THE EPIPHANY

Friday 6 January 2023

Christ Church, Woodbury, N.J.

 

Isaiah 60:1-6

Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

 

The Feast of the Epiphany is subtitled in the Book of Common Prayer, “the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.” In the biblical languages, the term “Gentiles” is interchangeable with “the nations.” The Hebrew word goyim means both “nations” and “Gentiles,” as does the Greek ethnē, from which we get the English word “ethnic,” and the Latin gentes, from which we get “Gentiles.”

 

So, an equivalent subtitle for Epiphany would be “the revelation of Christ to the nations.” And to appreciate the full force of what’s happening as the wise men bring their three gifts from afar, it helps to review the biblical understanding of how the nations fit into the grand scheme of God’s plan of salvation.

 

To go back to the beginning: the creation story in the Book of Genesis envisions humanity as essentially one. All are descended from the same first parents, Adam and Eve. Later, after the Flood, all human beings can trace their descent to Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. This common descent symbolizes the common humanity that we all share, and that binds us all together, regardless of race, language, nation, or culture.

 

But human sin rends this primordial unity asunder. The story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 describes how all the earth’s peoples once spoke a common language. But when they attempted to build a tower reaching up to heaven, God confused their language and scattered them over the earth in punishment of their pride and presumption. This story thus symbolizes the various nations and peoples’ estrangement from one another as they lapse into mutual incomprehension and mistrust.

 

Later, God calls Abraham to be the ancestor of a new people, in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. From this point on, the Old Testament tends to divide humanity into two parts: Israel, the People of God; and the nations, everybody else.

 

Most of the Old Testament depicts the relationship between Israel and the nations as one of mutual suspicion and hostility. The nations pose a threat to Israel on two counts. First, they’re a political menace. Israel’s existence is always under threat from hostile empires and kingdoms seeking to subjugate God’s people and take possession of their land. Second, the nations present the temptations of paganism and idolatry: a constant threat to Israel’s unique covenant relationship with God. For this reason, Israel’s prophets and teachers are constantly urging separation from foreigners to avoid pagan contamination.

 

Despite all this, the nations still have a definite place in God’s plan. The Bible never loses sight of humankind’s original unity. God’s purpose in choosing Israel is not to give Israel a privileged place over everybody else, but to make Israel a light to the nations. Ultimately, not Israel alone but all the earth’s peoples are to share in the blessings of universal peace in God’s kingdom.

 

Such is the vision expressed in today’s Old Testament reading. Addressing Mount Zion, the prophet Isaiah foretells the kings of the earth coming to worship the God who shall reveal himself in glory. To the Temple mount in Jerusalem camels will bring in the wealth of the nations, gold and incense, to show forth the Lord’s praises.

 

These prophecies begin to see their fulfillment in the New Testament. The old dichotomy between Israel and the Gentiles is overcome in the Church, the expanded People of God, in which all the nations have an equal place. The Risen Christ commissions his apostles to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. All nations, races, tribes, and tongues are to be gathered into one Church, thus restoring humankind’s original unity in Christ, the new Adam. Thus, Saint Paul writes in his Letter to the Ephesians of the mystery now revealed to the apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promises of Christ Jesus through the Gospel.

 

In this light, we begin to appreciate the full force of the image of wise men from the East who travel from afar bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the newborn king of the Jews. Matthew’s point is that Jesus coming into the world begins to fulfill the prophecies of reconciliation and healing of the ancient divisions between Jews and Gentiles, and among all races and nations. 

 

Matthew makes no mention of how many wise men there were, and nowhere does he say that they were kings. The notion that they were kings comes from the prophecy of Isaiah, “Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”

And the Christian tradition settled on the number three not only because they brought three gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh—but also because three is the number of the sons of Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—from whom the Book of Genesis describes all the earth’s peoples as being descended after the Great Flood. 

 

By tradition, Shem was the ancestor of the Semitic peoples, Ham of the African peoples, and Japheth of the European peoples. Thus, artistic renderings often depict the three kings as representing these different races. The symbolic point is that when Christ is born, all the earth’s nations and peoples unite in the worship of the one true God, bringing with them all their wonderfully diverse gifts.

 

This symbolism suggests two practical consequences. First, the Church must always be a place where people of all backgrounds are welcome to come and offer their gifts. Unity in Christ does not mean uniformity. The diverse gifts brought by representatives of the world’s different cultures immeasurably enrich our life together in the universal Church. We need always to guard against the temptation to feel superior to the expression of cultural traditions other than our own in the Church’s life and worship.

 

And second, our membership in the universal Church bestows a shared identity with fellow Christians the world over, transcending all differences of nationality, politics, culture, and language. It’s a good and praiseworthy thing to be devoted family members, conscientious employees, enthusiastic participants in civic life, and patriotic citizens of our country. By fulfilling our responsibilities in these spheres, we contribute to the common good that God intends for all. We just need to remember that our identity as Christians comes first. The claims of our membership in the worldwide fellowship of Christ’s Body rightly takes precedence over all other claims upon our loyalty and allegiance.