The Dangers that Epiphany Reveals

Lessons from the Magi on being simultaneously threatened and “overwhelmed by joy.”

For liturgical calendar–watchers and church history enthusiasts, Epiphany ranks as the third most important event of the church year, right after Easter and Pentecost. It was one thing for Israel’s King to be born among Jewish shepherds and angels. Quite another to have him revealed as the King of the Gentiles too. Epiphany means revelation, and with the revelation of Jesus to the Magi, God’s plan to save his chosen people turns out to be a plan to save the whole world.

By the time we get to Matthew 2, Jesus is a toddler and sleeping in a bed. His family thankfully upgraded to a house, which may have been connected to all those glorious angels. Anybody witnessing that spectacle surely scrambled to make more room available. The family still resides in Bethlehem, where they’re famously visited by a collection of exotic magicians from the east, described by tradition as three kings or wise men, easily the strangest guys to show up in the gospels thus far. Scholars conclude they were likely astrologers, who, having checked their skies, determine an important king has been born who is worth checking out. With the kind of fervor currently reserved for any royal birth, these astrologers trace a star toward Jerusalem, Israel’s capital city. They drive straight to the palace, since that’s where you’d expect a king of the Jews to be born.

For the ancients, astrology was the best that science had to offer as far as the cosmos was concerned. It was a world where the earth sat at the center of the universe and stars and planets were thought to be alive. What did the Magi see up in the sky that night? An astral anomaly? A blazing comet? A bright supernova? An alignment of planets? Speculation runs ...