Preacher: Rev. Jennifer Hosler, PhD

Date: January 7, 2024; Epiphany Sunday

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-18

If you’d like to watch a video of this sermon, you can find it here.

This weekend is a weekend of milestones and markers, some joyful and many somber. Orthodox Christmas is celebrated today, as our Eastern Christian siblings in Christ observe different dates following the Julian calendar. For the “Western” churches that follow the Gregorian calendar, the 12 days of Christmas end on January 6th with the celebration of Epiphany, when the Magi visited from the East.

A more modern but unpleasant milestone is the anniversary of January 6th, 2021, an insurrection against the US Capitol that was a truly scary day for our city and our country. And now January 7th, the 7th day of a month, that now brings us to three whole months since October 7th. Three months since Hamas killed about 1200 civilians in Israel and kidnapped hostages. Three months of devastating bombing of Gaza, where at least 22,722 people have been killed (about 70% women and children; more than 8000 children). Three months of attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Epiphany Background

The story of Epiphany is one of both great joy and great devastation. It is one of occupation, power, riches, poverty, migration, and violence. Just as our lives and this world is a mix of joy and

According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “The name Epiphany comes from the Greek epiphaneia, meaning “appearance” or “manifestation,” and refers to the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the world.” The scriptures used historically to describe Jesus’ manifestation as the Messiah are the visitation of the Magi, along with the Baptism of Jesus by John, and Jesus’ first miracle during the wedding at Cana. The world glimpses who Jesus is in each of these moments.

Our Epiphany scripture today comes from the gospel of Matthew, which has a very different Christmas story than the gospel of Luke. I love Luke: I love the inclusion of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel and Mary, Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and both of their prophecies, I love the story of the angels appearing to the shepherds in the fields.

While Luke has these rich nativity narratives, Matthew is sparse. We start Matthew 1 with a genealogy: “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew traces Jesus’ lineage from Abraham through David and the Davidic line continues to Joseph. Then, we get a brief birth story from Joseph’s perspective.

Joseph is engaged to be married to a young woman named Mary. Before they live together, Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant. He tries to settle things as quickly as possible, for Mary’s sake, going out of his way to fulfill his religious responsibility and spare Mary from public shame. “Just when he resolves to do this,” scripture says, Joseph has a dream. Joseph dreams of an angel who says, “Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for she hasn’t cheated on you; she has become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The narrator Matthew explains that all this is taking place to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah: “‘Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’” which means, ‘God is with us’” (7:14). Joseph wakes up from the dream and follows the angel’s instructions. He marries Mary. Eventually, Mary gives birth to the baby, whom they name Jesus.

Visitation of the Magi

So, in Matthew, the main Christmas piece we get is a genealogy and Joseph’s backstory. The narrative then pivots to what is about two years later (the age of 2 being tragically important to our passage).

Our official lectionary reading starts in Matthew 2:1. In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.”

A few things to discuss here: First, despite my childhood Kings’ Cake or the We Three Kings song, Jesus’ visitors were not “kings.” The Greek word magoi (the plural is magi) was used to represent astrologers or people who researched the movement of the stars and planets, trying to make inferences about human affairs. Some commentators think magi meant Zoroastrian priests. Clearly from the text, the magi have been observing the stars and found world-changing theological meaning in the appearance of a star when Jesus was born.

Second, we do not really know how many people arrived in this entourage that shakes up Jerusalem. We don’t know how many people brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh—or that the people we call “Wise Men” were even all men. Theologian Wil Gafney (2021) prefers the translation “sages” and notes that “Grammatically speaking, not all of the magoi need be male, only one [for the noun to be male plural]; note: no number of sages is specified” (p. 35). We do not know how big the retinue was. We don’t know their names or their specific ethnicities, though Persia is an educated hypothesis from many scholars.

Whoever exactly they were, we see that a group of foreigners, an Eastern entourage, comes to Jerusalem. It is clearly a big deal and the whole city knows that they have come. As foreign dignitaries, the Magi make their way into the city, asking about the child born king of the Jews. It doesn’t say that they went to Herod first, but that they entered the city asking about the child king. The Magi assumed that people in Jerusalem would know about this baby king with astrological impact. The whole city and King Herod are afraid of what might happen.

Certainly, Herod is afraid knowing that he was a Roman puppet king, from a Jewish convert family with no connection to David. Herod laid siege to Jerusalem about 40 years before, winning it back for the Romans from the Hasmoneans. His rule comes from the Romans, solidified by marrying into a Jewish (but not Davidic) military dynasty. Herod knows the people hate him and his rule is shaky. The people know that Herod is a tyrant and killed his wife, mother-in-law, son-in-law, and two of his sons out of fear someone would take his throne. Now here is a group of foreigners wondering about a new king.

Herod commands together all the chief priests and scribes (a type of religious scholar) and asks where the Messiah was to be born, according to scripture. These scholars land on a verse in Micah 5:2, which mentions a future ruler to come from Bethlehem. Trying to be savvy, Herod calls the Magi to find out exactly when they saw the star. It is likely that they saw the star appear around Jesus’ birth, which set them on their journey. A Jewish King would be in Jerusalem, so to Jerusalem they went. It doesn’t seem like they saw it consistently. After Herod encourages them to go to Bethlehem, the star appears once more, the star they had seen in the East, and it stops over the place where the child is.

