When we hear the phrase “speaking truth to power,” we usually think of those particularly courageous and prophetic figures who confront tyrants and oppressors, often at the cost of their own lives. And while such people are essential to our world and our church, many, if not most, of us know in our hearts that we can’t be like those people. But facing this truth about ourselves doesn’t mean that we give up our values, our beliefs, our commitment to positive change. It just means we need to find our own way.
We each have unique gifts to offer the world, and today’s solemnity of the Epiphany reminds us that we are called, first and foremost, to bring those gifts to the newborn King, the Messiah, the Christ child, the Lord of all who was born in a humble stable in Bethlehem.
The story from Matthew’s Gospel about the visit of the Magi that forms the basis of this feast shows us that the kingdom of God will always be at odds with the kingdoms of this earth. Were these visitors kings, wise men, astrologers, astronomers, philosophers? We don’t know for sure. What we do know is that they were seekers. Their field of study had led them to an awareness of a great event taking place in a distant land, one that was worth a long and arduous journey, the journey of a lifetime.
When they arrive in Jerusalem, their natural expectations are met with confusion, suspicion and subterfuge. King Herod, threatened by the idea of a new ruler supplanting him, subverts the work of his own scholars and wise men to find out the answer to the magi’s question for his own purpose. But the men from the east continue on their journey. They arrive in Bethlehem, worship the child and present him with symbolic gifts: gold for kingship, frankincense for divinity, myrrh for the death that he would both endure and conquer. And the reading concludes with a telling sentence: “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.”
As I reflect on this, I find myself thinking of a number of questions, all of them slightly disturbing. Was it their coming to Jerusalem with their curiosity and questions that alerted the wicked king to the baby’s existence? If they hadn’t asked, would the prophecies naming Bethlehem as the Messiah’s birthplace have remained in the dusty custody of the Torah scholars? We know that Joseph was similarly warned in a dream to take the child to Egypt, but might it have prevented the deaths of all those babies? They didn’t return to Jerusalem and Herod with the specific location of the child, but had the damage already been done? Clearly they weren’t in a position to stop Herod. What could three foreigners do in the face of that notorious despot?
Two thousand years later, we still wrestle with these same issues. What is our role, our responsibility? How do we confront the despots in our life? What do we do to protect the innocent, whether it’s one child or many? Epiphany refers to the manifestation of God’s presence in our human world, the showing forth of the kingdom of heaven. The Magi found the child because they sought him. Herod sought only his own power and destruction followed in his wake but he didn’t find the child. Faced with the choice of darkness or light, destruction or peace, which will we choose?
