Despite custom and tradition, the Feast of Epiphany has nothing to do with three Kings. As we just heard in the gospel, “behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem.” No number was given. Nor were they named. But, human nature being what it is not only did there have to be an absolute number but they required names, neither of which come from scripture. The number three came from the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh backed on the assumption that it was one gift per magus, the singular of magi. Kasper, Melchior, and Balthazar? Sounds like a law firm. However, the magi are neither numbered nor named in the gospel. They are anonymous just as we are. But they are the source of some interesting traditions of the past.
I don’t think the custom persists back home but back when I was an altar boy over sixty years ago, some of us got day out of school to accompany the priest as he blessed the homes of parishioners. This was true in the Polish, Slovak, and Lithuanian churches in town. Not too sure about the Irish church. After the blessing Father, using a piece of chalk, would inscribe the initials, K, M, and B with a cross between each letter and the number of the current year. And then there were a few Christmas cookies to nibble on in the car. How we got through those seasons without developing diabetes is a bit of a mystery.
Many of the traditions that have grown up around the Feast of the Epiphany have little to do with reality or the meaning of Jesus’ birth.
The word epiphany is from two Greek roots:epi: forth and pheinein: to show. Thus Epiphany means to show forth, to reveal, to manifest. One formal definition of epiphany is: "a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something, a comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization."
The intuitive realization of Jesus as Messiah is the perfect description for this feast. That intuition was symbolized by the star not the magi who were not kings. The word ‘king’ as well as their names came into use only in the sixth century. In the end the number of magi, whether they had any royal status, and their names are all irrelevant distractions. The Magi are important because they represent the first Gentiles to worship Jesus; they were the first gentiles to realize and comprehend that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah
There are many more epiphanies of Jesus scattered throughout the Gospels. It is even more important to realize on this feast that there are multiple personal epiphanies of Jesus scattered throughout our lives if we are willing and able to recognize them in faith.
We just heard in the gospel, "When King Herod heard of this he was greatly troubled and all Jerusalem with him." Herod's jealousy, duplicity, and rage bring us closer to the reality of Christmas than do the lyrics of "O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
"Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage." Fortunately the magi, worthy of their name as wise men, did not believe the crazed megalomaniac and changed their return route. Their failure to return with the information he demanded sent Herod over the edge into a murderous rampage directed at male children up to the age of two.
Once we wash away the treacle, set aside the sloppy sentimentality, and forever dissociate the word ‘magic from Christmas, we can begin to understand the true meaning of Christmas.
We can begin to understand what we call the "Christmas story." That story did not end when the magi returned home, wherever that might have been. What we call the Christmas story
only describes the beginning of the Christ-event the total arc of Jesus' life, from incarnation and birth, through his hidden life, his teaching, his passion, death, resurrection and ascension.
The wood of the manger in Bethlehem led to the wood of the cross on Calvary. We cannot, we must never, separate the wood of the manger from that of the cross. Understanding that is part of a true epiphany.
The late Dag Hammarskjöld summarized the reality of Epiphany and the entire liturgical year in a haiku written in the small personal journal found following his murder in what was then the Belgian Congo. Published under the name Markings it has never been out of print despite the lapse of over five decades. The haiku reminds us that Christmas does not and cannot stand alone in either the liturgical or secular calendar.
"On Christmas Eve Good Friday
was foretold them
in a trumpet fanfare."
The trumpet fanfares and Gloria in Excelsis Deo of Christmas have meaning only when we experience the silence of Good Friday and the shock of the empty tomb.
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The photos were take in the village of Črni Vrh in Slovenia. The community had gone to the funeral of a Jesuit' s father. Cold does not begin to describe it. At 800 plus feet elevation it was about 3500 feet. Despite having been advised, and following the advice, to wear as much as possible, I don't recall feeling as cold in years. The wind was fierce. It took hours to thaw out.
Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