The Magi see that the star has stopped, and they are overwhelmed with joy. They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy,” the Greek says, in superlative emphasis to get the point across. The Magi go to the house, and they visit toddler Jesus with his mother Mary. They pay homage to this tiny human, who is still navigating how to walk without falling, still learning to use his clumsy fingers with precision, and yet is the promised Shepherd. The Magi give this toddler, from a poor family, expensive gifts, gifts worthy of royalty and then, they depart for home, avoiding Herod due to a warning received in a dream.

Unfortunately, the visit from the Magi has terrible, tragic repercussions, due to the murderous and power-anxious King Herod. Joseph is warned in a dream to take Mary and Joseph to Egypt, to escape the wrath of Herod. Like many refugees throughout history, Joseph, Mary, and toddler Jesus flee in the middle of the night. Maybe the crossed near what is now the Rafah border, separating Gaza from Egypt. Herod is infuriated that the Magi leave without his permission and without giving him the precise information of the child he’d like to murder. So he orders all the murder of all male children in and around Bethlehem under the age of two. The gospel writer Matthew quotes Jeremiah’s prophecy, which had implications both in Jeremiah’s time and Jesus’ time: unbearable grief and mourning at the senseless deaths of children. “

A voice was heard in Ramah,

    wailing and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

    she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

What a contrast between the exceedingly great joy of the Magi and the inconsolable weeping in Ramah.

God with Us – in Our Joy and in Our Suffering

I can’t stop thinking about Gaza. I mean, I’m sure there are moments when I am not. Moments when I am happily just enjoying nature or being with my giggly goofy child, or trying to wind down does a book or a show. But basically, I can’t stop thinking about Gaza. I asked aloud, this week, why this feels different than previous conflicts? Why does this feel desperate and also so incredibly urgent to keep pushing, pushing, pushing for a ceasefire?

I think this is because, in my memory, we’ve never had a conflict where our country is so closely involved in the supporting and enabling of brutal violence against civilians.

Gaza has quickly become the deadliest place in the world for children, with about 100 dying per day according to Doctors without Borders (Alsaafin & Osgood, 2024). People in supposed safe zones, in hospitals, mosques, and churches, are all at risk of bombing or sniper attacks. Half of Gazans are at risk of starving, according to the UN, due to Israeli blockades. Estimates from Israeli military and activists say that if the United States stopping funding the Israeli military with our tax dollars, the bombs would run out in about three days. It has been 92 days, funded by our tax dollars. Lord, have mercy. I believe our faith compels us to stand up for life, for Israeli lives, for Gazan lives, for lives in the West Bank. It calls us to invest in life, not death. And so, a few days before Christmas, on December 19^th, I chose to be arrested to call for ceasefire, for this country to invest in life, not death.

On Christmas Eve, I spent time writing a reflection for a Christmas Day service led by Adalah Justice Project. The prompt was, “What would Jesus do – for Palestine?” And what stuck with me was the words in Matthew, “they shall name him Emmanuel,’” which means, ‘God is with us.’” The story of Christmas is the story of God with us, the almighty entering into vulnerability, the all-powerful entering into our suffering. Jesus came as a Jewish Palestinian infant, into poverty and into occupation, amidst violence and displacement.

What would Jesus do for Palestine? (Jennifer Hosler; expanded from my original, which is here)

Picture with me. Close your eyes if you need to and think about images you may have seen, similar to what I describe.

I see Jesus covered in dust, his home reduced to rubble, pulling others out of a collapsed apartment block. I see Jesus pulling out bodies gasping for breath and bodies where no more breaths will rise and fall. I see Jesus seeking every lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7).

I see Jesus weeping over the lifeless bodies pulled out alongside the injured ones. Jesus, weeping like he wept over his friend Lazarus (John 11:32-35).

I see Jesus in a triage area of a hospital, wiping the blood and dust out of children’s hair. Jesus is with the children – for he said, “let the children come to me” (Mk 10:13-16).

I see Jesus wearing a Press vest and helmet, reporting at great physical risk. What happens must be seen, because the LORD, Adonai, is the God who sees, as God saw Hagar fleeing the oppression of Sarah (Gen. 16:1-16).

I see Jesus risking his reputation to speak out about justice for Palestine. I see Jesus speaking out for the humanity and God-given worth of those who have been oppressed and despised and treated as sub-human, just like he did when he put his reputation on the line to talk with the Samaritan woman, to drink water with her, to see her humanity (John 4:1-42).

I see Jesus saying, put down your weapons. I see Jesus calling for ceasefire, for release of all hostages and detainees on all sides, and for an end to all violence in Palestine and Israel (Matt. 26:52; Matt. 5:9).

May it be so. AMEN.

References

Alsaafin, L. & Osgood, B. (2024, Jan 6). Israel war on Gaza updates: Children dying ‘in every possible way’. Aljazeera. Retrieved from here.   

Britannica. (2024). https://www.britannica.com/topic/Epiphany

Chen, D.G. (2023, January 6). Commentary on Matthew 2:1-12. Retrieved from here.

Gafney, W. (2021). A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year A. New York: Church Publishing.