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January 06, 2008
Three Kings ....
Today is Epiphany Sunday, the day on which the Christian world celebrates the arrival of the Three Kings in Bethlehem. Looked at simplistically and out of context the wise men or Magi arrived while shepherds and angels were still gathered at the manger. In fact if you look at it more carefully, the Christ child they came to meet would already have been walking, the shepherds long gone and Mary and Joseph comfortably ensconced in a house. Why else would Herod have ordered the killing of ALL boys below the age of four?
That aside, the arrival of the Magi and their gifts is significant for the world as this was the first revealing of the Christ to the Gentile world, a signal if you like that this "King of the Jews" had a wider Kingdom than just the Israelites. As ever in the world of politics, Herod and his court were in fear of a rival to their power and the earthly throne he occupied courtesy of Ceasar, so he reacted to remove the threat. And, as ever with a politician, got it totally wrong. Not only did he not kill the Christ, but he had committed an act of mass murder to remove a threat that was not against his earthly kingdom at all - at least not in the sense he understood. The "King" he sought to kill had indeed come, but to claim a crown far above all crowns, even Ceasar's.
The Magi's gifts are significant, Incense procalims the God made Man, Gold proclaims the Kingship and the Kingdom and myrh fortells the tomb. Strange gifts to bring to a small Jewish household in a town, even then, overshadowed by Jerusalem and the events taking place there.
We celebrate the Magi today, yet a week ago we were celebrating the first martyrs for Christ, the Holy Innocents murdered by Herod. Why do we remember them before the celebration of the Magi? Precisely to remind us that, far from bringing instant peace, the forces and powers that drive men away from God still had to be overcome. The tomb had to be occupied and then emptied.
The Messiah came to the Jews first as was foretold, then, once in the World, he was revealed to the Gentiles. We are all a part of God's salvation and of God's creation. The Magi stood in His presence in Bethlehem as our Ambassadors. It is no mystery then that the Orthodox Church celebrates this feast as the superior to Chrsitmas itself. God's gift to the world was unwrapped and revealed by the Magi.
"And being warned in a dream, they returned home by another way."
I suspect that in modern Britain, such visitors and such an event as the Coming of the Christ would be greeted in much the same manner as Herod received them - and with much the same attempt to prevent it going any further!
Posted by The Gray Monk at January 6, 2008 02:41 PM
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