Today, the Feast of the Epiphany, marks the end of our Christmas season, the end of the beginning, as it were. The key to this ending is the message that the birth of Christ, the decisive entry of God into our world, into our human state, was not just a deeply human story of a baby and his parents, but an event recognized by the whole world – even as far away as its mysterious end, somewhere in the east.
As so often with our biblical stories there are multiple levels to the story of the magi (Matthew 2:1-12). There is that theological story about Christ as savior of the whole world. There is a story about how power and wealth and kingship came and fell prostrate before a higher power, real wealth, and the highest authority. And there is a story about gifts and gift giving.
As I have learned about Spanish Christmas traditions one of the striking things was how, unlike the traditions I grew up with, gift giving in Spain is on the Feast of the Epiphany. This is so obviously logical that we might wonder why everyone doesn’t do that. This is a risky path to investigate since you can go on to discover many variations of gift giving – including on the Feast of St Nicolas, December 6, in the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Italy has not kings but a witch on broomstick! In Sweden the Christmas goat features widely. As far as I know there is no reference to goats in the Christmas story, but I guess reindeer don’t get much of a look in either.
Gifts however are an important part of building and sustaining any relationship. Ask an engaged couple! But sometimes we can focus too much on the gift, or on the giver. Sometimes we need to consider the recipient more deeply.
We might think of Jesus as a passive baby being showered with gifts as by an indulgent family. But of course Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah, is far more than a baby. His acceptance of gifts of all sorts from anyone who comes to visit speaks to a rejection of every notion of value that we hold on to – we want to find the right gift, the most valuable gift, the gift that will last, the perfect gift.
Jesus doesn’t care. The only gift that matters to him is the gift of our love. That gift costs nothing, and everything. And in return he gives us back everything, and more.