Epiphany (6 Jan)
by the Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD (Cantab), Old Roman Apostolate UK
Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.
Today we celebrate the great feast of the Epiphany, the showing forth or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. At Christmas we celebrated the coming of the Saviour into the world. Now we celebrate his manifestation to be a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the glory of his people Israel. We hear from the prophecy of Isaiah about the age to come in which the nations will come to worship the true God in Jerusalem, “when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense and showing forth praise to the Lord.”
But what was the context in which the prophets such as Isaiah looked forward to a future age in which the nations would come to worship the true God in Jerusalem? The context was the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. God had chosen Israel to be his people, had delivered them from slavery into Egypt, had given them the Law through Moses and led them through the wilderness into the promised land. God had entered into a covenant with Israel, and when the people fell into sin he sent prophets to call them back to faithfulness to him. But the God of Israel was not simply a national God, but the God of the whole world, the maker of all things and judge of all men. The nations who did not currently acknowledge the God of Israel could not be left in darkness indefinitely. A time would surely come when God’s kingdom would finally come on earth as it is in heaven, when Jerusalem would finally dwell in safety, the swords would be beaten into ploughshares and the spears into pruning hooks and Israel would finally be delivered (Isaiah 2). But Israel could not be finally delivered from the curse of sin and death that had blighted the present age without the nations as a whole being delivered. God’s purposes were not only for Israel, but for the world. The prophets therefore looked forward to a time when not only Israel would be saved and delivered, but the nations would finally renounce their idols and come to Jerusalem to worship the true God. Such a time would surely eventually come in order for the promise first given to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed to be fulfilled, and the earth to be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
The true light that lighteth every man had not left himself without witness. In the last days of Herod the king Magi (wise men or astrologers) came from the east to Jerusalem saying, “Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to adore him.” In the ancient world significant events were often thought to be signified by signs in the heavens (indeed astronomy – the study of the stars has its origins in the belief in astrology, though the Church would later distinguish the two by saying that the study of the stars was a valuable scientific investigation to be kept distinct from claim of the astrologers that the signs in the stars actually influenced human behaviour). The Magi saw a phenomenon in the stars that led them to conclude that a great king would be born in Israel. They travelled to the King of the Jews, King Herod in Jerusalem.
Herod was a ruthless tyrant who had made his way by brute force. He was recognised by the Roman Empire as the King of the Jews, and ruled the kingdom which he had acquired on behalf of the Romans. Though his family were actually of Idumean rather than Jewish origin and the Jews disliked and distrusted him, he clearly modelled himself on King Solomon, who had first built the Temple in Jerusalem. Herod sought to rebuild the temple and ruthlessly eliminate all opposition to him. He killed two of his own sons who he saw as a threat to him and before his death murdered his own heir. He was naturally suspicious of any rival claim to his royal title. The prophet Micah had forefold that the future deliverer of Israel would be born in the city where King David himself had been born, Bethlehem (Micah 5). Herod was suspicious of any rival to himself and was therefore anxious to establish from the Magi what they had discovered in Bethlehem. The Magi were led to the child with his mother Mary and when they saw him, they fell down and worshipped him. They opened to him their treasures, gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then, avoiding any further dealings with the paranoid King Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.
The Magi had been led to Jerusalem because they were expecting the future King of the Jews to be born to the royal purple and were therefore led to King Herod, the King of the Jews. In fact, they were diverted a few miles further south to a young child and his mother who they discerned to be the true King of the Jews. The King of the Jews in Jerusalem ruled by brute force and eliminated his opponents. But the true King was a helpless child with his mother who would reign not by force and violence but by suffering and love. He had already been visited by shepherds foreshadowing his ministry to the outcasts of Israel, and he was now being visited by Gentile astrologers, foreshadowing the proclamation of the Gospel, the good news of salvation to all nations. But he would be the light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel not by being another Herod, ruling by brute force, but by being the suffering servant that Isaiah had foretold, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His messianic destiny, enthronement and rule would come through reversal, repudiation, suffering and death. He would be the true seed of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed, who by his death would destroy death and open to us the gate of everlasting life.
Let us pray that we will continue to faithfully proclaim the great truth of this feast, the manifestation of the Saviour to the nations, in our own time and place.
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