Feast of the Epiphany, 2010

MATTHEW 2:1-12
TODAY OUR CHURCH OFFERS A READING FROM ISAIAH TO GO WITH THE GOSPEL READING FROM MATTHEW. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BIBLICAL STUDIES, YOU PROBABLY LEARNED THAT MATTHEW BUILT HIS GOSPEL ON THAT OF MARK, AND HE HAD OTHER SOURCES FROM WHICH TO FLESH OUT HIS OWN ACCOUNT OF CHRIST'S LIFE. YOU MIGHT ALSO HAVE LEARNED THAT MATTHEW WAS WRITING TO A COMMUNITY OF JEWS WHO HAD BECOME CHRISTIANS, AND TOOK GREAT PAINS TO SHOW THAT CHRIST'S LIFE WAS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECIES THAT HAD BEEN GIVEN TO THE JEWS; MATTHEW OFTEN COMMENTS “SO THAT THE SCRIPTURES WOULD BE FULFILLED” OR WORDS LIKE THAT. MATTHEW WAS INTIMATELY FAMILIAR WITH WHAT WE CALL THE “OLD TESTAMENT”, ESPECIALLY THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH .
BUT MATTHEW LIKE ALL THE GOSPEL WRITERS, HAS HIS OWN STORY TO TELL, HIS OWN TAKE ON THE EVENTS SURROUNDING CHRIST'S LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION. SO MATTHEW WAS UNDOUBTEDLY THINKING ABOUT THE ISAIAH READING WE JUST HEARD WHEN HE WROTE THE STORY OF THE WISE MEN FROM THE EAST. THE PROPHECY WAS THAT A TIME WOULD COME WHEN PEOPLE FROM THE EAST WOULD BRING TREASURES TO JERUSALEM, AS PART OF THE GLORY GOD HAD PLANNED FOR THAT CITY. AND THE TREASURES WOULD BE GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE. SO IF THAT WAS REALLY MATTHEW'S INTENT, WHY DID HE ADD “MYRRH” TO THE GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE?”
THE SECOND POINT IS THAT THE WISE MEN COME TO JERUSALEM. THIS IS WHERE THEY EXPECT TO FIND THE KING, THE MESSIAH. WHY WAS THAT? PRECISELY BECAUSE IF YOU READ THE PROPHECY IN ISAIAH, THAT'S WERE ALL THE ACTION IS GOING TO BE. AFTER ALL, JERUSALEM IS ALREADY THE CENTRAL CITY OF THE JEWISH NATION, AND IT HAS A GLORIOUS PAST. ISAIAH PREDICTS, AND THE WISE MEN SEEM TO FULFILL, THAT CARAVANS WILL COME BEARING TREASURES, KINGS AND PRINCES WILL COME TO LEARN FROM JERUSALEM. HOW DID THE MAGI LEARN ABOUT THIS? I SUSPECT SOME OF THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES WENT WITH THE JEWS WHO AT THAT TIME WERE SCATTERED IN COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE, AND IN PERSIA AS WELL. THESE WISE MEN PROBABLY KNEW JEWISH SCHOLARS AND THROUGH THEM THE PROPHECIES.
MATTHEW MEANS SOMETHING BY ALL THIS. HE IS SPEAKING TO PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES, HE MAKES IT A POINT THAT JESUS FULFILLS THE SCRIPTURES, BUT HERE, AS IN SOME OTHER PLACES IN HIS GOSPEL, THERE ARE SOME DIFFERENCES FROM WHAT HAD BEEN PREDICTED.
WHEN THE WISE MEN GET TO JERUSALEM, THEY ASK HEROD, “WHERE CAN WE FIND THIS KING?” AND HEROD CALLS HIS OWN SCHOLARS AND THEY DRAG OUT A DIFFERENT PROPHECY, THE ONE BY MICAH. THIS IS THE ONLY PROPHECY THAT CALLS ATTENTION TO BETHLEHEM AS THE PLACE FROM WHICH A RULER WILL COME FORTH. BETHLEHEM IS A HUMBLE VILLAGE, BUT IT HAS A HISTORY AS WELL. IT HAS AN ASSOCIATION WITH KING DAVID, WHO CAME FROM NEAR THERE. THERE ARE A FEW OTHER BIBLICAL FIGURES WHO HAVE SOME SORT OF CONNECTION TO BETHLEHEM, BUT OFTEN IT IS CALLED BY AN ALTERNATIVE NAME, SO IT ISN'T ALWAYS CLEAR TO THE CASUAL READER. AND WHAT MATTHEW WANTS US TO KNOW IS THAT THE MESSIAH, THE CHRIST, CHOSE TO COME FORTH FROM VERY HUMBLE BEGINNINGS. WERE THE MESSIAH TO BE A GREAT RULER, AS SOME BELIEVED HIM TO BE, ONE WOULD HAVE EXPECTED HIM TO COME FORTH FROM THE CAPITAL CITY. WHERE HE TO BE A GREAT PRIEST, AS SOME BELIEVED HE WOULD BE, YOU WOULD BE SURPRISED IF HE DID NOT COME FROM THE CITY WHERE THE PRIESTHOOD WAS EXERCISED, WHERE SACRIFICES WERE OFFERED TO GOD. BUT MATTHEW IS SAYING, “WHATEVER ELSE HE IS, THE MESSIAH IS A PROPHET, AND AS SUCH HE BEGINS AS AN OUTSIDER – OUTSIDE THE ESTABLISHMENT; OUTSIDE THE CENTER OF LEARNING; OUTSIDE THE PRIESTHOOD, OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE. PROPHETS ARE OUTSIDERS, OR THEY COULD NOT HOLD UP THE SINS OF A NATION FOR ALL TO SEE. AND OUTSIDERS, ESPECIALLY PROPHETS, MIGHT AS WELL EXPECT PERSECUTION.
