Epiphanies for Epiphany
For this coming Sunday’s message in both services, I’d like to share some thoughts and background on Matthew 2 and the Wise Men, (or Magi) and our tradition of Epiphany.
These extended paragraphs are adapted from my first book, Subversive Words: Biblical Counterpoints to Conventional Wisdom. It’s probably more than most of you bargained for, but I offer it with the hope that you glean a few more insights into the depth and breadth of our story from Matthew 2. This New Testament passage is the foundational scripture for our Epiphany tradition. It begins with some important Jewish history.
In Matthew, Jesus Is the New Moses, the Fulfillment of the Law, the Jewish Messiah
Matthew is considered the most Hebrew conscious of the four gospels. Throughout this work, the evangelist makes the case that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, the anointed of God. He is the fulfillment of Jewish dreams and expectations. Like Moses, he has come to set the people free. Moses led the people of Israel out of the land of bondage, and through the waters of the Red Sea, he guided them towards the Land of Promise. In Matthew, Jesus sets the captives free (Isaiah 61), leads us through the waters of baptism, and guides us on to the Promised Land of spiritual liberation.
As Matthew tells the birth story in this second chapter, the parallel is also clear with events surrounding Moses’ early life in Exodus.
Pharaoh attempts to kill Moses as a baby, along all male babies under the age of two
In Matthew, King Herod threatens the baby Jesus and with an identical edict.
Moses began his life in Egypt as a refugee (unknowingly in the Pharaoh’s palace; later in the wilderness of Egypt fleeing Pharoah.)
Jesus begins his life as a refugee in the land of Egypt fleeing Herod.
Throughout Matthew, the parallels continue.
Moses is the lawgiver
Jesus is the new lawgiver.
Like Moses, the hopes and dreams for God’s people are delivered from Mount Sinai.
Jesus articulates a new law that fulfills the old law with his Sermon on the Mount.
This theme of mountaintop imagery continues with the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John witness the opening of the veil between heaven and earth. With Jesus shining like the sun, Moses, the great lawgiver, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, appear. Their presence signifies the arrival of a new era in God’s covenant relationship with the people. So it is on a mountain, a high place where heaven and earth meet, that the second confirmation of the new law and new prophetic preaching takes place.
And what Christians usaully call the Great Commission occurs with the disciples and Jesus climbing a final high mountain to hear: “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations …” (Matthew 28:18-19). Also part of the new law is the view that the covenant people will expand to include what God envisioned from the beginning with the call to Abraham: “I will bless you … so that you might be a blessing ... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). The mountaintop imagery underlines both the holiness of the declaration and the intimate connection to the Moses event of Mount Sinai.
The things of earth meet the sanctity of heaven on a mountaintop. Like the Celtic idea of a “thin place,” the veil between heaven and earth “is but of gossamer fabric” they say; one can see a glimpse of the holy and be reminded of both duty and destiny.
And so Matthew returns us to the mountaintop. Like Moses, standing finally on Mount Nebo, gazing into the Land of Promise, Matthew ushers us in the direction of God’s dream for all that is right and sacred. Matthew prepares us to hear the new law; Matthew readies us to meet the new Moses—and this new law through Jesus fulfills all that God expected.
Epiphany and the Potential Meaning of the Magi
Now let’s begin with some deep background from the lands of “East,” that general direction Matthew offers as his description: “Magi (or Wise Men) from the East came to Jerusalem asking: ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews … ‘” (Mt. 2:1-2).
Persia was a land and culture of fascination for the Hebrew consciousness. Isaiah declared Cyrus the Great, King of the Medes and the Persians, to be God’s anointed, or Messiah in Hebrew, in Isaiah 45:1. Since that time, Cyrus conquered the nefarious empire of Babylon and set the Judean captives free. Having been conquered and exiled by King Nebuchadnezzar in a series of tumultuous raids (597, 587, and 582 B.C.), the Judean community leaders had been dragged into Babylonian exile had spent a generation learning how to cope in a foreign land.
Doubtless plagued by the ongoing indignities of forced relocation, the Judean population collectively rejoiced at Cyrus and his widespread, seemingly redemptive conquests. His popularity peaked in 539 B.C. with his famous decree of freedom. The previously hostage people were given the liberty to return to their native land immediately. In fact, return was encouraged even with some financial incentives that included assistance in the rebuilding of the Temple (that first temple had been looted and destroyed by the Babylonians).
From 539 to 333 B.C., the Judean people would be an integral part of the Persian Empire. Figures like Esther and Mordechai, Ezra and Nehemiah would cycle through the Jewish consciousness. Adaptation to the ways of Persia while attempting to maintain a clear Jewish cultural identity within the majority culture would begin a symbiotic co-existence that lasted for just over two centuries. It appears that these influential memories reemerge with the writing of Matthew’s second chapter.
They are called Magi. Our modern language has simplified the term to “wise men;” yet Matthew’s description contains more than mere wisdom. And they are from the “east.” Centuries of scientific, intellectual, and mathematical insight are wrapped in this seemingly innocuous term. Assyria, Persia, Babylon, Parthia: Still today, our ways of telling time, keeping track of seasons, diagnosing arithmetic equations, riding on wheels, irrigating land far from water sources, caring for wounds on the battlefield (first aid), mining and metal technology, fostering international trade and much more … all these originate from the “east.” This is the mysterious direction Matthew dangles before us, the land of the Magi’s origins.
Therefore, they and this seemingly innocuous point on the compass represent a long, clear history of well-connected legacies. Our Epiphany passage conveys intellectually robust and highly significant traditions lingering just on the outskirts of Mary and Joseph’s traditional Jewish life. The writer of Matthew no doubt expects his audience to recognize these valuable clues.
Further, the Magi are following the night sky: They are familiar with the constellations. Something has changed. The God of the universe is doing something new, and they want to be a part of it. Astrologers were very much a part of the Babylonian and Persian cultures. These men from the East could also have been Zoroastrian priests from a long, rich religious tradition not so terribly different from Judaism.
There are not necessarily three, by the way, and they are not named, in spite of our songs and traditions. They were more than one. There could have been many. Regardless of the number and their anonymity, what we can conclude from Matthew’s purposes can be:
An intentional nod to the rich intellectual traditions Judaism would become known for
An intentional connection to Babylonian traditions and memories of the Exile
An intentional connection to and fulfillment of other religious, cultural, spiritual hopes
A clear connection to the prophetic descriptions in Isaiah 60:1-6 which culminates in what this multitude of camels will be bringing: “gold and frankincense”
5 Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,[a]
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you;
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord
A kind of anti-Rome, anti-Herod, anti-authority message that speaks with a forked tongue directly to the Roman rulers of Judean territory.
This final point might be the most potent, given Matthew’s general bias against the ruling authorities. The Roman Empire had been yet unable to conquer their contemporary Persian successors to the east, the Parthians. This thorn in their side seems to be lifted with literary grace in the a reminder: “these exotic folks from the east get it; you so-called sophisticates of Rome need to get with the program.” These Persian/Parthian Magi appear hungry to be included in the ways of God and this newest phase of salvation history.
After their encounter with Herod the Magi begin to see him for what he was: a paranoid, hostile, fearful despot determined to stay in power at all costs. What Herod fears becomes reality. What Rome scorns emerges quietly in the corner of an animal stall.
After all these centuries, we wonder still at the mystery those Wise Men from the East came to see.
Happy Epiphany everyone. The light revealed in that star then shines brightly still. May it be so for you now, and throughout 2025.
Love,
David
David Jordan
Senior Pastor