Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. Which is a little confusing since you might remember there are supposed to be twelve days of Christmas, the last being the Epiphany on January 6. But in some parts of the world, including the US, the feast gets moved to the nearest Sunday. Since many people seem to think Christmas starts after Thanksgiving and finishes on Christmas Day I suspect very few people care!
Even if we have a little uncertainty about the when, at least the what is easy. The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the Three Kings coming to visit Jesus in Bethlehem – right! Well sort of… Let’s skip over the fact that they weren’t kings, there isn’t any statement about how many there were, and only one gospel writer seemed to think the story had any importance. The key thing for all the Evangelists is to recognize that Jesus’ coming was announced to the world. Matthew and Luke do this at birth, one via (local) shepherds and Simeon in the Temple, and the other via “wise men from the East” (definitely not local). John and Mark start their accounts with John the Baptist and the baptism of the adult Jesus as his “coming out”. That Feast we celebrate next week.
But one Epiphany at a time. How does Matthew handle it? He tells us via the story of the magi that the coming of Jesus was an event with global implications (Mt 2:1-12). He even adds a geopolitical twist to it. Luke has the angels say on Christmas night – “it shall be for all peoples” (Lk 2:10)
How does this relate to Isaiah’s prophecy in our first reading (Is 60:1-6)? Here the gold and frankincense are coming to Jerusalem. The people “all gather and come to you: your sons come from afar” – to Jerusalem. How is the prophecy about Jesus – this seems a bit of a stretch.
So why this reading? Wouldn’t it be better just to have the prophecy that Matthew actually references – from the prophet Micah (Mi 5:1) – even if he doesn’t have quite the cachet of Isaiah.
As so often there are layers to the scriptures, and even more layers of interpretation developed by the church over the centuries. In this case if we move away from thinking about travelers from the East, wherever that might be, and think about the significance of the revelation of Jesus to the wider world, then we can tie the revelation of Jerusalem to the world with the revelation of the baby Jesus. Jerusalem represents the people of God – for Isaiah the Israelites, for Christians the Church (the “new Jerusalem”). The Church is the presence of Jesus in the world. The Church is recognized by all peoples and receives acknowledgement from wise men. “Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance” is true of Jerusalem and of the Church.
Peeling back one more layer, we are the Church. So the Epiphany reflects the wise men coming to visit us! We receive gifts – because we are God’s presence in the world. As Saint Teresa of Avila said: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world.” The Epiphany speaks to us not only about Jesus and how important he was and is, but also how important we are. Let us gratefully receive the gifts we are given – wealth, power, and suffering – and be the continuing presence of Jesus for the world.