AND WHAT ABOUT MYRRH? WHY DID MATTHEW MAKE A POINT THAT NOT ONLY WAS GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE BROUGHT TO THE NEW BORN KING, BUT MYRRH AS WELL? MYRRH WAS INDEED VALUABLE, AND ONE BIBLE SCHOLAR SAYS THAT MATTHEW WAS JUST PUTTING THINGS IN CONTEMPORARY TERMS, SINCE NOBODY KNEW ABOUT MYRRH WHEN ISAIAH WROTE HIS PROPHECY.
BUT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, THE ONLY OTHER REFERENCES TO MYRRH HAVE TO DO WITH BURIAL RITUALS. IN ONE GOSPEL ACCOUNT NICODEMUS BRINGS MYRRH TO ANOINT THE BODY OF JESUS AFTER JOSEPH OF ARIMETHEA OFFERS HIS TOMB FOR JESUS' BURIAL.
AND THE MAGI BRING GOLD, BECAUSE JESUS IS A KING; AND FRANKINCENSE BECAUSE HE IS THE HIGH PRIEST. BUT THEY ALSO BRING MYRRH, BECAUSE JESUS IS THE PROPHET WHO WILL BE REJECTED AND PUT TO DEATH; IN FACT, DURING JESUS' TIME, MYRRH WAS ASSOCIATED WITH EMBALMING DEAD BODIES. THE EPIPHANY IS THE TIME WHEN JESUS IS MADE KNOWN TO THE WORLD IN THE PERSONS OF THE MAGI, AND HE IS REVEALED AS KING, PRIEST, AND REJECTED PROPHET RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING.
AND I WONDER HOW MARY FELT AT THAT TIME? BECAUSE SHE KNEW AS DID EVERYONE ELSE WHAT MYRRH WAS FOR. IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE GIVING A COFFIN TO A BABY BEING BAPTIZED.
SO THE INTERESTING THING ABOUT THIS GOSPEL PASSAGE, WRITTEN MANY YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF CHRIST, AND WRITTEN FOR A COMMUNITY OF JEWISH CHRISTIANS TO SHOW THEM THAT JESUS WAS INDEED THE MESSIAH SENT BY GOD, IS THAT MATTHEW SHOWS THEM THAT JESUS DOES INDEED FULFILL THE PROPHECIES – BUT IN THE WAY HE FULFILLS THEM, HE TEACHES US THE KIND OF MESSIAH HE IS – A MESSIAH WHO IS KING AND PRIEST AND PROPHET, BUT A KING WHO GIVES UP HIS MAJESTY AND GLORY TO BE BORN IN A TINY TOWN FILLED WITH ORDINARY PEOPLE; HE IS A PRIEST WHO WILL BE THE BRIDGE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, BUT DOES NOT HAVE ANY SORT OF CONNECTION TO THE TEMPLE, BECAUSE HE WILL BE THE NEW TEMPLE; AND HE IS A PROPHET WHO WILL NOT ONLY CALL THE PEOPLE BACK FROM THEIR SINFULNESS, BUT WILL ACCEPT DEATH TO SATISFY THE JUSTICE THAT IS DUE GOD FOR BREAKING HIS COMMANDMENTS.
SO THIS IS THE EPIPHANY. THIS IS THE REAL CHRIST. NOT GLORIOUS JERUSALEM, BUT HUMBLE BETHLEHEM. NOT JUST PRECIOUS GOLD OR SWEET FRANKINCENSE, BUT ALSO BITTER MYRRH, THE MYRRH OF DEATH.
SO LET US TODAY CONTEMPLATE THE WONDERFUL MOMENT WHEN IT WAS REVEALED THAT THE PROMISES GOD HAD MADE TO HIS PEOPLE WERE NOT JUST FOR THEM, BUT ALL WHO, LIKE THE MAGI, ARE WILLING TO FOLLOW THE STAR TO WORSHIP THE NEWBORN KING.