From Advent to Ascension

What Shall We Do with the Good News?

Epiphany as a word means to have a tremendous realization. Yet it is more than that. An epiphany is an overwhelming moment of clarity. And while that might sound like a good thing, it can also be a very frightening experience as it brings things into great focus.

For a new thing to break forth, though, there is the unsettling idea that that which has been must come to an end. That is an uneasy idea. Whenever the undercurrent of change is felt, unease is not far behind. Thus, with the arrival of the magi, our anticipation increases, as should our concern.

These magi, prominent dignitaries who represent other cultures, other religions, and other traditions, have come to town, but not to see the powerful King Herod! They are there to find a new king whose portents were found in the stars.

According to tradition, they were wise men, perhaps astronomers, perhaps theologians, from Persia. While we don’t know much from the text, we know that they were from distant lands and that something about the birth of the one who would be called the Christ called them. Thus, they traveled not to stay but to see and bear witness. As impressive as is their arrival, which comes from a sense of duty and perhaps devotion, their presence triggers other events. This may be unforeseen but, sadly, perhaps not unexpected.

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). So speak the magi, bringing the truth to unsuspecting and unprepared ears. To the Christians of later tradition, they obviously bring Good News. However, the magi in the story don’t completely know what the news is that they bring at this point, but they have news, and, in what seems like a mistake only in retrospect, they bring that news to Herod.

We, therefore, take a reflective look back at Epiphany, as it is in reflection that the meaning of epiphanies often become clear. God sent the angels to the shepherds first, not the local aristocracy or royalty. For the wise sages to have arrived, probably about the time Jesus turned two or three, they would have had to put the pieces together some time earlier (perhaps even two or three years earlier!) and traveled for a great distance. Wise sages knew. Shepherds knew. Herod did not know. Instead, he found out the hard way. He found out because the magi came to find directions to an event to which Herod had not been invited.

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.” The text then tells us that when Herod heard this, he was troubled. Not only this, but the text tells us that Jerusalem was troubled with him.

It is telling that Matthew describes this arrival of Good News as a moment in which fear spread. “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (2:3). Why? Because scared people can be dangerous people, and scared people with power and weapons can be lethal.

These were troubling ideas, and if they were troubling to Herod, they were troubling for Jerusalem. This was because Herod was a man to be feared. A great man of vision but a paranoid man who would go on to kill his wife and children out of suspicion of treachery. Their executions were a preemptive strike by Herod before they could take his power.

Herod is the man who has heard that there is a new king, and it isn’t him. It was into this world that Jesus was born. As such, the one sent by God would be nothing less than a threat to the way of life the people were used to, as well as the way of life that Herod and the Romans would strive to maintain. Thus, the words of the magi were indeed troubling. The Good News is not good for Herod. Jerusalem fears that if the news is not good for Herod, it will not be good for them either.

The Good News is perplexing. It is unsettling and unnerving because the arrival of this news suggests a potential displacement of power. Herod has power, but these magi are looking for someone else. Herod would likely conclude that he was in danger of being overthrown.

We see with the story of the magi and Herod an old idea: Herod, perhaps, could not fathom what it meant for anyone to be looking for a king outside his palace. So it is that when we encounter this narrative, we are called to recognize that God has always been found outside the palace. God in the wilderness called the people out of Egypt. This same God warned the people to not have a king.

It is God who cries in the wilderness, “Prepare the way!” (Isaiah 40:3). It is Ezekiel who, while looking at the temple, sees the presence of God leave (Ezekiel 10) because the people have sought to contain God, not believe. God leaves the temple because it has become corrupt and is collaborating with those who would keep themselves in power by the oppression of others. And it is in the wilderness, not the temple, where the people will journey to hear John the Baptizer cry out, “Repent!” (Matthew 3:1–3).

What Herod hears from the arrival of the magi is that there is activity outside the palace, outside the temple, outside of his control, and he is troubled. And I think that’s where we can find some commonality with Herod. The workings of God are outside and beyond our control. Typically, anything that is outside of our control makes us very nervous.