EPIPHANY
Micah 5:1-5a
Matthew 2:1-12

     Artwork, primarily drawings and paintings, have a huge impact on what we think we know.  The three wise men come from the East looking for a baby.  Except, the Bible never says there were three of them.  The paintings of the wise men always depict three, because there were three gifts mentioned.   If you paint two wise men, one of them is standing there with two gifts – making the other guy look cheap.  If you paint four wise men, one of them has nothing to offer – again looking really unprepared, and cheap.  There is a nice symmetry to three men, each holding a gift. 

     Where did the wise men come from?  There are two good guesses.  The first is from southern Arabia, and that’s because the Queen of Sheba came from southern Arabia.   Isaiah and Jeremiah tell us that when she came to visit Solomon she brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Isaiah 60:6, Jeremiah 6:20).  It seems a strange coincidence that the wise men would bring the exact same gifts.  We know that Solomon shared the history of his people with her, including the fact that they were awaiting a Messiah (1 Kings 10:1-13, Matthew 12:42).  Her people would have been aware to wait and watch for the sign.  The sign comes from a prophecy in the book of Numbers 24:17, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near-- a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.” 

     The second place the wise men may have come from, and this is more likely, is Persia – which today we call Iran.  The word our Bible translates as wise men, is Magi.  Magi is a Persian word for a wise man skilled in astronomy, and astrology.  Men trained to watch the stars and interpret the signs.  More than that, Magi were priests in the Zoroastrian religion.  Zoroastrianism predicted that a king of kings would be born to the Jews, and would be heralded by a cosmic event.   This is not surprising. 

     You know that Israel split into two countries after Solomon.  The northern country kept the name Israel.  In 721 BC the Assyrians conquered Israel, and deported most of the Jews, replacing them with foreigners.  Most likely the foreigners were Persians.  These Persians intermarried with the remaining Jews.  This is the same region where Jesus grew up.  You know that Jesus grew up speaking Aramaic.  Aramaic, is Assyrian, spoken with a Persian accent.   By the time Jesus is born there is a 700 year relationship linguistically, genetically, and religiously, between Israel and Persia.  The Persian wise men were never kings.  Around 600 AD, artwork began painting the Magi with crowns, implying they were kings, and giving us the hymn “We Three Kings”.  That is not in the Bible. 

     The wise men came following the star of the East, not a star in the East.  If the star had appeared in the East, the wise men would have come from Rome, Greece, and Spain.  It is called the star of the East, because the people living East of Israel saw it and understood its significance.  Whatever they saw actually appeared in the Western sky. 

     What did they see?  Was it a comet, or the super nova of an exploding star?  That is possible, but unlikely.  It would have taken the wise men some time to observe the celestial event, and interpret its significance.  Then, they would have to make the trip from Persia to Israel.  This process would take six to nine months.  Both a comet and a super nova would have faded to blackness by the time the wise men arrived.  Yet, the Bible is very careful to tell us the star was there when they arrived at Jesus’ house. 

     There is a theory gaining momentum that I like.  In 1 BC there was an unprecedented alignment of four planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Venus.  This would have created a ‘star’ significantly brighter than anything ever observed in recorded history.  In addition, directly behind the conjunction was the zodiac sign of Aries, which the ancients associated with Israel.   The Chinese recorded this same cosmic event, and didn’t know whether to call it a comet, a star, or something completely new.   Astrologers in Persia would have definitely noticed and predicted the coming conjunction.  And, they would have known that it involved Israel.  They would have had more than enough time to understand the event, prepare for and make the journey, and arrive in Israel just as it all came together.  It would have been easy for them to arrive at Jesus’ house on the day the ‘star’ reached its absolute brightest. 

     Let me take just a second and address an issue.  Could our God have created a brand new star, and put it in the sky over Israel, and left it there long enough for the wise men to see it and make their journey?  Then, after the visit of the Magi could our God have taken that same new star back out of the sky?  Yes, our God is that powerful.  And, that may well be what happened.  However, our God is also so powerful, and so infinitely knowledgeable, that he could have created the universe a million years ago, and started it spinning so perfectly that everything would line up just right, exactly on the day he wanted the Magi in Bethlehem. 

     Artwork gives us beautiful paintings of baby Jesus lying in a manger surrounded by donkeys, sheep, shepherds, and wise men.  The truth is that the wise men arrived almost two years after his birth, when (as the Bible says) Jesus had moved out of the stable and into a house.  That explains why King Herod decided to kill every baby boy in Bethlehem two years old and younger.  

     Let’s talk a little bit about Herod.  The wise men arrive in Jerusalem looking for the King.  That’s a natural mistake.   Jerusalem was the capital, where the royalty lived, and where you would expect to find the heir.  Herod was an illegitimate king.  He did not have the right ancestry to be the king of Israel.  He wasn’t even Jewish, he was half Arab and half Idumean.  So, he burned the genealogical library in Jerusalem, then hired Nicolaus of Damascus to create a fake genealogy for him, so he could grant himself the authority to be king.   It is significant that in the Bible, when the wise men approach him, Herod admits that this baby is the Christ.  

