Epiphany of the Lord

The feast of the epiphany is the shining forth of the divine manifestation.

So in the time of king Herod after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, three wise men (magi, sstrologers, kings) from the east came to Jerusalem.

Note that the role of astronomy, the studying of the stars, was much more important than we perhaps realized at the time.

These things were taken very very seriously and were part of incipient science in a way which now seems to us to be odd, but that was a very very important part of the philosophical, the world of learning, the world of studying, the world of understanding what is.

These people may have come from Persia or Arabia (probably Jordan).

There's a wisdom to do with much studying, much meditating and the relationship with stars.

What's going on here is that the prophecy of Numbers 24 is being fulfilled.

The prophet Balaam himself, not an Israelite, had announced that a star would arise.

This was his prophecy and it was made to Balak, a Merbite king, a thoroughly nasty piece of work, one who had evil in his heart for the people of Israel.

Numbers 24: I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the territory of all the Shethites. Edom will become a possession, Seir a possession of its enemies, while Israel does valiantly. One out of Jacob shall rule, and destroy the survivors of Ir.

This is important because Herod was from Edom, where it talks right here about Edom will become a possession.

Herod was not a Jew, he was not an Israelite.

He was, if you like, a foreign usurper much hated and disapproved of in many ways by Israelites, because they knew he was not one of them.

He got into his place by making suitable friends with caesar and he was a particularly nasty and brutal man.

This is not from christian sources, this is from just about anyone who had anything to say about herod spoke about.

People tell about the magnificence of his works, since he was a very considerable builder, he was great on the economic side of things, but he was a cruel and clearly very disturbed man, having even three of his sons killed, among many others.

So we have this balak figure and the arrival of wise people of the east who had thought much about the stars and their meaning and their signs come to him saying "where is the child who has been born king of the jews?".

Well this was a prophecy that had a personal touch for Herod.

This was held at the time to be a messianic prophecy and Herod himself had shown interest in the past when the temple priesthood had attempted to work out when the prophecies of the book of Daniel (the 490 year prophecies, the weeks of days) would be fulfilled.

In fact, Herold had tried to get the information from them privately and had had a number of the priests killed (the massacre of the priests, around the year 34 before Christ).

So Herod was very concern about prophecies and is very susceptible to the notion that the real thing is going to come along and it's not him.

The Magi say "we've come to pay him homage", so when Herod heard this and became frightened.

He was perturbed and this is going to be one of the persistent features of the arrival in our midst of the light: it perturbs some and brings joy to others.

You remember when we had the angel coming to the Virgin Mary in Luke: she was mega perturbed, but then was full of grace and joy.

Here, Herod is likewise perturbed, then later when the kings arrive, when they were overwhelmed with joy. So perturbed and joy, these are the two effects of the shining.

So Herod calls together the chief priests and the scribes of the people and inquires of them where the messiah was to be born.

Hoerod is taking this threat seriously and they say to him in Bethlehem of Judea and they put together a quote from Micah to indicate that that's the place and a quote from Samuel to indicate that it's a Davidic fulfillment (it's in the house of david and it's to be fulfilled close to a house to do with shepherds).

We saw how Luke brought that out the relationship of David to the shepherding so they're on the same track here, they know that the real thing is to happen not in Jerusalem, but in the house of David and it's to be linked with the shepherding.

So now Herod (or Balak) calls Balaam and the prophet who announced to him the star to learn from them the exact time when the star had appeared.

This is one of the interesting things that actually we have very good reason to think:

In the year 7 BC (which was about three years before Herod died), there was a particular conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter such that they came together and were inseparable, creating a very very bright star.

This was visible on three occasions during that year, including Spring, Autumn and the beginning of Winter.

There was a considerable question as to whether this was one of the stars that was fulfilled particularly as it was in Jupiter and Saturn in conjunction in Pisces, which was supposed to be the constellation of the Hebrews.

So Herod sent the Magi to Bethlehem saying "go and search diligently for the child, and when you find him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage". In other words, the hidden malice is very clear.

When they'd heard the king, they set out there ahead and followed the star that they had seen at its rising and it stopped over the place where the child was.

Apparently if you were in Jerusalem at the time of this particular conjunction, it would have appeared over Bethlehem.

So for what it's worth on entering the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother.

Interesting that they don't mention Joseph, and that too is part of the prophetic fulfillment of what's going on here, because in the Hebrew royal imagery, the first lady was the mother, not the wife of the king.

If you were to see the royal couple, they would be the mother and the son.

Strangely the mother became the bride, and that was how these things were understood in the davidic temple.

So when they go in, they're seeing the real royalty, the davidic royalty, the birth of the firstborn and his mother.

This is the definite sign that the real royalty is here and they knelt down and paid him homage, then opening their treasure chest so they offered him gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh.

Of course, a huge amount of commentaries is taken up with indicating what these signified.

The traditional is gold for royalty, because he was a king.

Frankincense for his temple function so he was a priest.

Myrrh because of the prophetic nature of his death, since Myrrh would be the symbol of anointing a prophet for dying.

However, there's another possibility was that these three were people who were part of the long-standing diaspora of exiles from the first temple and they were bringing him back the signs that the first temple would be coming back in his person.

The vessels for the temple were:

1. Gold;

2. Incense that indicated the presence of the most high was frankincense (a little bit of frankincense put in amongst the other incense was the incense for the presence of the most high);

3. Myrrh was the anointing oil especially for the Holy one in the Holy place: it was the oil which brought forth holiness from the temple.

In other words, they're indicating not only that the royal one, but the Holy one is back - the new temple is about to be fulfilled.

In addition, Matthew's a subtle fella. He often indicates he has little textual references to his own Gospel.

One of the really interesting things that Jesus teaches is in Matthew 13, after He's finished explaining disciple parables, is what is the good household like, what is a disciple like.

Matthew 13: He says every scribe who's been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure, what is new and what is old.

So we have these three householders giving what is new - we called the frankincense and the myrrh, but it also come from something very very old: the first temple.

As the Magi give it, they are becoming radiant. They are seeing the radiant one, they are the first disciples, the first disciples are gentiles who are bringing back the old and the new and becoming discipled for the kingdom.

This is the radiance of the one who looks upon them and causes his face to shine in them.

They find themselves becoming radiant as they take out the old and bring in the new.