The Epiphany
January 6, 2002
Christ Church, Covington

“Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Is. 60:3).

The story of the visit of the Wise Men brings to a conclusion the cycle of stories we associate with Christmas, and marks as well the Feast of the Epiphany, or “ the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles”. Like many of the Nativity stories, the visit of the Magi to the child who is “the king of the Jews”, or Messiah, contains within itself “the Gospel in miniature”; in other words, the themes that will be repeated and recapitulated later in the Gospel are present here first, defining the narrative ground and shaping the Gospel story.

For instance, the presence of the Magi itself prefigures the universal scope and inclusion of the Gospel. The Wise Men are Gentiles, possibly astrologers whose business it is to study the stars and who are quite likely the sort of people who would have noticed whatever celestial phenomenon heralded Jesus’ birth. Tradition, of course, calls them kings, picking up on the prophecy contained in Isaiah that we read this morning. But the key point is that they are Gentiles, representing pagan wisdom and insight; acknowledging in their persons and in their kingly gifts the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The Gospel, with its universal scope, is not for God’s People alone, but for the pagans as well.

Their response stands in contrast to that of the ruler of Judea, Herod the Great. This leads to another theme of the Gospel which is prefigured here, that of opposition and conflict. Herod is the ruler of the Jews; not a member of the family of David, he is accounted a usurper and a tool of Roman power. Herod attempts to discover and destroy the child who may turn out to threaten his power. Here, at the very beginning of the Gospel, is a signpost that points forward to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which takes place of course during the reign of another Herod. In the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem, Herod’s attempt to follow through with Jesus’ destruction is frustrated, though at the great cost of innocent blood, foreshadowing Jesus’ resurrection and his costly triumph over sin and death.

Finally, there is the theme of homage which the Magi offer, a fact noted and repeated three times in our Gospel. Homage is adoration offered to a king or a deity: Jesus, of course, is both. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, the disciples are gathered around the resurrected Lord, worshipping him (though some doubt). The worship of the disciples, and our worship, is adumbrated in the worship of the Magi, who pay him homage long before he rose from the dead.

The Gospel, then, in miniature, here in this Epiphany story. Now think back about the theme of universal scope and inclusion that is underlined by the Gentile kings who acknowledge the Jewish Messiah. There is an important point here that we ought not to miss on the Feast of the Epiphany, and that concerns the character of this inclusion. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gift to the Church, because it heralds God’s welcome of all the peoples of the earth, and not just the People he had first chosen for his own (the family of Abraham). Now all peoples are being claimed by the God who (the Jews had all along known) was the King of all the earth. The nations have now come to his light, and the kings who are their rulers acknowledge the dominion of YHWH in the clearness of its dawning.

There is present here very little of the rather flaccid modern notion of inclusion, in which differences are put aside or even papered over in a quest for inclusivity. The modern notion of inclusion, at its worst, demands a giving up of our supposed “illusions” about absolutes like truth and beauty, our instincts for what is comely and even what is proper. Who are we, after all, to impose these notions on others, when they might endanger our inclusiveness? Others might want to note that inclusion itself is hardly a virtue, but only inclusion joined to the service of good. An organization, or even a Church, which is gathered around mere inclusion will soon cease to be organized in any sense at all, since it will stand for nothing whatsoever. A community needs norms, one of which ought to be a principal of inclusion in a common life, and belief that is shared.

Fortunately for those who believe in something more than a Gospel of mere inclusion, our Gospel today gives us that something more. It gives us a Church of universal scope and inclusion, in which all people are invited to join. It gives us a picture of nations acknowledging the truth of Jesus Christ, owning the sway of the child who is King of the Jews. It gives us an invitation to pay homage to the Savior of the world. There is quite a bit here, in this Gospel in miniature, that will be played out as the story unfolds, in the life of Christ and in the life of the Church.


The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.

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