Joy heaped on Joy (Epiphany) Jan 5

Readings, Isaiah 60:1-6 and Matthew 2:1-12
Image, Eric Gill, Epiphany (1917)

I was reading Sarah Ruden's translation of this gospel passage earlier in the week, and she employs a beautiful sentence to describe the experience of the magi as they arrive at their destination.
           When they saw the star there, their joy was heaped on joy, in great abundance.
 
This is what it means to come into the season of Epiphany. Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of Christ to all people, the revealing of Christ’s glory on earth, the initial signs, wonders, and testimonies that this is the Anointed One of God. For this joy can come upon us all when we spot the light of the world in the darkest of nights and realise that nothing can come between his light and our hope:   
           When they saw the star there, their joy was heaped on joy, in great abundance.
 
This is what it means to come into the story of God from the outside. The magi come from beyond Israel, from the lands of the East. They see the star, consult their tradition, and head off in pursuit of the new born king. In this they foreshadow the reception of Christ by the Gentiles after the resurrection, the grafting of those beyond the covenantal people, onto the vine of Christ. They are our forebears, our ancestors in faith, those who by the graciousness of God saw the signs and came to behold and adore Christ as king. We, like they, know the feeling when - though far off in the far country - we discover the presence of Emmanuel, God with us.
           When they saw the star there, their joy was heaped on joy, in great abundance.
 
This is what paves the path to the true reception of Emmanuel. It is joy and hope which drives the magi on their journey, motivates their desire to bow before the new born king; to bring their gifts and pay him homage. The story contrasts the magi’s joy with Herod’s fear and agitation, their openness and wonder, with Herod’s sly plotting. For Herod cannot receive news of a new king with any joy or hope, for his only joy and hope comes from what already is. There’s nothing more threatening than a new star to those wishing to centre the world on themselves. The season of Advent and Christmas prepare us to receive the Epiphany of Christ with joy and hope. For the arrival of Christ is unsettling, it cannot help but upturn our worlds. But we pray that with the help of Spirit and saints, we will be able to receive and respond to the heralding of the king not as Herod, but as the magi.
           When they saw the star there, their joy was heaped on joy, in great abundance.
 
This is what strengthens them to defy the orders of Herod, to disobey the law of the land, and leave without revealing the location of Christ. They encountered something more truer than true and this exposed the falsity, the paucity, and duplicity of imperial rule, of Herod’s request, of Rome’s benevolence. Joy fuelled their revolt, emboldened their resistance, screwed their courage to the sticking place so they might turn their backs on the will of an earthly king, to hold open the future to a heavenly one.
           When they saw the star there, their joy was heaped on joy, in great abundance.
 
This is what allows us to not cling, or batten down, but keep moving on by another road. Like the shepherds before them, the magi are led to the nativity and then return to their homes. As will be the story for so many to whom the glory of Christ is revealed, they are asked not to stay, not to cling, but to go back or go on. It is joy and hope, it is the posture of one receiving an unexpected gift, that allows us to hold loosely and trust that even when we depart by another road God is with us still. The magi did not need to remain at the house, and we do not need to cling to places and practices just because they were once a place where we felt near to Christ. We are able to go out by another road in the trust that the star’s light blesses the whole earth and we will feel its nearness in new and yet more wondrous ways.
           When they saw the star there, their joy was heaped on joy, in great abundance.