From where I’m standing, I feel as though I have a privileged vantage point of the wise men, as they make their way toward Bethlehem, so let me comment on just a few of things that I notice from here.
First, St. Matthew provides us with a very interesting detail, that I admit I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a detail about timing, but it strikes me as significant. We are told that the wise men were “overwhelmed with joy” at some point in their journey to see the Christ Child. But interestingly, the experience of being overwhelmed with joy came to them, not when they encountered the Baby Jesus in the manger. Rather, we are told that it was when they realized that the star had stopped that this overwhelming sense of happiness came upon them.
“When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.” I think there’s a great deal more going on here than meets the eye, to affect the magi in this way. I think that when the star stopped, it was one of those moments when the malleability of time and space was noticeable, and the wise men could almost perceive the world from God’s perspective, which does not unfold merely in three dimensions. And they realized that they were precariously close to the Presence of God and his angels, and that time was folding in on itself, as it may do when an event takes place for eternity. And there may have been a sense of electricity in the air as all this happened. And the magi were no fools, they were attuned to what was going on around them. And when the star stopped, they may have sensed that they were already closer to the Little Lord Jesus than they realized - before they even reached the manger - and they could feel it.
This signal of joy in advance was important, too, because, remember that no one was allowed to see God - certainly not a mob of Gentiles! But that is precisely what was about to happen. Perhaps it’s because the magi were Gentiles that no angels were sent to them to reassure them that they need not be afraid. They didn’t know there were supposed to be afraid. Maybe they didn’t know that God had said to Moses, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” Maybe they didn’t know that no one was supposed to be able to look at the face of God. But it is absolutely significant that on the verge of their face-to-face encounter with the living God, they are not filled with dread but they are overwhelmed with joy. Clearly, God is doing something differently.
Second, I think it may have been their overwhelming joy that helped the wise men to participate in the economy of giftedness, which is, as far as I can tell, the preferred economy of God. Having received the gift of overwhelming joy before they even came into the presence of the Holy Child, the wise men found it easy to respond to God’s gift by giving gifts themselves. They are prototypes of the economy of giving, and exemplars of it, too, since the gifts they give are generous and heartfelt. And since they are remembered primarily for the giving of gifts.
Third and finally, I strongly suspect that the magi had musicians traveling with them. We gather that they were rich. Surely they were traveling with a retinue of companions and servants and artisans. It is impossible for me to believe that there were not some musicians traveling among them. The pity, for them, is that it’s hard to travel with an organ. And so, if the likes of an ancient counterpart of Robert McCormick might have been with them, he’d have had to organize a band playing harps, lyres, lutes, reed pipes, and drums, according to my research, and probably using the Lydian mode. The percussion section might have included clappers, scrapers, rattles, sistra, cymbals, and bells. I don’t know what some of those things are, but you put them all together and it sounds like a Zimbelstern to me! The presence of musicians seems absolutely essential to me, since we are told that the magi were overwhelmed with joy. And if overwhelming joy was on the menu, then music must have been, too.
How often, over these last seven years and more, has the music made here - often coming from just two hands and two feet, from up there in the organ loft - how often has the music made here with Robert and by Robert helped us to express our overwhelming joy? Sometimes the joy might have come first, and Robert helped us find a way to express what God had already primed in our hearts and in our voices. But there have been other times, when we had no idea that we were about to be overwhelmed by joy, and then Robert showed us the way. More times than I could count, I have stood in this church with my mouth open in song, and tears in my eyes as the overwhelming joy of singing in the presence of the living God has been facilitated by Robert’s superb musical instincts, talent, and leadership.
To be sure, Robert knows how to play in minor keys. And he has helped us to express, and to feel, and to offer a wide range of emotions, and a broad and varied articulation of faith. But on the feast of the Epiphany, we find ourselves in communion with the magi. And I strongly suspect that it’s to their experience of overwhelming joy that we’re most nearly connected.
Once the star had stopped, and the magi, overwhelmed with joy, must have been dancing on their tippy toes and speaking to one another only in songs, as they made their way to the manger, it was the revelation of the person of the Christ Child - Emmanuel, God with us - that they discovered was the real source of their joy. How they must have showered their musicians with thanks, after they had given their gifts, and as they made their way home by another way! And how the musicians must have recalled to one another that the magi never sang so well as they did that night - neither before nor since - and how they must have wished they could have remained in such good voice just a little while longer!
We are doing things in a different order. The star moved on long ago, and we have already been to the manger. But it is a blessing in this place on Locust Street, where, from time to time, we thing we can detect something of the malleability of time and space from something like God’s perspective; and we realize that we are precariously close to the Presence of God and his angels, and time is folding in on itself, as it may do when an event takes place for eternity, and there may be electricity in the air as God shows us, too, the person of the Christ Child - Emmanuel, God with us - that we, like magi, may discover the real source of overwhelming joy that it is our delight to sing about in this place.
Thanks be to God!
Preached by Fr. Sean Mullen
The Feast of the Epiphany 2023
Saint Mark’s, Locust Street, Philadelphia
