Sunday, January 2, 2011

Epiphany, 2011

MATTHEW 2:1-12
SAINT THOMAS WAS PROBABLY THE MOST BRILLIANT THEOLOGIAN OUR CHURCH HAS EVER HAD. IF YOU'VE EVER LOOKED AT HIS MASTERPIECE, THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA, YOU WOULD SEE AN ALMOST MATHEMATICAL APPROACH TO THEOLOGY, WHICH THOMAS DID REGARD AS A SCIENCE. BUT PEOPLE WHO ONLY READ HIS SUMMA AND OTHER MAJOR THEOLOGICAL WORKS TEND TO REGARD THOMAS AS SORT OF BLOODLESS – ALL BRAIN AND NO HEART. BUT THOMAS PREACHED A LOT OF SERMONS, TOO, AND THESE REVEAL MUCH MORE OF HIM AS A REAL HUMAN BEING. ONE OF HIS SERMONS WAS BASED ON THE THREE GIFTS WHICH WERE GIVEN TO THE CHRIST CHILD BY THE MAGI, WHICH WE HEAR OF TODAY. THOMAS ASKED THE QUESTION, WHY DID THE MAGI BRING A BABY GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH? OBVIOUSLY WE CAN SEE THESE GIFTS IN A THEOLOGICAL SENSE, BUT THOMAS SAW A PRACTICAL SENSE AS WELL. GOLD, OBVIOUSLY, BECAUSE JESUS' FAMILY WAS POOR. FRANKINCENSE, BECAUSE THOMAS WAS SURE THAT THE STABLE IN WHICH JESUS WAS BORN MUST HAVE SMELLED BAD, AND FRANKINCENSE WOULD MASK THE ODOR. AND MYRRH, BECAUSE THIS WAS CONSIDERED MEDICINAL, AND COULD BOTH DULL PAIN AND PREVENT INFECTION, AND THE CHILD WOULD SOON BE CIRCUMCISED.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE FIRST READING, YOU WILL SEE THAT ISAIAH PREDICTS THAT CARAVANS WILL COME TO JERUSALEM BEARING GIFTS OF GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE. MATTHEW, WHO IS WRITING TO JEWISH CONVERTS AND USING HIS GOSPEL TO SHOW THEM HOW JESUS FULFILLS THE PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, SHOWS THAT JESUS IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECIES, AND WHEN IT ISN'T OBVIOUS, HE POINTS IT OUT. REMEMBER LAST WEEK WHEN WE HEARD THE STORY OF THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT? THE FAMILY FLED TO EGYPT, PARTLY BECAUSE THAT WAY WHEN THEY CAME BACK THEY WOULD FULFILL THE PROPHECY “OUT OF EGYPT I WILL CALL MY SON”. AND WHEN JOSEPH DECIDED TO GO TO LIVE IN NAZARETH, IT WAS TO FULFILL THE PROPHECY, “HE SHALL BE CALLED A NAZOREAN”. SO HERE WE HAVE MATTHEW'S DESCRIPTION OF THE VISIT OF THE MAGI, AND HE IS CONSCIOUSLY RECALLING THE PROPHECY THAT THE GENTILES WOULD BRING GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE TO JERUSALEM, AND WOULD WORSHIP GOD.
BUT I CAN HEAR SOME OF YOU SAY, “WAIT A MINUTE! THE FIRST READING SAYS THAT THEY WILL BRING GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE TO JERUSALEM, BUT MATTHEW HAS THE GENTILES, THESE MAGI, BRINGING GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH TO BETHLEHEM, A LITTLE NO-ACCOUNT TOWN OUTSIDE OF JERUSALEM. WHAT GIVES HERE?” AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT YOU SHOULD BE SAYING.
MATTHEW IS WRITING ABOUT 80 YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. BY THEN THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF THINKING ABOUT JESUS. THERE WAS THE EXPECTATION AMONG THE JEWS THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE A GREAT KING. CERTAINLY THAT GOES ALONG WITH GOLD. AND SOME JEWS THOUGHT THAT HE WOULD ALSO BE A HIGH PRIEST. INCENSE MAKES SENSE HERE. BUT MYRRH? MYRRH WAS A HEALING OINTMENT, IT IS TRUE, BUT IT WAS ALSO USED TO EMBALM BODIES. AND IN FACT JESUS ENCOUNTERS MYRRH TWICE AT THE END OF HIS LIFE. FIRST, HE IS GIVEN A SPONGE DIPPED IN WINE MIXED WITH MYRRH WHEN HE IS HANGING ON THE CROSS. THE IDEA IS THAT HE WILL ANESTHETIZE HIMSELF; BY DRINKING THIS MIXTURE HE WILL SORT OF PUT HIMSELF INTO A STUPOR SO THAT HE DOESN'T SUFFER AS MUCH. JESUS OF COURSE DIDN'T TAKE THE MIXTURE. THE SECOND PLACE HE ENCOUNTERS MYRRH IS WHEN HIS BODY IS EMBALMED WITH A MIXTURE OF MYRRH AND ALOES. IF THE MYRRH REPRESENTS ANYTHING, IT REPRESENTS THE MESSIAH AS PROPHET, BUT PROPHET LIKE JEREMIAH, A MAN WHO WAS PERSECUTED AND PROBABLY EVEN PUT TO DEATH BECAUSE OF WHAT HE SAID; OR A PROPHET LIKE ELIJAH, WHO WAS HUNTED AND DRIVEN INTO THE WILDERNESS BECAUSE HE SPOKE THE WORD OF GOD.
