Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 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.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘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.’” Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 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.”
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. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 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. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Every year my boys… Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar… get completely and totally SLAMMED on Epiphany in a light hearted (or maybe not so light hearted) way! They get trashed for… NUMBER 1. Not asking for directions. NUMBER 2. Being late to the birth of Jesus. NUMBER 3. Bringing ridiculously impractical gifts, and NUMBER 4. Being absolutely useless, completely unhelpful, totally out of touch, overwhelmingly pointless… MEN. Which is why when we get to Epiphany every year the jokes come out about how Wise WOMEN would have asked for directions, got there on time, helped deliver the baby, brought diapers and other practical gifts, cleaned the stable, and if they had been Lutheran or Episcopalian… they would have made a casserole to boot!
It get it. I really, really get it. Men have dismissed wise women for, oh I don’t know, let’s say the last 300,000 years or so and because of that, the world has missed out on SO MUCH WISDOM that it just boggles the mind! Just imagine where we would be as a species if we had NOT just poo-pooed literally HALF of the world’s brain power for three hundred millennia! We’ve been doing the species-equivalent of punching ourselves in the face over and over and over again for 300,000 years… and we just…keep… doing it!
Unfortunately there is the temptation out there that after 300,000 years of living under a self destructive, idiotic system of male superiority… after being excluded as a source of wisdom for millennia… after all of that injustice and rank stupidity… the temptation is out there to fix all of that by doing all those same things… just in the opposite direction. To give men a taste of their own medicine. To get even. To seek retribution rather than reconciliation.
I get the temptation… I really do… but I don’t think retribution is the way to get our species, or any of the organizations and institutions made up of people from our species (including the church) to move forward in this world. We missed SO MUCH GOOD STUFF for SO LONG. Is the answer really to intentionally miss out on the opposite set of good stuff just to get even? I think we could do better by our whole species and by extension, do better by all of creation, if we used BOTH the ancient story of the Three Wise Men AND the modern joking/not-joking rebuttal about Three Wise Women to find a better way.
The Wise Women, who were certainly present at this scene, although not recorded in the story, certainly brought specialized, practical, and powerful wisdom to the process of Mary’s labor, the moment of Jesus’ birth, and to a set of brand new parents. They certainly brought practical gifts they knew every woman giving birth needed. They brought wisdom and experience about the birthing process along with coaching, companionship, empathy, and yes, maybe even an ancient pre-cursor to the casserole. What further wisdom did they bring? We can only imagine, but female wisdom was certainly there and was absolutely critical to the successful and safe delivery of Jesus. BUT, that doesn't mean that the Wise Men were absolutely useless, completely unhelpful, totally out of touch, or overwhelmingly pointless.
The lesson to be learned here is that the presence of Wise Men does not preclude the existence of Wise Women. NOR does the presence of Wise Women negate the Wisdom brought by Wise Men! And those men DID bring wisdom! They were wise enough to notice a new star, that it was moving, and that it needed to be followed. They did actually stop for directions AND at that stop they had the wisdom to discern that Herod was not the friend he pretended to be AND they had the wisdom to stay out of the way and let the women experts handle the birth. They also had the wisdom to bring small, easily transportable, readily marketable, high value gifts. The sorts of gifts that would be exactly what a refugee family would need to pack up quickly, carry, and sell easily to finance a life in exile if an unhinged authoritarian dictator decided to slaughter every child under the age of two in Bethlehem and the surrounding suburbs!
The ancient story got it wrong by ignoring, dismissing, and not recording the tremendous wisdom that was certainly brought to Mary’s side by Wise Women as she gave birth to Jesus. But the modern joke also gets it wrong by dismissing and poking fun at the Wise Men, who in reality understood the intricate and complex dangers of the political situation into which Jesus was born and brought exactly what would be most useful at precisely the right time to facilitate the Holy Family’s escape to safety.
The lesson for this Epiphany is that dismissing ANY GIFT of Wisdom that God has given to ANY part of creation is not only foolish, but it is also deadly, both to our species and to all of creation. This world of ours needs every fraction, of every ounce of Wisdom that God has given us so that we might first, simply survive as a species, but then to achieve the real goal as well… which is to live abundantly. Dismissing half the population’s wisdom just to shore up fragile egos is simply unsustainable! As is mindless retribution just to get even for the stupidity of the past. God has given us more than enough wisdom to solve every single problem that exists for all of humanity and all of creation. May we, as a species accept God’s Wise Gifts with gratitude, and stop obsessing over the packaging in which that Wisdom comes to us! Amen.
