Kings, Guiding Lights, and “A-ha” Moments

Every year, after the 12 days of Christmas are over, we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany and enter the season of Epiphany. An epiphany is an “a-ha” moment, and the season of Epiphany is a time for “a-ha” moments about God. All throughout the season of Epiphany, we examine various “a-ha” moments about Christ that occur throughout the Gospels.

The Feast of the Epiphany was this past Tuesday, January 6, with the celebration of the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem, who went on a long westward journey to find a baby. Along the way, they have their epiphany, their “a-ha” moment about who this child really is.

Our narrator for the feast of Epiphany is the Gospel writer Matthew. For much of Christmas, it was Luke’s voice we heard tell us about angels and shepherds and mangers. But for the story of the magi, we to turn to Matthew, who wants us to come away from his nativity story with three “a-ha” realizations about Jesus:

1. He is the true King for both Jews and Gentiles, in a long line of Kings going back to King David.

2. He is God’s Son, and he is himself Divine.

3. He is going to die.

And the story of the magi’s visit to baby Jesus is Matthew’s way of conveying these three truths about Jesus’s identity. Because the magi used a star to guide them, some scholars think they may have been tied to Zoroastrians from Persia, known for their study of astronomy. In contrast to Luke’s poor shepherds, these visitors were learned, worldly, and wealthy enough to bring expensive gifts. These gifts are not practical baby gifts. They are meant to be highly symbolic.

The gold was meant to stress the Christ Child’s royal kingship, in stark contrast to King Herod’s paranoid and malicious leadership. Jesus was the true King, and both Jews (Jesus’s family) and non-Jews (the magi) acknowledge him as such.

The frankincense was a gift meant to stress Jesus’s divinity. In many cultures, incense was and is used as an offering to God in religious rituals.

And the myrrh was meant to symbolize the baby’s humanity, his mortality, and his eventual destiny in the tomb. Perhaps Mary saved the myrrh that the magi brought to use to anoint Jesus’s body for burial when he is taken down from the cross. In any case, this unusual baby gift was, as the classic song says, “a bitter perfume” that foreshadows the crucifixion and death of Christ.

This Epiphany season, my family and I are reading a book that was shared with us recently. It is called, “Only Light Can Do That: 60 Days of MLK Devotions for Kids.” The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s last name is fitting, because like the magi of yore, King was a wise man whose legacy helps us have “a-ha” moments about God and about ourselves. His own guiding light led him on a long and dangerous journey that ultimately helped to shape our society in profound ways and make it a little more Christlike. We still have a long way to go, so I am grateful that my family and I will be able to learn more about him throughout this Epiphany season.

Epiphany is the season of following our guiding light so that we might have our own “a-ha” moments and discover who Jesus is to us. How might you use this season to follow a guiding light that may lead to an “a-ha” moment of your own?

Yours in Christ,

Carmen