What Do You Know About Christmas And The Epiphany?

Happy Epiphany! After the Twelve Days of Christmas, the western church designates January 6 to be the Epiphany. The Biblical story is that of the "wise men" arriving to present the Jesus with gifts. And, because of the construction of the dates in the western church's liturgical calendar, Christmas Eve children's pageants have always had the "wise men" arriving at the crib of the newborn Jesus. Here's an image of that traditional understanding:

You probably received a Christmas card with a scene like that.

But I've been intrigued, since this past Sunday, when Cathy Boyd (Rector of St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Williamsburg) fleetingly mentioned that the Epiphany might have happened two years after Jesus' birth. Looking at the stories in the Bible, I'm thinking that that may actually make the most sense.

Are you surprised to know that there is only one story in the Bible describing Jesus' birth? That's in one of the four gospels -- the gospel of Luke -- the story with the census and the "no room in the inn" and the shepherds. The first gospel written, Mark, begins with Jesus as an adult. The gospels of Matthew and John do refer to Jesus' birth, but they don't describe it. (Pastor Brett Wilson Davis, of Georgetown Lutheran Church said this past Sunday that, if there was a children's pageant based on the gospel of John, the children would have to dress up as the cosmos!)

Did you know that it was St. Francis who started the tradition that Jesus was born in a wooden stable, and placed in a wooden manger? In 13th century Italy, there was lots of wood, so that created a romantic image for Francis which has continued to our day. But in first century Bethlehem, where there was very little wood! The manger would certainly have been made of stone. Here's a picture I took when I visited Israel, of several mangers dating back to the first century:

Did you know that animals would have been kept in a room in a house? The human residents would have appreciated the warmth of the animals during cold weather.

But I need to return from this tangent! Back to the Epiphany.

There is only the story in Luke describing Jesus' birth. And the story of the "wise men," magi, or astrologers visiting Jesus with gifts is only in another gospel -- the gospel of Matthew. When we look at that story, in Matthew, is it even related to the story of Jesus' birth in Luke? In Matthew (chapter one, 18-25) we read of Joseph's role and the Holy Spirit's role in Jesus' conception and birth. The next story begins chapter two of Matthew, "In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea." But -- when in the time of King Herod? And -- how long after Jesus was born in Bethlehem? The story doesn't say! As the stories continue, the magi are warned not to tell King Herod that they've found "the child who has been born king of the Jews." When Herod discovers he's been tricked, he kills "all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under." Why would Herod massacre all those children, if his target is a newborn infant? Could the magi have visited a two-year old Jesus?

Why do we assume that the magi visited an infant Jesus? Well, it's because of the western church's liturgical calendar -- the Twelve Days of Christmas followed by the Epiphany -- and because of all those years we've watched bathrobe-clad children acting out Christmas Eve pageants. But how interesting it always is, to dig beneath assumptions, and to pay attention to what the Biblical stories are actually saying, and to allow the Spirit to raise provocative questions through those stories.

Did you know that there is record of a celebration of the Epiphany in the city of Alexandria in the second century, which is two centuries before any record of a celebration of Christmas? In fact, tomorrow, Orthodox Christian traditions (rooted in Alexandria and other Christian communities in the east), will observe the one annual liturgical feast of Christmas-Epiphany-the Baptism of Our Lord, all rolled up into one. That sure would be harder to pull off during a children's pageant on Christmas Eve, wouldn't it?

Andy Ballentine