Being Wise Like The Wise Men
When we say the word “Epiphany” we’re referring to a “revelation”. We may think of it as the feast of the three Wise Men (notice that nowhere in the gospel are they referred to as “kings”), but it’s much more than that. Oh, and we may sing of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but these things are mostly window dressing. The gifts themselves have symbolic meaning, but even then it’s all about Jesus and not about the wise men. For example, gold symbolizes Jesus’ kingship because gold belonged to royalty. Frankincense symbolizes priesthood because the Temple priests burned it to represent their prayer, and that of God’s people, rising up like smoke before the Lord. The myrrh also has symbolic meaning—it foreshadows Jesus’ death, as his body would be anointed with this “aromatic nard” before his burial. Still, the feast of the Epiphany isn’t about the gifts as much as it is about the journey and all that it implies for anyone who seeks Jesus.
So why then are the three Wise Men the central image of the feast? It’s because they symbolize what seeking and finding Jesus is all about. These three individuals represent all those who have faith in God; not ordinary, run-of-the-mill faith, but “sufficient faith”—enough faith to be willing to pack up everything and go in search of something greater than ourselves.
The star itself—another of those “window dressings”—also isn’t the focus of the feast and it isn’t what the three wise men set out to search for. It was a sign of greater things to come, something new, something that guided their journey (a signpost) to what they wanted to see and participate in. The Gospel writer, Matthew, is making a very important point. He’s trying to tell us that it was the Wise Men’s faith that motivated them to accept the hardships and the risks of a long journey, not the star. They went, basically, half way around the world in order to be part of what God was doing. Think of how far one has to travel across the globe for the relative position of a star in the night sky to move from the horizon to a zenith (above our head). It’s a very long way indeed!
It was the Wise Men’s faith that compelled them to make such a lengthy journey, just like faith motivated others in the gospels to make perilous journeys to find Jesus. Take, for example, the Roman Centurion who risked his station in life to find Jesus, the Jew from Nazareth. He went in search of Jesus, not for his own benefit, but for his slave’s. That, in itself, was a meritorious deed as Romans normally thought little of their slaves, who were simply disposable property. Yet, this Roman and this important army commander, risked his station in life in order to ask Jesus to heal his suffering slave. That’s the same type of “sufficient faith” the Wise Men exhibited.
Consider also the woman with a hemmorage who risked a great deal to find Jesus. She had a serious bleeding problem, which could not be cured by the medical science of her day. People with bleeding issues, like lepers, were ostracized in first century Palestine. It took a great deal of courage for the woman to go out in public simply looking for Jesus and when she found him, he was in a crowd of people. She had the “sufficient faith” of the Wise Men. She was convinced that if she could just touch the tassel of his cloak that she would be healed. So she did what was inconceivable—she reached through the crowd to touch the Lord.
One final example from the gospels to consider. Think of Bartimaeus, the short tax collector, who wanted to see Jesus so badly that he climbed a tree. That simple act highlighted Bartimaeus’ short stature and risked making of him a laughingstock. Yet, it his faith was much greater than his physical height. It was the Wise Men’s “sufficient faith” that motivated Bartimaeus to put everything aside in order to participate in what Jesus was doing.
A noteworthy Christian author named Dorothy Solle wrote about the Wise Men’s “sufficient faith,” but she called it “Epiphany faith.” She wrote:
“Epiphany faith means that you believe that the Kingdom of God is possible. It means that you are confident that this world can be changed in the direction of the Kingdom. It means that you are convinced that it is not a dream, an illusion, or a figment of an overexcited religious or ethical mind. That belief, or that faith,” she added, “should be so firm and so strong that you are willing to work in order to help it grow, that you are ready to cooperate in its growth, and that you won’t sit down waiting for God to clear the situation” before you act.
That’s Epiphany faith—that’s an Intentional Disciple—that’s the type of faith we should all crave, strive for, work for, and be willing to sacrifice for. Without it, we’re merely dabbling in the Christian religion. Without it, we merely going through the motions. We can’t afford to merely sit and wait for the Lord to do something. Faith doesn’t function that way. The Lord doesn’t come beating down the door to get our attention. Instead, He invites us to come out and to follow Him. We have to go to God. We have to make the move. We have to get it in gear, otherwise faith fails to flower within us.
This feast day and all the other feast days of the upcoming year, remind us that we don’t get to heaven simply by standing and waiting. That’s not “sufficient faith”, that’s not “Epiphany faith,” and that’s not an “Intentional Disciple.” It isn’t sufficient to simply believe. Lots of people do that. It’s too easy to stop there.
Epiphany faith, like Intentional Discipleship, is all about work. It’s about being different. It’s about embracing change. It’s about seeking out what God is doing and participating in it, just like the Wise Men. That’s why they’re the central image in today’s Gospel because they symbolize the type of faith God is challenging us to cultivate in our own lives.
You know, the Wise Men weren’t “wise” because they knew a lot of things. They weren’t “wise” because they were smart enough to read the signs in the heavens. There are lots of “intelligent people” in our world, but there aren’t a great many “wise” people. No, the Wise Men were “wise” because their hearts were sufficiently attuned to know when the time was rife for a wholehearted response, and they were ready to do whatever it took to find God and to participate in what He was doing.
That’s our challenge as well. We’re all called to be “wise” in that sense. We’re called to cultivate an Epiphany faith in our lives, to become Intentional Disciples. We can be satisfied with nothing less. We simply cannot afford to be “casual participants.”