2 Christmas A January 4, 2026
Jeremiah 31:7-14 Ps 84:1-8
Eph. 1:3-6,15-19a Matthew 2:1-12
Today, the Revised Common Lectionary gives us the choice of three Gospel readings, as we approach the Eve of the Epiphany.
The choices involve postlogues of the Christmas Pageant, one being indications of a kind of "proto-bar mitzvah" of Jesus in the Temple conversing with the rabbis at the age of twelve having been mistakenly left there when he did not get into the caravan going back home to Nazareth. Other appointed Gospel lessons pertain to the threat on the life of the Christ Child in the account of Herod killing of the Holy Innocents using information derived from the Magi, who returned to their home without avoiding King Herod and not giving him any information about the birth of this Scriptural predicted rival king. Herod's threat forced Mary and Joseph to flee in exile to Egypt and await a safe time to return to their home.
A poor Christmas Pageant director has to make editorial decisions. One can only herd cats so long, that is, the highly improvisational children of the Creche Players, since little angels and shepherds do not take stage cues well, and in fact often do whatever they want with appropriate rewards for their cuteness. Pageant directors edit out things like the death of the Holy Innocents and the flight to Egypt. Such things are not "child friendly" for Christmas hope and optimism. Pageant directors also have to harmonize the birth accounts of Matthew and Luke and they expand the identity of the magi even while they determine the exact number of magi and wrongly have them visit the manger at the same time as when the shepherds visit. One can forgive the pageant directors for making directorial decision given the diversity of script items and the cast of antsy players. From references in Hebrew Scriptures, since the heavens declare the glory of God, the magi are also kings following a drone-like hovering star, who come to pay tribute to the future superior king. And since there are three gifts, then there must be three kings and thematically, the three kings go with the song derived from this famous trio.
We can easily stay in the childification mode of Christmas because to delight children and entertain them and be entertained by their joy is a worthy state of being to live in. But if we stay in this childification mode we might miss the very adult theological intent of the Christmas stories, the programatic presentation of the narratives, and indeed the mystagogy in the writings serving as devotional manuals in the Christ communities which developed in a century of decades after Jesus lived.
The Gospel writers were wordsmiths who were familiar with the literature available to them in their settings. They knew about the Caesars and who had been divinized, had divine conceptions, and astronomical events cited at the times of their births. They also had the writings of Hebrew Scriptures and the events in the life of Moses came to have narrative equivalents in the telling of the story of Jesus. The Herod in the time of Jesus is the Pharaoh in the time of Moses, who like Pharaoh called for a general infanticide. Moses is the one who went back to Egypt after his escape to Midian Wilderness to lead the people out of their slavery in Egypt. Jesus is presented qua Moses as one who came out of Egypt to lead a new people in a new way to a different kind of Promised Land, a new kind of lifestyle.
And the Magi are mystagogically all foreigners who came to reverence the birth of a special person. Or mystically speaking, the Magi represent all people who in wisdom access the experience of the birth of the Son of God nature, within their lives. The Magi represent the presentation that being a child of God was open to everyone and not limited to Jews or any particular group of people. Christo-centric religion was the belief that even if all people did not actually become persuaded about Christ, everyone could become persuaded about Christ and were welcome to the community which proclaimed the Christ-birth within the lives of all.
The Epiphany is about the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. And what this meant for the Christo-centric faith was that all were welcome to know the birth of the life of Christ within themselves, which was in fact a claiming of the original blessing birthright of being made in the image of God.
What the Christmas Story meant for the early followers of Christ was that no one could be denied their childhood status with God because of their prior social conditions or place of birth. On the Eve of the Epiphany, we say, "Viva the manifestation of Christ to all," and to those for whom "Christ" is not a contexual linguistically accessible notion, we say, "Viva the manifestation of the rising image of God upon anyone who comes to know themselves and everyone else as God's child." Amen.
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