When Alexander the Great was born star gazers in Asia read of it in the heavens and were afraid. When Tiridates, King of Armenia saw a new star in the west he assumed – poor man – that it meant the Emperor Nero was to be king of all the world, so with other star gazers he went to Rome to do Nero homage. Aeneas, himself, had been led to the place where Rome was to be founded by the guiding of a star.
When the Israelites escaped form Egypt and came to the River Jordan a local king called Balak grew nervous. He summoned one of his wise men Balaam to curse this new people. But Balaam’s oracles didn’t go the way Balak wanted. In one of them Balaam proclaimed, ‘A star will come out of Jacob, a sceptre will rise out of Israel he will crush the foreheads of Moab ‘ A century or so after the death of Jesus the last of the Jews to claim to be the Messiah was called Simon bar Kokba the son of the star. Stars are a rich ingredient in the ancient imagination, and grist to the mill of Matthew’s imagination.
In ancient Persia priests were called Magi. They were reputed to be great astrologers and diviners. Less respectful foreigners called them magicians and sorcerers. A Jewish legend from around Jesus’ time said that a star had appeared when Abraham was born and star gazing magicians tried to kill him. Isaiah’s prophecies said that representatives of other nations would come to see the light of Israel’s rebirth as a nation. Psalm 70 says that foreign kings will bring gifts to Israel’s triumphant ruler. Isaiah also speaks of gold and incense as suitable gifts to the Lord; Psalm 45 and the Song of Songs exhale the fragrance of myrrh. More rich ingredients for the ancient imagination and grist to the mill of Matthew’s imagination.
King Herod the Great, however, was far from imaginary; friend of Caesar, made king of Judaea by Anthony and Octavius, famous for his cruelty and duplicity he died in 4BC, so if Jesus was born at the end of his reign this year must be at least 2010. Sometimes modern astronomers try at this time of year to calculate the nature and course of the wise men’s star but perhaps old Herod is the only fact in this story all the rest may be the product of a rich imagination no one can say for certain. The story has, nevertheless, been a rich ingredient of the Christian imagination ever since. Preachers, painters and poets have all enriched the story with the contents of their own imagination and given it a variety of interpretations. Lancelot Andrewes, preacher to the court of James 1st used the magi as an example of perseverance in coming to worship Jesus in spite of great difficulties. The courtiers in front of him made so many excuses for not going to church that their epiphany would, he tells them, have fallen in Easter week at the soonest. The poet, TS Eliot, saw the Magi as examples of men who cannot quite let go of the old life which they know their new faith requires them to give up. Evelyn Waugh saw them as ‘patrons of all latecomers, of all who have a tedious journey to make to the truth, of all who are confused with knowledge and speculation of all who stand in danger by reason of their talents.’ African Christians have seen at least one of them as black, South American Indians have dressed one of them as their chief. Eric James sees them as representatives of wealth, power, and corruption, and their gifts as examples of the greed, idolatry, and fear of mortality which characterise the market place. The cathedral of Cologne is named after them as their bones are supposed to rest there. But what makes those bones live, what will make their story come alive today?
Whether he made them up or whether he inherited their story, Matthew saw the Magi as representatives of the gentiles coming to worship Jesus. And he saw Jesus as the representative of the new Israel. And just as Jesus is persecuted by the leaders of Israel at his birth when the Innocents are killed in his place, so at the end of his life he is persecuted and killed by Herod’s successors. And just as representatives of the gentiles come to greet Jesus at his birth, so at the end of the gospel the risen Christ tells his disciples to go and preach to the gentiles. So what made Matthew tell this story? What triggered his imagination about it? Was he a Jew whose life had been changed by Jesus? Was he a Jew who had seen Gentiles also have their lives changed by Jesus? And had he as a result had to sit down with people whom in the past he has despised. Has matthew made friends with gentiles because of Jesus and so shared with them the stories and the bread and wine and food which in the past he would never have allowed himself to eat? And was it stories like that of the Magi that caused him to change his life? Or was his life changed so that his imagination could give birth to the story of the Magi?
Story, imagination, new action those are the essentials of the Christian life. Perhaps what order they come in varies; but all of them must always be involved. But so often in Church in services and sermons and study groups the story and the imagination may be present, but somehow the demand that we grow and change gets left out.
The Magi had stories and prophecies and a star to release their imagination; they went on a journey; their set ways of thinking and behaving led them first to the wrong place to Herod’s court and the story almost went disastrously wrong. They arrived at the right place, they saw, they gave gifts, they went home but the story doesn’t tell us how they were changed. Perhaps that’s not important. What is important is whether we can change. Do we regard this new year as offering the possibility of change in our lives? Do we want to change in any way, do we believe and hope we can change? Do we have the boldness and confidence which Paul speaks of to come closer to God in new ways and so to come closer to the possibilities God sees in us? Today is called the feast of the Epiphany; an epiphany is literally ‘ a radiant appearance.’ As we read and hear these stories of Jesus, as they begin to work on our imagination, God’s will is to change us, to give us a radiant appearance.
Stephen Tucker