bearing gifts we traverse afar
January 9, 2009
On Wednesday, January 7th, Transmission celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, the day when the three Magi brought gifts to Jesus. Actually, there are quite a lot of misconceptions surrounding this tale. First of all, they were not necessarily kings or wise men; the term “magi” is often associated with magicians and astrologers. It’s the same term used to describe Simon ‚ÄúMagus,‚Äù the first heretic, who tried to bribe Peter into selling the “magic of Jesus.” Oddly enough, the story of the three Gentile magicians is found in Mathew, the most Jewish of the Gospels. And here’s another misconception: there is nothing in the Bible that says that there were three of them, it only says that they brought three gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. It could have been two magi or twenty!
Finally, there is the matter of where and when the three magi met Jesus. We always imagine the magi appearing with their gifts in the manger the night Jesus was born. This may have been true for the shepherds (who are not in Mathew by the way), but it would have been impossible for the magi. Mathew says that the Magi came to Judea ‚ÄúAfter Jesus was born in Bethlehem,‚Äù (Matt 2:1) The Magi do inquire about the location of Jesus’s birth, and are told it was in Bethlehem, but instead of going to Bethlehem they ‚Äúwent on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.‚Äù (Matt 2:7) Thus they followed the star, precisely because Jesus was not easily locatable in Bethlehem, and because the star told them where he was, presumably in Nazareth. The journey of the magi, which started at Jesus‚Äô birth, must have taken years, so it is most likely that the Magi arrived with their gifts when Jesus was about two. This also explains why Herod wanted to kill every child around the age of two or younger. (Matt 2:14)
To celebrate this occasion we decided to take a long journey like the Magi. And like the Magi we wanted to bring with us gifts. But since we could not bring gifts for the Christ child specifically we decided to bring gifts for his brothers and sisters the needy. We organized a canned food drive and collected cans during our pilgrimage which we deposited at a local food pantry. In all, we collected 39 cans of food!
It was not a good night for traveling – the streets were wet with the day’s rain and spurts of water still drizzled down through the sky. The onset of night had shrouded our journey in darkness and the bitter cold began to freeze the water on the streets. Yet we decided to carry through with our expedition.
We all met up at Sarah‚Äôs apartment for some readings, had some hors d’oeuvres, and then we loaded up and headed to Isaac’s. On the way we talked of our own journeys and what gifts we brought into the New Year. When we reached Isaac’s we were welcomed by his wife Katie, and we had a sing along of traditional Epiphany songs, including “Brightest and Best” and ‚ÄúWe Three Kings.‚Äù Then we tromped our way to Union Theological Seminary where we refreshed ourselves with a sort of communion at Paul‚Äôs house before our final stop, visiting an actual newborn baby, courtesy of John and Elizabeth Snodgrass.
It was a night of experiences carrying our burdens through the streets, telling stories on the bus, singing together, and playing with the children. Our short hike through upper Manhattan was surely different from the long trek of the Magi, but in the end I felt the same warmth of community and fellowship that I am sure they must have experienced as they went on their adventure to see the Christ.