"REVELATON"

“REVELATION”

This week marks the official end of Christmastide, with the celebration of the arrival of the Magi to visit the baby Jesus.  The traditional time for this arrival is the Day of Epiphany, or January 6 in the Western church.  After this time the church switches from Christmastide to Epiphany, until the season of Lent arrives on Ash Wednesday (this year, that is February 23).

        Epiphany signifies a revelation, an opening in the individual imagination and in the imagination of the world.  The church tradition remembers this as the coming of strangers, of Gentiles coming to worship the baby Jesus and to proclaim that they have seen God’s revelation in this baby.  It is striking in Matthew’s account of this story in chapter 2 that the first people outside the family to see the baby are Gentiles, seers from another culture.  It is also striking that Matthew contrasts this worshipful attitude of the Gentiles with the murderous impulse of the rulers of the area, most especially King Herod.

Matthew’s story tells us that the Magi show up in Jerusalem, inquiring about the new ruler of Judea.  Herod, the ruler at that time, is filled with anxiety at this news, and he develops a plan to find this baby and kill him.  The Magi, however, counter his plan and do their work without revealing to Herod where the baby is in Bethlehem.  Herod reacts to this with horrific violence, ordering all the boys of Bethlehem ages 2 and under to be murdered.  It is a chilling and horrible penultimate chapter in the Christmas story.  Joseph,  the adopted father of Jesus, takes his family and flees as refugees to Egypt – we are glad that they were a welcoming country and did not have a wall built.

Though it is galling, I have always appreciated that the Christmas story does not shrink from the violence and domination in human life.  One of Matthew’s  last comments on the birth of Jesus is the slaughter of the babies, telling us that the birth of Jesus is not a sentimental flight from the bloodiness and complexity of the world.  This story is not an escape from the world but rather an invitation to go deeper into the world.  Since the themes of the Christmas story are love and justice, they will definitely challenge the powers of the world-as-it-is.  Perhaps more than others, Herod perceives that the coming of God into the world is a dangerous occurrence for the powers that be.  Or, maybe Herod is just the first powerful person to react to Jesus’ coming among us.  Another Herod will get Jesus several decades later.  The revelation of God among us evokes awe but also provokes violence and domination.

As we begin to put the Christmas story back in the attics of our hearts, let us remember the vision of love and justice at the center of the story.  If we want to keep Christmas with us all through the year, living out of love and seeking justice is the way to do it.  Let one of our new year resolutions be this movement towards the center of the story, moving towards love and justice.