SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

January 4, 2026

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

Matthew 2:1-15

 

Today is the eleventh day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Eleven pipers piping! Tomorrow evening is Twelfth Night, and this Tuesday, January 6th, is the Feast of the Epiphany. By rights, we really should schedule a weekday Eucharist on Tuesday to observe this principal feast of the Church Year. We may do so in future years. But in the meantime, the lectionary allows us to anticipate the Epiphany by reading the Gospel recounting how the Wise Men, led by a star, visited the newborn King of the Jews in Bethlehem.

 

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 word “Gentiles” is interchangeable with “nations.” To appreciate the significance of the wise men bringing their gifts from afar, we need to review the biblical understanding of the nations’ place in 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 signifies 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 unity asunder. The story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 describes how all the earth’s peoples once spoke the same language. But when they attempted to build a tower reaching up to heaven, God confused their language and scattered them over the earth as punishment for their pride and presumption. This story symbolizes how the various nations and peoples have become estranged from one another in mutual incomprehension and mistrust.

 

Later, however, 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 divides 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 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 exalt Israel 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.

 

This promise begins to be fulfilled 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. 

 

In this light, we begin to appreciate the meaning of the wise men from the East traveling 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 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 a 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 offer their gifts. Unity in Christ does not mean cultural uniformity. The diverse gifts brought by representatives of the world’s different cultures immeasurably enrich our life together in the universal Church. We always need 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 confers a shared identity with fellow Christians worldwide, transcending all differences of nationality, politics, culture, and language. It’s good and praiseworthy to be devoted family members, conscientious employees, enthusiastic participants in our local communities, and patriotic citizens of our country. By fulfilling our responsibilities in these spheres—family, workplace, community, and nation—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 take precedence over all other claims upon our loyalty and allegiance. We’re Christians first, Americans second, Rhode Islanders third, and members of our local communities fourth. And that order of precedence needs to shape our understanding of our obligations to our fellow human beings the world over.