SO IN A SENSE MATTHEW IS TELLING HIS JEWISH CONVERTS THAT JESUS IS TRULY THE EXPECTED MESSIAH, BUT NOT JUST A KING, NOT JUST A KING AND PRIEST, BUT INDEED A PROPHET AS WELL, A PROPHET IN THE TRUE SENSE, SOMEONE WHO DIED FOR THE TRUTH. AND MATTHEW EMPHASIZES THAT THE FIRST PEOPLE TO WHOM THIS MESSIAH WAS REVEALED WERE GENTILES, AND NOT EVEN RIGHTEOUS GENTILES WHO WORSHIPED THE JEWISH GOD; THEY WERE INSTEAD ASTROLOGERS, PEOPLE WHO STUDIED THE STARS – SOMETHING FORBIDDEN TO JEWISH PEOPLE. AND THIS ENCOUNTER TOOK PLACE IN BETHLEHEM, NOT JERUSALEM, THE CENTER OF JEWISH POWER, LEARNING, AND WORSHIP. MATTHEW IS POINTING OUT THAT THE BIRTH OF JESUS IS CLEARLY THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY, BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT IS A COMPLETE BREAK FROM THE PAST, A RADICAL NEW BEGINNING.
ISAIAH'S PROPHECY, THEREFORE, IS NOT QUITE ON THE MARK, AND THAT IS ALRIGHT. THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH COULD NOT BE A RADICAL NEW BEGINNING, A NEW START FOR MANKIND, IF IT WAS PREDICTABLE. BUT ISAIAH GOT MOST OF IT RIGHT, MEANING THAT THERE IS CONTINUITY; GOD WHO HAS BEEN WORKING IN HUMAN HISTORY FROM THE VERY BEGINNING FINALLY BRINGS ABOUT THE LONG AWAITED EVENT, THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISES MADE THROUGH THE PROPHETS.
BETHLEHEM, NOT JERUSALEM; GOLD, FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH, NOT JUST GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE; AND A BABY IN A STABLE, NOT A KING OR EVEN THE SON OF A KING WITH ROYAL BLOOD LIVING IN A PALACE; NOT TO GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE, BUT TO STRANGERS, PEOPLE WHO WERE NEARLY PAGANS. THAT IS THE KIND OF GOD WHO IS REVEALED IN THIS EPIPHANY.
THE MAGI SET OUT FROM THEIR HOMELAND LOADED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE FROM THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH, THE AUTHOR OF THE LONGEST AND MOST INFLUENTIAL PROPHECY IN THE SCRIPTURES. THIS LED THEM TO JERUSALEM. THERE THEY HEARD OF THE PROPHECY OF MICAH, A MORE OBSCURE PROPHET WHOSE WRITING IS VERY SHORT, AND THAT LED THEM TO BETHLEHEM. THAT IS THE KIND OF GOD WHO IS REVEALED IN THIS EPIPHANY.
GOD IS REVEALED AS A GOD WHO BECOMES ONE OF US, WHO SUFFERS AND DIES, WHO IS THERE FOR ALL PEOPLE, NOT JUST THE JEWS; WHO BRINGS GLORY TO A TINY VILLAGE A FEW MILES FROM JERUSALEM, NOT THE BEAUTIFUL CITY. THE MAGI WERE LED TO FIND JESUS IN THIS CONTEXT, AMONG THE POOR, THE LOWLY, THE OBSCURE. AND THEY WERE CHANGED, SO MUCH SO THAT THEY WENT HOME BY A DIFFERENT WAY.
TODAY LET US GO HOME BY A DIFFERENT WAY, CHANGED BY OUR ENCOUNTER WITH GOD WHO REVEALS HIMSELF TO US IN THE POOR AND SUFFERING, AS WELL AS IN THE WORD AND IN THE EUCHARIST.