and he certainly didn't behave in a way to let anyone around him have any control over him

People who got close to him 

were likely to end up dead.

He tries to run a con

a trick

to find out where this new king is

so that he can destroy

this new threat to his rule.

Yet God takes care of his Son

protects him by reaching out to the wise men

and sending them home in a different way. 

Matthew wants us to know how amazing this baby being born really is

No only are there angels

but there are foreign kings

there is recognition on the world stage

that this baby is the King of the Jews

its a political statement

totally against the Roman Empire

The gospels were very subversive material

banned books type stuff

Its no wonder the Roman Empire cracked down on Christianity in the first few centuries

listening to this story doesn't give the same potency as it would have had then

people are forever saying things like the president has no claim to being president

And even people saying that Queen Elizabeth is not the real queen of Britain

aren't likely to be as taken seriously as they used to

But the change in the balance of power and authority in this story

is magnificent

This story is about a reversal of the world power structure

Matthew is telling us quite clearly

that Herod has no real power or authority

that with the recognition of the wise men of Jesus

all political and religious authorities and hierarchies

have no power

they have no basis

that Jesus

is God's answer to our power struggles

All of our power struggles.

Our power struggles in ourselves

our power struggles in our homes

our power struggles in our neighborhoods

our power struggles in our town

our power struggles in our state

our power struggles in our country

and our power struggles in the world.

We believe in a God who is above all these powers

We believe in a God who can change our hearts and minds

We believe in a God who can work miracles

even through and in our ordinary lives

The Magi make a choice

They could have given into the power system of Judea at that time

they could have reported Jesus

back to Herod

they could have ignored the dream

and reported the new King

Yet they stuck to their values

they stuck with their integrity

they followed God

who spoke to them in a dream

and they made a different choice

Sometimes we think we have no choice

in the power structures and systems we are in

but we do have choices

there are always consequences

but following God 

is always the best choice

The gospel according to Matthew is a book full of tension. 

Matthew wanted people to live by the Jewish traditions and customs. 

He wanted many things to stay the same, 

yet 

he also was writing to share the story of something entirely new, 

something subversive which was going to change everything.

The story of the Magi,

whether true or not,

is really about the status of Jesus

it is meant to give us insight into

who Jesus is

and foresight into what he is going to do.

This is not the only time Jesus is in opposition with a Roman ruler

Though only a baby in this story,

his response is pretty much the same

he gives himself up

innocent and loving.

Using power to fight power

is not the example Jesus gives us.

In this story, and throughout the gospel stories,

Jesus never uses his power as God Incarnate

to overrule the Romans

to fight against the Sanhedrin

to change the Pharisees, Sadducees, the priests, the scribes...

or anyone's mind.

I imagine he could have

he might even have been tempted to do so.

But he never used his power,

he worked within the limitations of humanity

he kept his integrity

he worked with his values

he loved

he cared

he discussed

he healed

he questioned

he loved

those were the powers he used

Those are the powers 

we have 

that we can use.

Even if you feel like you are powerless against the authorities

even if you feel like you are powerless against the changes going on in the world

even if you feel like you are powerless to make any difference in this world

you have the power to love

you have the power to care

you have the power to ask questions

you have the power to heal

you have the power to forgive

you have the power to pray

you have the power to love

Through Christ, we have the power to change the world.

Amen.