Receiving the Greatest Gift
Detail of the 19th-century mosaics in the Rosary Basilica of Lourdes. Hammondtravels, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet.’
Matthew 2:5
The Feast of Epiphany celebrates the day Jesus was first witnessed by Gentiles. This is significant, because it shows that Jesus is not only the King of the Jews, but the Saviour of the world.
The first Gentiles to see God’s human face are perhaps the most unexpected. They were magi, so-called wise men who worshipped the stars. Although they would be treated with scepticism today, in their own land, the magi would have been revered as the wisest of all. If their lives in the East were anything like the astrologers of Daniel’s day, it was a high-pressure environment. If you could predict the impossible, you were showered with power and riches, but the slightest failure was met with a brutal and horrific death (see Daniel 2:1-6, for example). Kings put so much pressure on their wise men because they acted as political advisors. When a king did not know whether to go to war or stay home, they would summon the magi to ask the stars. The lives of countless young men and the destiny of the entire nation rested upon their shoulders. Everything depended on their astrological ability, and so they worshipped the stars, fearing them, loving them and trusting in them above all else.
The star leads them to look for Jesus in Jerusalem’s palace, where they find no Messiah but instead, horrid King Herod – a man who embodies everything natural human reason would come to expect from an almighty king. His ignorance must have been disappointing, but probably not unexpected. No king they had ever worked for really knew what they were doing – that’s why they hired wise men. This dead end, though, would have been frustrating for the magi because they had trusted in their own wisdom, and it had led them nowhere.
When all hope seemed lost, the priests of Jerusalem bring forth an answer the wise men could not have predicted. ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet…’ While the wise men had worked so hard only to produce the wrong answer, the Lord they were looking for had long ago given the right answer completely for free.
The Bible points them in a whole new direction, and they find the Son of God living with His impoverished parents. They are overcome with the joy of being completely wrong – the true King of kings is nothing like what their sinful flesh could have imagined or desired. He is far better. He is not a tyrant but a toddler, bringing joy and blessing to His lowly mother.
No star or science could have uncovered this child’s identity as the true God, only divine revelation. They rejoice because, for once in their lives, they had a King who did not depend upon their wisdom. He was already perfectly wise, even as an infant, and freely gave them true wisdom: that God does not dwell in palaces, but with the lowly of heart, who apart from their own wisdom or merit trust in His Word. That was the story of this child’s mother, and now it had become the story of these magi. At long last, they could abandon the worship of stars and worship the one who made them. No longer would their lives depend upon the guesswork of astrology, but in the faithful care of Christ.
This is the joy of Epiphany. It is the Good News of Christ revealed to all people, wonderfully putting human guesswork to shame. As Christians, we have an opportunity to share the light of Christ with those who are hopelessly searching for salvation in all the wrong places. We can give them rest by giving them the Truth – not at a cost, but completely for free.
You might not have any friends who are astrologers, but you probably know someone who is burdened by the world’s demand to create their own identity, to invent the purpose and meaning of life in a world which is (in their eyes) ultimately meaningless. Why not give them rest this Epiphany, by revealing to them the God who does not demand to be discovered by human philosophy and imagining, but who freely and openly reveals Himself by the preaching of the Gospel?