Sermons

Today we celebrate the Epiphany: Epiphany means to ‘make known’ or ‘reveal’. Celebration of this Festival was started by the Eastern Church in 361AD and was initially a commemoration of the birth of Christ. This was then broken down into 3 distinct parts: the visit of the Magi to the Christ child, the baptism of Christ, and the first sign at the wedding in Cana. These are now generally celebrated individually and today we are commemorating the visit of the Magi; we will be celebrating the baptism of Christ in next week’s service which, most fittingly, will include a baptism. So what is it that is ‘being revealed’ and what does it mean to us?

Our Old Testament reading told us to ‘arise, shine, for your light has come’. This links in to St John’s Gospel reading that we heard on Christmas Eve:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

And so we learn that the Epiphany is the revealing of God made flesh, to all people. On Christmas Day we learnt that it was the shepherds, rather surprisingly, who were the first people who were called to worship the Christ Child and it was the first indication of God’s way of working – calling those on the edge of society to be given the amazing privilege of seeing the Word made flesh. At Epiphany however the visitors were somewhat more important.

So who were the Magi? Over the years the Magi have changed their names and their identity. Our Bible reading called them ‘wise men’ and it is generally accepted that they were astrologers who watched the night sky and had noticed a new star. In his book ‘The Journey of the Magi’, Hans Holzer comments that Kings would have hidden their identity, particularly when travelling to a Kingdom with such an unsavoury ruler.

Herod was a bully, or worse. And like many bullies he was deeply unhappy and scared. Showing the power of his authority was all he had. One of his problems was that he was only half-Jewish and thus felt insecure as King of the Jews in Judea, even though he was respected by the Romans who had given him his title of King. Whatever the reason for his paranoia it was deep seated and he was almost insanely suspicious. If he suspected anyone to be a rival, Herod moved to eliminate them. So he murdered his wife and mother-in-law; his eldest son and two more of his sons were also assassinated by him. With this background it is not surprising that not only Herod was frightened by the news of the new-born king, but all Jerusalem with him. No doubt they had an inkling of what was coming next and perhaps many young sons were taken out of Judea for safety sake, until Herod had died. So whoever the wisemen were, it was important that they did not challenge Herod’s authority. It is unfortunate that they chose to ask Herod if he knew of the young king’s whereabouts, but they achieved a little damage limitation, or at least gave the Holy family a small breathing space, by returning home a different way.

But who were these three people? Were they astrologers, or something more? There is no doubt that astrologers had a part to play, because it was an unusual, or new, star that caused the three men to travel. And it may be that the star stood out better in the countries adjacent to the Holy Land than in Judea itself. At a time when observing the stars was an important activity, this would explain why Herod was not aware of the star that the men had followed and why the men ‘lost’ the star as they came near to Bethlehem, particularly in daylight. So Herod helped them by calling together the biblical experts who told the travellers that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Armed with this information they continued on to Bethlehem and as the darkness descended they may well have been able to pick out the star again.

But perhaps these men were more than just astrologers. Maybe they employed astrologers and were people of some social standing. Recent research suggests that they may have been royalty from three distinct kingdoms. The clue to where they originated from comes from their three gifts.

The Bible does not name the men but there has long been a tradition that they were named Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. Hans Holzer goes into some detail about the origins of these names but that need not bother us now. Let us accept the names and see what else we can learn.

Holzer believes that although the star had attracted the men to Judea that may not have been their only reason for travelling. The Orientals were traders and their gifts were samples of their products. Obviously bigger than just samples but examples nevertheless. It was probably the new star that encouraged a ruler, rather than a responsible official, than persuaded the king himself to travel. Crossing the desert was dangerous game and the travellers would have travelled to a major centre where they could find water, food and accommodation. This was probably Petra. Petra was a major trading centre with its strategic position on the edge of the desert and it is likely that the three travellers met here, rather than setting out together.

The first of the three was Caspar who brought gold. The nearest obvious place for this would have been India. Caspar is usually depicted as an elderly man and it is strange that he should have undertaken such a long and difficult journey. It is generally believed that St Thomas, who was a carpenter, took the gospel to India and Holzer speculates that Caspar may have sent his nephew to Judea thirty years after his own visit, with the express purpose of meeting with the carpenter that Jesus had become, possibly with a commission. Palestine was also a centre of learning and so the mission may have been two-fold. Be that as it may, bronze coins, dating from about 35AD have been found in India with an elderly king depicted, similar to many portraits of Caspar. Other coins dating from a similar time and place have replaced the king’s image with that of a picture suggestive of deity, with the other side showing a man on a horse, or more likely a camel, holding a cross. There is an inscription in Greek which translated means ‘King of Kings our Great Saviour.’ So it may be that the idea of an elderly king travelling to Bethlehem came about because as an elderly man Caspar came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, even though his original journey to Bethlehem had been when he was much younger. It was in old age that he truly understood about the baby he had visited all those years ago.

The next King is known as Melchior, depicted as a young man without a beard, and with his gift of frankincense he was probably an Arab. The Arabs living in and around Petra had adopted Judaism as their official religion. However there is no evidence of a king of that name at the right time. Nevertheless there is proof that the King of the time had a son called Malichus who would have been about fifteen at the time of the visit to Bethlehem. Coins of the time in that place have acquired the word ‘shalom’ and this could be related to the ‘Prince of Peace.’ Maybe this second king was in fact a young prince, a king-in-waiting.

The third king has been depicted from earliest times as the black King and with his gift of myrrh, he may well have come from Ethiopia. There was a King of Ethiopia, ruling at the correct time, called Beeze Bazen and Holzer believes that there is evidence that this could have been changed into Belzesan or Balthazar. For the details of this I suggest you read his book!

So here we have evidence that the three wisemen were indeed royal, two of them being rulers of countries in their own right. And they took time to travel considerable distances to see this special King. Unlike Herod they did not want to destroy this young King, but instead to bow down and worship him, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

We are privileged with many others to know the reality of God with us in a very special way. Like the wisemen we should pay him homage and as we are reminded of the love of God in Christ Jesus, cannot fail to be lost in wonder, love and praise.