     And then the Bible says something very telling.  “When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.”  And all Jerusalem with him.  Do you think the average man on the street was frightened that the Christ had come?  No!  Why would you be frightened of a long awaited Messiah?  Why would you be frightened of someone who would set you free and allow you to be treated with respect and love?  You wouldn’t.  They were frightened of Herod.  Herod’s writings tell us that he was completely head over heels in love with his first wife Mariamne.  Yet, the second he thought she might not be a suitable enough wife; he hung both her and her mother.  Then, he sent assassins to Rome to murder the two sons she bore him.   This is a man who would stop at nothing to protect his kingship.  When Jerusalem heard that Herod was deeply disturbed by a potential rival, they knew that no one was safe from the sword, and they were terrified. 

     It soon becomes clear that the new king is not in Jerusalem.  Herod calls his scribes, men who have their college doctorate in theology, to determine where the child is.  The scribes quote the prophecy from Micah 5:2 saying that the child will be born in Bethlehem.  Kind of.  If you go back and look at Micah 5:2 some time, you will see the scribes misquoted.  They got the essential meaning correct, but they didn’t quote the right words.  And, they tacked on 2 Samuel 5:2 as if it were part of the same prophecy.   When Jesus is born, the men who are supposed to know the most about the Bible are ‘familiar’ with it – but not much more.  Be scared, be absolutely terrified, of anyone who puts themselves in spiritual authority over you, but doesn’t know what the Bible says. 

     The scribes send the wise men to Bethlehem to see if the Christ is there.  It is a five mile journey.  Only five miles.  You can walk five miles in one hour.  But, neither Herod nor the scribes, can be bothered to take one hour out of their busy day to go and see if God has worked a miracle.  For 1800 years, ever since Moses, the Jews had been waiting for this day.  The birth of the Messiah was of supreme importance.  It signified the beginning of the end.  They believed with all their hearts it signaled God inserting himself into history to right all of the wrongs against them, to take away the sin, and bring them back to the Garden of Eden.  Nothing was considered more important if you were Jewish.  And these men, kings and professors of religion, charged with the knowledge and authority to protect, defend, and educate the people – couldn’t be bothered to take a one hour walk.  

     The wise men are alone when they arrive at the home of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.  They are exceedingly joyful to find the child, and they present to him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Lets talk about the gifts.  Both the Psalms (72:10) and Isaiah (60:6) prophesy that those are the gifts that will be presented to the Christ, by Gentiles.  I have heard it speculated that the gifts are recognition that Jesus will fulfill the roles of prophet, priest, and king.  Gold is certainly the correct gift for a king.  Frankincense was burned by the high priest in the holy of holies when he made the annual sin offering for the people of Israel (Exodus 30:34-38).  And, Myrrh was sometimes burned and inhaled by eastern religious men to put them in a prophetic trance.   I have also heard that the gifts are a foreshadowing of Jesus’ suffering and death.  It is true that he was offered myrrh on the cross as a pain killer (Mark 15:23), and that his body was anointed with myrrh when he was placed in the tomb (John 19:39). 

     However, it often strikes me that even in the midst of the miraculous, our God is highly practical.  Frankincense was worth its weight in gold.  That is, one ounce of frankincense was equal in value to one ounce of gold.  Myrrh was worth seven times its weight in gold.  We know that Jesus’ family is warned to flee Israel to Egypt in the middle of the night.  Gold would allow him to pay off the rent on their house, purchase a donkey, a cart, food for the journey, and bribes for the border guards.  Frankincense and Myrrh were very light, and very small.  They were easy to transport into Egypt, and also easy to hide so the robbers wouldn’t know about them.  In those three gifts Jesus’ family received the fastest and easiest way to get out of town, and live in a foreign country for two years, until Herod died and they could safely return.  Very practical.  Now, is our God so omnipotent that he can give practical gifts that also signify Jesus’ role as prophet/priest/king, and foreshadow his atoning death on the cross?  Yes, he is. 

     I spent a long time trying to decide what one message, what single overriding thought, I wanted you to take away from this scripture.  Epiphany Sunday is usually associated with that AHA!! moment, when you finally understand who and what Jesus is.  Next year the Epiphany scripture will be about Simeon and Anna, and I want to save that message for that scripture.  I considered delving into character analysis: Herod as an example of the lengths we will go to, not to give in to God, the Scribes as a warning against the church becoming bored and blind, or the Magi as a positive example of how far we will go to find something better in life.  But, what kept coming back to me, over and over, was this.

     Do you realize how amazing our God is?  Our God started the universe spinning with such perfection that the Assyrians invade and conquer Israel (repopulating it with Persians) so that Magi show up on Jesus’ doorstep, after nine to twelve months of preparation and travel, just in time to present him with gifts that provide him with safety and security while acknowledging his divinity and his purpose, in specific response to a dozen prophecies that had lain dormant for 700 years!  How do you make all of that come together flawlessly, like clockwork?  Only our God can do that.  And, I don’t believe it was an isolated event.  I believe God still acts with that same precision and foresight in our lives today.  I believe that we meet and make friends, woo lovers, win and lose jobs – by the grace of God acting in our lives, to create the perfect environment for us to know and love him.  He does that for billions of people, every minute of every day.  Do you realize how amazing our God is?