When most people think of the word epiphany, they think of an “aha!” moments like when Archimedes got into a bathtub and realized he could measure the volume of irregular shapes with their displacement in water and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse yelling “Eureka!”. Or they think of something a bit more well known, like when the apple fell from the tree and hit poor Isaac Newton on the head and led him to discover gravity.
These are valid definitions of epiphanies, and the word comes from the Greek word that means “to reveal.” When Archimedes and Newton had these moments, something was revealed to them. But the word in the philosophical or theological sense specifically refers to the “manifestation of the divine or supernatural” in this world. And that’s why the moment the wise men come to Bethlehem and visit the baby Jesus is called the Epiphany, because it was then that the divine was revealed to them.
But today’s Gospel includes more than just this epiphany. There were a few epiphanies and aha moments in the reading today, as well as a missed opportunity to encounter the divine.
Let’s take a look at these wise men in the scripture today:
Many scholars assume that these men would have been very educated – academics if you will – who lived in a foreign land. They would likely have been Israelites who remained in Babylon after the exile, instead of returning back to Jerusalem after King Cyrus allowed their freedom. Cousins to the Israelites, essentially, at one point, people under the promise, but now, because they had chosen to remain in a foreign land, they were considered foreigners, gentiles, people outside the covenant. Nevertheless, these were men who had studied the Jewish scriptures, and because of this would have known to expect the birth of a Messiah.
For all we know, this could have been a sort of academic exercise to these men. As in, we know this star indicates the King of the Jews, the Messiah, so let’s go and see if we are right.
Now, their stop in Jerusalem brings us our first example of the divine making itself known in the world. These men, we see, had correctly read the signs of when the Messiah would be born, but we also see that that they do not have a full understanding of the prophecy because in their audience with Herod and the Jewish Leaders, they are asking specifically about where the child who was “the King of the Jews” would be born.
Now, take a moment to think about this question. These wise men are standing in the court of the King of the Jews – King Herod – and are asking where the King of the Jews was born. They’re risking insulting the current King of the Jews by asking this question.
But, thankfully, they don’t incur the wrath of Herod at this point, and we know that the chief priests tell them that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
Now, this is where things get interesting. These men, these foreigners, had, essentially, through their study and understanding of the scripture been invited to the birth of the messiah, and yet, Herod, the King of the Jews, had not. This was an aha! moment for King Herod, because he realized that he was not nearly as important as he believed himself to be. If he was important, shouldn’t he have received an invitation to this event?
And so what does he do? The scripture tells us that he responded with fear, “and all Jerusalem with him.”
After the scribes and Pharisees have gone away, he asks the wise men in secret both when the star appeared. And, he asks that when they find the child, that they report back to him so that he too can pay homage to the child. And, while not in today’s reading, we know that the reason he asked for the exact time the star appeared and the reason why he asked the wise men to report back to him is that he intended to kill all the male children that were born around this time.
God’s will had manifested itself. God had revealed his plan to King Herod and instead of reacting with joy, Herod felt threatened. He felt that this child was a threat to the power he had as King of the Jews, and he reacted with fear, and with hatred, and looked for ways to kill the child and thwart the will of God.
Now, while King Herod’s reaction is the most obvious in readings concerning the wise men, I think we must also look to the chief priests and pharisees. When confronted by the question of the birth of the Messiah, these men did their duty, and told them and King Herod that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem. That’s all they did.
What they didn’t do is ask to join the wise men on their quest to seek out the Messiah.
Think about this for a moment. The religious leaders of the Jewish faith heard the wise men say that they had interpreted the scriptures and the star to mean that the Messiah was born, and instead of asking to join the wise men, they simply did nothing, and went back about their business.
They reacted with apathy.
Apathy is a far worse reaction to a revelation of God’s will in this world than hatred, because hatred means that you actually believe, but you do not want to give up control to God, while apathy means you don’t even care that God has made His will known to you and the world.
These men that reacted with apathy were the chief priests and religious leaders of Jerusalem. They might have disagreed with the wise men’s interpretation of scripture, and reacted with apathy to the revelation of the birth of the Messiah. There’s a good chance that they simply were too proud to believe that these foreigners could figure out where the Messiah would be born. And because of that pride, and being too comfortable in their own knowledge, they disregarded the truth that was revealed to them. But, I can guarantee you that some of these leaders were living 30+ years later. And, when these men were confronted with the grown up Messiah working miracles and disobeying the Sabbath regulations they reacted with hatred and fear, just as King Herod did. Why? Because they too felt threatened by the revelation of God’s will in the world, a revelation that would limit their power and prestige. That divine revelation of a baby in a manger became a divine manifestation of God’s will in this world as soon as Jesus began his ministry as an adult.
