Everyday Epiphany

Colliding Headlines

Do you ever feel that you can’t keep up with the “Breaking News” headlines that crash in upon us before we can absorb the last one? Do you ever feel that some stories are so horrendous you don’t want to read or hear them?

That’s how I feel about breaking news headlines that collide in the gospels at Epiphany. 

January 6 has been celebrated as The Epiphany of Our Lord since the 4th Century. In the Western tradition, both Roman Catholic and Protestant churches have focused on the Visit of the Magi (Matt 2:1-12). In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, it celebrates the Baptism of Our Lord (Mk 1:4-11). That’s why the boys in Tarpon Springs will dive for the cross for the 118th time today. Some traditions have focused on the Wedding in Cana (Jn 2:1-2) which the gospel calls “the first of his signs that revealed his glory.”

Tucked among those amazing “manifestations” of the glory of God in Christ, Matthew inserts the gut-wrenching story we’d like to avoid but our current headlines will not let us escape.

Only Matthew tells the story of Herod’s slaughter the boys in Bethlehem. (Matt 2:16-18) Leon Cognate captured the horror in Scène du massacre des Innocents  (“Scene of the Massacre of the Innocents”). Some scholars point out that there is no external historical evidence for the event, suggesting that Matthew included it for theological reasons. But Cognate’s painting has a familiar feeling. It could be a photograph of parents attempting to protect their children in the rubble of Gaza or amid the destruction in Ukraine today.

Who Was Herod?

Herod was a pathologically insecure narcissist who was obsessively driven by his fear of any threat to his position and power. (Does that sound familiar?) He wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of anyone who questioned his authority. The slaughter in Bethlehem would not be inconsistent with his character or previous behavior. (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 3, p. 169)

That’s why he was “troubled” when the magi came looking for a newborn king.  The more troubled he was the more troubling he became. If he had social media, he would have gone into a texting fit with raging accusations in bold type. As usual, his first response was to lie. “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him.” (Matthew 2:8)

Holy Migrants

Joseph hardly needed an angel to tell him to get out of there! (Mathew 2:13) We found this carving in a wood shop behind St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Durban, South Africa.

The artist makes his living by carving religious figures from discarded lumber and broken tree trunks. This carving portrays the reality of refugee families in every generation who, like Mary and Joseph, flee from violence or oppression. (Sound familiar?)

I wonder… When Mary and Joseph got to Egypt, who took them in? Where did they find food, shelter, or Pampers for the baby? What difference does it make for us to picture the Son of God waiting to get through the Rafah Border Crossing from Palestine into Egypt?

Why? 

Why does Matthew include this story? Why give Herod a leading role opening scenes of the gospel drama? 

Matthew was a hard core realist. The former tax collector would have known about financial corruption and political power. His gospel paints a stark contrast between the kingdoms of this world ruled by the likes of Herod and Pilate vs the Kingdom of God revealed in Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount he collected Jesus’ teachings on how to live the Kingdom life right now. We are challenged to hold every part of our life, every political leader, social system, and institution accountable to Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God. We are to be part of the answer to our prayer that God’s Kingdom will come and God’s will be done right here, right now, in us, even as it is already fulfilled in Heaven. 

It’s a tough opening to the gospel, but Matthew offered a word of hope when he wrote, “After King Herod died…” (Matt 2:19) Like every bombastic, self-absorbed, autocratic ruler, Herod “struts and frets his hour upon the stage /And then is heard no more.”  (Macbeth, Act V)  After Herod does his worst, he becomes little more than a secular calendar marker to establish Jesus’ birthday.  And when Herod was gone, Jesus returned. (Matt 2:19-23) In spite of everything that contradicts the coming of his Kingdom, his truth goes marching on.

I’m reminded of the way Martin Luther King, Jr., often quoted lines from “The Present Crisis”  by abolitionist, James Russell Lowell.

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—         
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,   
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.   

The entire poem is well worth reading. It was written on the brink of the Civil War and includes his bold call to action.

Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, 
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just;   
Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,      
And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.

He concludes by pointing toward the future. 

New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth;          
They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth;      
Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be,            
Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea,  
Nor attempt the Future’s portal with the Past’s blood-rusted key.

In light of the breaking news of our time, the Epiphany gospel headlines don’t seem so distant after all. 

Grace and peace,

Jim