Dear Sisters, dear brethren, today we celebrate a great mystery: the manifestation in glory of the King. What kind of celebration is this, then, what sort of mystery? Well, in the first place, it is not a single event which we celebrate. True, we have just heard of a single event in the Gospel, namely the visit of the eastern Magi to Bethlehem and their giving of gifts to Christ there, and their adoration of Him before returning to their own country. But this is only the first of three events which are all connected by the theme of glory and manifestation. It is Christ who is manifested, who is shown forth in majesty and glory, and we are going to hear of the other two such events over the next two Sundays in the Gospel readings.
So first of all, today. Most of what we celebrate concerning the birth and early days of Christ is found in St Luke’s Gospel, but the coming of the Magi and all connected with their arrival, including the slaughter of the Holy Innocents by Herod and the flight into Egypt, all this comes to us from St Matthew’s Gospel. The word ‘mystery’ is important. What does it mean? We are used to think of it, if you like, in terms of Agatha Christie’s novels, of Inspector Poirot and suchlike detectives who have to ‘solve’ a mystery. In this sense, I suppose, a mystery can be said to be a truth which is hidden. This is the essence of what a ‘whodunnit’ is like. At the heart of it is a ‘mystery’: the identity and perhaps the method of the killer. Now, when we use that word in the Mass it is in some ways similar but in the most important ways it is quite different. A ‘mystery’ such as the Epiphany is indeed something hidden, but not like a puzzle, not something requiring a brilliant detective to uncover and reveal; it is rather something which is truly present in a hidden way, but which can be revealed to the right persons in the right kind of way. It is more like a treasure hidden in a field or in a trunk in the loft of an old house – something that awaits discovery, and in the discovery will come a great joy – like finding hidden treasure.
When God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, of whom we say in the Nicene Creed whose 1700th anniversary we celebrate this year, that He is ‘born of the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father’, it is clear that we are talking about someone not just very important, but literally infinitely great: Almighty God Himself no less. This divine person in the words of the same Creed, ‘by the power of the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.’ It is this which we have been celebrating at Christmas: that God who is all powerful, pure Spirit and Lord of all creation, became man in the womb of His Mother Mary, and was born at Bethlehem, not in a palace nor even a house, but in a stable. At Christmas we recalled how Jesus was born in great humility, yet His birth was announced by angels singing ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will’. The shepherds who heard this astonishing heavenly singing went in haste and found the child and His Mother, just as had been foretold by the angel. What a contrast! Born in a stable, laid in straw, yet heralded by the angelic powers!
Today we have another and different kind of event: the Magi come to adore the new-born King. There is so much that can be said about this admittedly strange event. Who were the Magi? How many of them were there? Why did they come from the East? What drew them to Jerusalem? What is the significance of their coming and of their gifts?
Well, to focus on one or two points only today, and choosing those which in a special way reveal the mystery – that is, the hidden treasure – let us begin with their name. Magi were Persian wise men, learned in the movements of the stars and planets in the night sky. They understood that behind such remarkable order as the heavens showed, there was a great intelligence, a magnificent architect, whom they adored as a mighty God without knowing any more about Him except the works of His hands, the sun, moon and stars. The arrival of a new kind of star in the midst of the ordered regularity of the night sky struck them as being a sign from the God they saw behind the movements of the heavenly lights. This is why they set off to find out more. As Shakespeare puts it in Julius Caesar, ‘the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes,’ meaning that in the ancient world sudden changes in the stars had a dramatic significance, and could be seen as in a way coinciding with the births or deaths of great persons. The Magi shared this view but wanted to go further. They wanted actually to find who this new King was, whose coming was signified by this strange star in the sky, and where He could be found.
It was not just that the star seemed to point towards Jerusalem, but that the knowledge that at that time a Messiah was eagerly expected in Palestine was widespread throughout the Middle East as we know it. The teachings of the prophets, especially Isaiah, were known outside Israel and were deemed to be inspired. So they set off with gifts to offer in recognition of the new King’s status. How many of them were there? St Matthew doesn’t tell us. But the gifts he describes were three in number, so that seems a good reason to guess that there are three Magi to bring them, one gift each. Now here is an interesting point. Look at the Christmas crib and see: how are the Magi dressed? As kings. Why? Matthew says nothing about that. But this is to do with the prophet Isaiah where in today’s first reading he looks towards the future coming of foreign kings to Jerusalem to do homage. Then look also at the Responsorial psalm, ps. 71, in which the psalmist says that ‘the kings of Tarshish and of the Islands shall offer gifts; the kings of the Arabians and Saba shall bring presents’. Thus, the Magi are seen as fulfilling these prophecies. Why is this significant? Because of two reasons: first, kings generally acknowledge no-one superior to themselves; so the recognition that they want to offer gifts to this new king and to adore Him, as they do, shows that they recognize that the new King is greater than they are. Secondly, these kings come from distant places, not from the Holy Land. So the meaning is that this new King, though they call Him the ‘newborn King of the Jews’ has an authority far greater than merely among the Jewish people. The kings in psalm 71 are from gentile, non-Jewish races, and so the Magi represent the first acknowledgement in the Life of Christ that He is the King of all nations, not just of the Jews.
Look again at the crib. You will always find that one of the three Magi is black. Is this just an early case of ‘Diversity Equity and Inclusion’? Well, yes and no. It signifies that all races are under the authority of Christ. The gifts the kings offer also show this. But there is another reason for a specifically black king among the three Magi. In the Book of Genesis we recall how God saved Noah from the Great Flood. It was from Noah’s children that the entire human race was regenerated after the Flood was past. And Noah had three sons who were the ancestors of the different branches of the human race thereafter. Three sons, three magi – is there a connection?
The entire human race was subsequently seen to be descended from each of these three sons and the three great branches of humanity were named after each of these sons: Japheth, Ham and Shem. So the biblical names for the three great divisions of humanity after the Flood were Japhetic, Hamitic and Semitic. Japhetic for the northern white-skinned peoples, Hamitic for the dark skinned peoples from Africa to the South, and Semitic for the Jews, Arabs and other related peoples of the Middle East. Who knew that the word Semitic doesn’t mean simply Jewish, but includes all the Arabs, Lebanese and Syrians as well? So each of the three Magi represents one of the three great branches of humanity beyond Israel.
This is enough for today. The Magi represent all of us gentiles for whom Christ is just as much our King and Saviour as He is for the Jews, His own people. We will hear how the unfolding of this wonderful mystery of God made man will continue next Sunday in the Epiphany, Part Two.
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