But this gospel is less about King Herod, the chief priests and the Pharisees and their varied reactions to divine revelation, and more about the wise men and their response.
When the wise men entered the house where Jesus was, they found the mother and her child there, and they bent down and paid the child homage, presenting him with the gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh – gifts you would present to another person of noble birth.
Now, the Greek word that was translated as ‘homage’ here means ‘to pay respect, as to one’s human superiors.’ Pay respect, as to a king. But still, a human king. In another context, this word is used to define paying respect to a divine being, which is why some Bibles translate this word as ‘worshipped.’ But here, in this passage, the word is referring to human respect.
You see, at that very moment when they first entered the house where they saw the child with his mother, they were still expecting the earthly king, an earthly Messiah, someone to be the King of the Jews and be the salvation of his people through military might. Someone to be the strongman. That was the result of their studies of the scriptures and the cultural expectation of their time. This is why Herod was afraid, after all. Someone who would come and take Herod’s power by force.
But, as these Wise Men spent time with the child they slowly came to grasp what was going on. If they saw the child, lying in a manger, they could ask themselves, why Herod responded with fear, and why the leaders of the people reacted with apathy to the fulfillment of a prophecy. And they could then be free to understand the importance of that child at the manger at that moment. They humbled themselves to the point of paying respect to a baby, offering gifts fit for a king. And somewhere in that act of humility, somewhere in the act of paying respect to a baby, they experienced a true Epiphany, and they said to themselves:
“This is no human child”, and
“This is no earthly king,” and
“This … is not at all what we were expecting.”
And then, at that moment, homage became worship.
At that moment, respect for another noble became reverence for the divine.
They had promised King Herod to return back by way of Jerusalem and tell him about the child. But after this encounter with God incarnate, they are changed. They are warned in a dream that they are not to return to Jerusalem to Herod, and they comply and go home by a different road. They risk the anger of King Herod for having deceived him with a promise that they can no longer keep, having had the epiphany that they did.
That sort of change in behavior can only come when you’ve had an experience with the divine. That behavior comes about when your understanding of Christ becomes more than just an academic exercise, just like the encounter these wise men had.
An encounter with the divine changes you.
Erich Fromm, the psychologist, says “In conventional Western theology … it is assumed that I can know God in my thought. In mysticism, which is the consequent outcome of monotheism … the attempt is given up to know God by thought, and is replaced by the experience of union with God in which there is no more room – and no need – for the knowledge of God.”
Which is just to say, the end result of all of our knowledge of God should be to experience God, rather than just know as much as possible about God. Knowledge should lead us to experience God, just as it did for the wise men in our Gospel today.
One of the most prolific writers of the last century was Isaac Asimove, whom many of you probably know from his Science Fiction books. Asimov also wrote a book on the Bible, which many people actually found to be quite accurate and very academically sound. And despite all of his work studying the Scripture, Asimov never once came to believe the words he was reading. He had knowledge about God, but he never had the experience of union with God.
He never had an Epiphany.
The simple fact that the birth of the messiah was proclaimed to shepherds and other common people, and the fact that these foreign kings were invited to witness the birth of the Messiah tells us right from the beginning God intended salvation for the whole world, and not just the people of Israel. God intended to reveal the Truth of the world to all the people of the World, and even to some of those that were least expected.
So where does that leave us today?
We are unlikely to be confronted by foreign kings seeking to know where the king of the Jews will be born, or unlikely to enter a house and see the son of God resting in his mother’s arms. But, God still works in this world, and the divine still reveals itself to us in many different ways. And that revelation will likely come in unexpected ways, and in and through people that we find least likely to point us to God.
And so, if we find ourselves reacting to things – or people – in anger and fear like Herod did, then we need to stop and reflect. Because it is at that moment that we might be missing the opportunity to experience the divine. Or worse, if we find that everyone else around us is reacting with heightened emotions, and we find ourselves completely comfortable and without a care in the world, we might ask ourselves, why is that?
These moments of stopping and reflecting, of questioning ourselves in light of what is happening to and around us, are necessary.
And the act of humility in considering that we might not have all the answers right in the world allows us to go from our heads to our hearts, and it opens us up to the possibility of an experience with God.
To have our own Epiphany.
[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on January 5, 2025.]
