From the Vicar

What's the first thing you think about when someone mentions Christmas?

Is it turkey and Christmas pudding or punch and mince pies?

Is it singing carols around a tree or listening to Band Aid again?

Is it receiving Communion just after midnight or trying to sleep so that Father Christmas can visit?

Is it opening the cards or wrapping the presents?

Is it picturing the shepherds at the manger or drawing the three kings on their camels?

Oops!! How did that last one get in there?

Whatever else happens in your family celebrations of Christmas, the three kings should not be a part of it. Their visit to Jesus is recalled not at Christmas but on the feast of Epiphany - January 6th. So what is the Epiphany and what happened on the first Epiphany?

The story of Christ's birth appears only twice in the New Testament. Luke's gospel tells how Mary was chosen to give birth to the Son of God; how she and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem and how, after the birth of Jesus, shepherds from the outlying fields came to visit him. This is the story often retold at this time of year ™ indeed you may well have starred in one of the countless nativity plays at School or Sunday School. The only major disappointment you're likely to get if you read the story again is that there is no mention of the shepherds giving a lamb as a present!

Matthew's gospel tells a very different story however:

 no journey to Bethlehem

 no stable outside the inn

 no animals in the manger

 no shepherds with their lambs.

Following the selection of Mary by God, the story jumps straight to the visit of the Magi, Kings or Wise Men. If you read it, you'll see that some of our favourite carols are based purely on romantic tradition rather than the biblical narrative.

The baby Jesus is referred to as a child and the stable has become a house. These are both clues to the gap between Christmas and Epiphany. Although we keep just twelve days between them, scholars think some two years elapsed before the Kings made their entrance, and despite what the carols tell you year by year, the Kings have no names and no number is given. Three gifts get mentioned but it seems extremely unlikely that travellers setting out on such a long and dangerous journey would be in so small a group. Cologne Cathedral though, claims to have the bones of the three Kings!

It's not known exactly what these travellers were ™ the terms Magi, Kings and Wise Men have all come from different translations of the Bible, but the important point is that they represent us ™ Gentiles or non-Jews. The shepherds are understood to represent the Jews themselves, so Christmas is seen as the revelation of God's Son to Israel but for us, the Feast of the Epiphany is really more important ™ God revealed his Son to the Gentiles.

And what about the gifts? Each was presented to Jesus as a prophesy about his future role as Messiah. The gold was given showing that Jesus was to be King - King not just of the Jews, not just of Israel, but King of the whole universe. Incense was offered in the Jerusalem Temple as a symbol of prayers rising to the heavens but only the High Priest or senior Jewish rabbi could do the offering. Presenting Jesus with such a gift illustrates that he will become the High Priest offering prayers for us, his people. Jesus was to die on the cross. That had been foretold in the Old Testament prophecies, but the gift of Myrrh made that even more specific. Myrrh was used to anoint bodies after crucifixion and this gift therefore showed the way in which Jesus would die.

Epiphany - the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles, is an important yet often ignored feast. In St. George's the feast will be kept on Thursday January 6th with a said Eucharist at 10.00am, but the main celebrations, in which the three gifts will symbolically be presented to Jesus, will be on Sunday January 9th.

When you're enjoying Christmas this year and singing those favourite carols again, why not read the original texts and see just what story they tell about the birth of our Saviour?

Matthew 1.18 - 2.12

Luke 2 1-20

FR MIKE SHEFFIELD
Parish Priest