The twelve days of Christmas are now behind us, as we celebrate the Epiphany, a major feast often called Twelfth Night. In our reading (Mt. 2:1-12), three Persian priests, whose religion is based on astrology, read an astral event predicting the birth of a future Jewish king. In response to the finding, the three -- traditionally called Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior -- head out from Arabia to Palestine, because they are interested to see a future monarch.
Herod, who is the reigning king of the Jews, is also quite interested. He is an insecure ruler, a half- Jew who is trusted neither by Jews nor by his Roman clients. Thus, he has established a record for despatching any would-be contenders for his throne and, so, engages the Magi to do reconnaisance for him and report back. They make the journey to Bethlehem, then avoid Herod by taking another route homewards. Thus goes the essence of our story read as history.
Re-read for symbolism, the tale truly comes to life! The child is given gold (appropriate to royalty), frankincense (appropriate to priests), and myrrh (embalming fluid). These are not gifts that anyone in his right mind would bring to a baby shower. And especially to a poor baby sleeping in a cattle trough in a cave! But we when we see that the gifts respectively symbolize Jesus' life as a spiritual king, the high priest of a new dispensation, and a martyr, we understand that this story in its subtle predictive fashion tells us as much as the Creeds do about the life of Jesus.
At another level, the story also symbolizes the eventual change in the Jesus Movement from being a Jewish sect known simply as "the Way" to becoming a religious phenomenon open to all people. That change occurred long after the time in which Matthew's narrative is set, but long before his gospel was written. We who are Gentiles can certainly be most grateful for incorporation into that emerging Christianity and for this wonderful story in which three exotic characters represent our journey to Christ.
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