I hate to break it to you, folks, but that lovely Christmas carol that we all love to sing, especially today on the feast of the Epiphany, namely: “We Three Kings of Orient are”, is something of a misnomer. If you read carefully the gospel story today, you will see no indication that the wise men were actually kings, or that there were only three of them. The text simply says: “wise men from the East”, no mention of the words, “kings” or “three”, you see. Wise men, literally “Magi”, were pagan astrologers who read coded messages in the movement of the stars, and often were advisors to their king – but they were unlikely to be royalty themselves.
So where did these misconceptions come?
The idea of kings visiting Jesus to worship him and bring him gifts, comes from our first reading and our psalm. The reading from the prophet Isaiah predicts that when the glory of God shines down on Jerusalem at the coming of the Messiah, God’s anointed one, “kings would come to this light, bringing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praise of the Lord”, while our responsorial psalm declares that “kings would bring the Messiah gifts, and fall down before him”. There is even an Old Testament prophecy way back in the early book of Numbers, which declares that “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a royal scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24: 17). Tradition has added the detail of three wise men, because the gospel tells us they brought gold and frankincense and myrrh – one gift for each wise man, you see. All these bible references have been read over time into the story of the Magi and brought about the tweaking of the gospel narrative.
Does it matter really?
Not really, I don’t mind if we keep on singing “We Three Kings of Orient are”. I am just showing off perhaps, but those who come to my bible studies know that I have a particular passion that Catholics actually read what the bible says, not what some other people think it says, or what they remember from childhood, which usually is distorted anyway by now (Apple in Eden, whale in Jonah, coat of many colours, creation in seven days). Am I saying that the Bible is not true, or historical, or accurate? Again, not at all, so long as we understand that the important thing to know about any bible text is what it is trying to teach. The bible is not a geography book, or a textbook on biology; it is not trying to teach quantum physics. Yes, it conveys historical or geographical facts which archaeological finds have verified. It is not a bunch of fairy stories, as some atheist writers and commentators have tried to assert. For instance, astronomers are able to tell us, that way back in 6 B.C., around the time of the birth of Jesus, stargazers in the region of Assyria and Babylonia could have seen Jupiter (representing royalty) pass through the constellation (Aries, the ram was representative of the Jewish people due to this history as shepherds.) The Magi could have interpreted this movement of Jupiter as a sign of the birth of the great king of kings from Jewish prophecies. After reporting their findings to their king, the Magi may have been sent by him as his personal representatives bearing gifts for the newborn king, a common way for rulers in the past to build alliances and secure peaceful relations with other countries. Our gospel story could then very well have a historical basis. But that is not the main thing the gospel of Matthew is trying to convey to us.
So just what is our gospel today trying to teach us?
Well, quite simply, it is what St Paul tells us in our second reading today: “the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel”. There we have it, two lines to sum up what the gospel takes a whole dramatic story to convey, and what the first reading and psalm describe in vivid, lyrical poetry. We, who are not Jewish, nonetheless get to receive the same offer of salvation, eternal life, a heavenly inheritance, which was first given to the Jews. Heaven has been opened up to us, brothers and sisters. We don’t have to any longer worry why we were put on this earth, what happens to us when we die, what happens to our loved ones when they die, what our purpose in life is, or our destiny. St Paul in his letters again and again underlines what Matthew is trying to say through his story in our gospel today. “God has destined us not for punishment but for salvation through Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonian 5: 9) and “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be adopted as his children, and given us the Holy Spirit as a pledge of our heavenly inheritance“ (Ephesians 1: 3-14). Wonderful good news for you and me, brothers and sisters, well worth celebrating and recalling each year, and never forgetting our whole lives long.
Why doesn’t Matthew simply say that, or Isaiah or the writer of our psalm?
Because a story, or a piece of poetry, is much more memorable and vivid and evocative than simple dry, theological truths. God could have simply stayed up in heaven and declared “I want you all in heaven with me when you die”. But how much more thrilling and enlightening to send his own Son to us, to become one like us, someone we could, in the words of the first letter of John, “hear and see with our eyes, look at and touch with our hands, who could declare to us the eternal life that is with the Father and is now revealed to us” (1 John 1: 1-4). God’s word, the Bible, is a whole treasure trove of writings, of history, and poetry, and prose, and prophecy, all in different ways conveying the same message of God’s love for us and his desire to spend eternity with us.