Isaiah 60:1-6 ; Matthew 2:1-12
Today is the day of Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day. Although the gospel of Matthew doesn’t actually say they were kings.
Americans don’t get into it with the same energy as others do, but Epiphany is a big day in some parts of the world, with a whole collection of traditions around it. The king cakes, where something is hidden inside and whoever gets the piece with the prize becomes the king. Or, in some cultures it means you get to pay for the cake.
There are places where children dress up as kings and go door to door singing songs and collecting sweets – sort of a cross between caroling and trick-or-treating.
Epiphany, in some places is the day when gifts are exchanged – not on Christmas Day, but Epiphany Day. It marks the end of the Christmas season, 12 days long.
Epiphany, like all other aspects of Christmas, has taken on a great deal of meaning and expectation that has nothing remotely to do with the biblical story. But, actually, turning the Wise Men into Kings has a certain biblical logic to it. It comes from Isaiah.
In the 60thchapter of Isaiah, when the exiles are returning to Jerusalem. Over the past century, they have endured much brutality at the hands of bigger, stronger kingdoms. They have seen their brothers and sisters to the north be completely annihilated. Jerusalem was finally captured and destroyed; the people were, en masse, marched away to a foreign land. Babylon. There they remained, in darkness, for some 50 years.
But kingdoms come and kingdoms go. Babylon’s power waned and they were conquered by the new powers to the east – the Persian empire ruled by Cyrus. Cyrus had different views on cultural diversity, and he encouraged the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the shining city on a hill; the city that had been a light drawing all the people of Israel to it for hundreds of years. They were now free to return to Jerusalem. For this good deed, the Persian King was named Cyrus the Great.
All the years spent in spiritual darkness, the people yearned for Jerusalem, and now they could finally return. But it wasn’t simple, they discovered. Jerusalem had been under siege for years before the Babylonians finally broke them. The army tore in through the city walls setting fires and tearing down everything in sight. Now, these fifty-some years later, when the Jews return to Jerusalem, they are returning to a site of complete devastation. And they were not prepared for it.
Think about it: They had been carted away from there a couple of generations ago. Children had been born and raised, and had borne and raised their own children, all in captivity. For decades they had sung songs of lament for their beloved Jerusalem, passing them down to new generations. Through it all, telling the stories of Jerusalem, the place where they had left all their dreams.
Most, if not all, of the people returning to Jerusalem in this new age had never been there before. They were not prepared for what they returned to. Nobody could be prepared for it. All the light had left Jerusalem. It was nothing but a pile of rubble.
And if they had only listened to the prophets way back then – well, you know, things could have been different. But people rarely do heed the prophets.
Biblical prophets are an angry lot. When you open the Bible to a prophetic book – Jeremiah, Amos, any of them – you find words that could singe the hair off your head with their fury. They’re mad. It’s a terrible job, being a prophet. No one likes them because they usually have come to tell you what you are doing wrong.
And there is good reason for that. People are frequently doing things wrong. But here in the 60thchapter, as we draw near to the end of Isaiah’s book, we see the compassionate side of the prophet. He doesn’t say, “Told you so.” He speaks to the city of Jerusalem with tenderness:
Arise, shine, for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Nations shall come to your light. Kings to the brightness of your dawn. Your sons, your daughters, yes, they will return, but also the abundance of the seas, the wealth of the nations – the young camels of Midian, and Ephah, and Sheba. They will all come to proclaim the praise of the Lord.
Into this terrible mess the prophet injects poetry; words of hope and expectation. Look up, he says, your light has come. Not only will you, Jerusalem, be the light of the people of Israel, but you will be the light of the world. All the nations of the world – Africa, Asia, Europe – will be drawn to your light.
Kings will come, and their camels, to your light. They will bring gold and frankincense and sing praises to God.
This will happen, promises Isaiah.
This is happening, says Matthew. The light of the world is born and it is not a place – it is a person. People come from north and south, from east and west, to be in the presence of the light. The light will shine out and everyone, all the peoples of the world shall be gathered in – all kinds of people! And in this diverse and colorful gathering, in the light of Christ, will be blessings of peace and wellness, because this is what it is to have Christ living in and among us.
Arise, shine; your light has come. Gather in this beloved community and be blessed by him.
It will happen, promises Isaiah.
It is happening, declares Matthew.
It was and is and shall be, says the Lord, now and forevermore.
photo: Frankincense and Myrrh
