Patrick Comerford
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany and traditionally the Twelfth Day of Christmas. But Christmas is a season that continues beyond these 12 Days for 40 days until the Feast of the Presentation or Candlemas (2 February).
Later this morning, I am planning to preach and preside at the Epiphany Eucharist in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick. But, before this day gets busy, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.
I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:
1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during Christmas;
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
This morning, I am reflecting on the three magi or the three Wise Men, Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar.
The visit of the Magi is a symbolic presentation of God’s revelation in Christ to the Gentiles. This Visit is a popular image for Christmas cards, but very often we have taken down the Christmas cards by the Feast of the Epiphany, and so we are left without a visual reminder of what they represent.
Saint Matthew’s phrase ‘from the east’ (ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, apo anatolon, Matthew 2: 1), more literally means ‘from the rising [of the sun],’ but it does not tell us who they were or where they came from.
As the tradition developed, the three wise men were transformed into kings who have been named as:
● Melchior, a Persian scholar;
● Caspar, an Indian scholar;
● Balthazar, an Arabian scholar.
The early mediaeval Church historian from Northumbria, the Venerable Bede, is the first scholar to say that Balthazar is black.
In Western art from the 14th century on, they are portrayed in these ways:
● Caspar is the older man with a long white beard, who is first in line to kneel before the Christ Child and who gives him the gift of gold.
● Melchior is portrayed as a middle-aged man, giving frankincense.
● Balthazar is presented a young man, very often black-skinned, with the gift of myrrh.
Saint Matthew names their gifts as: gold, frankincense, and myrrh: χρυσον (chryson), λιβανον (libanon) and σμυρναν (smyrnan) (Matthew 2: 11).
These are ordinary offerings and gifts – for a king. But from Patristic times these gifts have been given spiritual meanings:
● Gold as a symbol of Christ’s kingship;
● Frankincense as a symbol of worship and so of Christ’s deity;
● Myrrh as an anointing oil for his priesthood, or as an embalming oil and a symbol of his death.
Origen summarises it in this way: ‘Gold, as to a king; myrrh, as to one who was mortal; and incense, as to a God’ (Contra Celsum).
Sometimes this is described more generally as:
● Gold symbolising virtue;
● Frankincense symbolising prayer;
● Myrrh symbolising suffering.
These interpretations are alluded to by John Henry Hopkins (1820-1891), the son of a Dublin-born Episcopalian bishop, in his carol We Three Kings (No 201, Irish Church Hymnal), in which the last verse summarises this interpretation:
Glorious now behold him arise,
King, and God and Sacrifice.
Do you think the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph took those gifts with them as they fled into exile in Egypt?
Several traditions have developed about what happened to these gifts.
There is a tradition that suggests Joseph and Mary used the gold to finance their escape when they fled.
Another story says the gold was stolen by the two thieves who are later crucified alongside Christ. Yet, another says the gold was entrusted to Judas, who misappropriated it.
And another story says the myrrh was used to anoint Christ’s body after his crucifixion, before his burial.
There are many traditions about what happened to the Three Wise Men afterwards. One story says they were baptised by Saint Thomas on his way to India. Another says their bodies were found by the Empress Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, and brought to the great church of Aghia Sophia in Constantinople. From there they were moved to Milan, and eventually enshrined in Cologne Cathedral.
Matthew 2: 1-12 (NRSVA):
1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
The prayer in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) invites us to pray this morning (6 January 2022):
Today we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. May we continue to be his witnesses, spreading the Gospel wherever we go.
Yesterday: The Desert Mothers
Tomorrow: Saint John the Baptist
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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