Episcopal Church of the
Incarnation
The Second Sunday of Christmas (B)
Jeremiah
31.7-14 Psalm 84 Ephesians 1.3-6, 15-19a
Matthew 2.1-12
Jeremiah
31.7-14
1)
This prophecy is taken from a longer section relating
to the restoration of
2)
Jeremiah speaks of a new exodus, of a triumphal
procession through the desert, by which
a) The Lord Himself is heard to issue a solemn call to joy for the bestowal of salvation (cf. Isa. 12.6; 40.9-10).
b)
The people are called from the “north” (v. 8), i.e.
i) The caravan is composed of the weak (“the blind and the lame”) in token of the miraculous nature of the procession.
3) Images abound of God’s care: brooks of water (as in Exodus), a straight way in the desert; most importantly of God as Father.
a)
The nations of the world are called to witness to this
providence (v. 10, cf. Isa. 42.10), and Jeremiah reiterates his theme (cf.
23.1 ff) of God as shepherd of
i)
As in the first exodus,
Psalm
84
1) A
psalm in praise of
a) This
psalm also reflects a song of pilgrimage to
2) A
repeated theme is the happiness of those who dwell in God’s house. “House” refers both to the
a) V. 5 has an echo of Ps. 23 in it. God provides.
3) All praise involves thanksgiving.
Ephesians
1.3-6, 15-19a
1) This letter was wriiten by Paul, or by a disciple of his, to a wide audience; to people for whom evidence of wordly power was all too evident (cf. 6.12).
a) The letter is written to encourage its readers that they are “in Christ” and worship, therefore, the Creator of the universe.
i) This same Creator has called those ini Christ to be His children. He is their Father.
2) Paul intends that his letter may open the eyes of those who read it to the spiritual truth that God calls them (v. 15).
a) The “hope” to which believers are called is union with God through Jesus Christ.
Matthew
2.1-12
1) Having related how Jesus was conceived by God’s direct intervention, Matthew now passes to his narrative of the arrival of the magi.
2) The King Herod in the infancy narrative (Herod the Great) should not be confused with the Herod of the Passion narrative (Herod Antipas).
a) Herod the Great was a Roman puppet who ruled from 37 to 4 B.C. His death, therefore, coincides closely with the probable birth of Jesus.
b) Matthew relates Jesus’ birth to Herod’s reign to mark the event as one in history.
3) The wise men “magi” are thought to have been from an hereditary Persian caste of priests/ astrologers, associated with the interpretation of dreams. (In effect, astrology ended when the magi first saw the Christ, for all the heavens now orbited around the Sun of Righteousness!)
a) Matthew does not say there were three wise men. This number became settles in tradition, which associated the wise men with the “kings” referred to in Psalm 72.
i) In Matthew, the magi are representatives of the Gentile world.
(1)
The term “magi” (“wise men” is too generic) suggests
(a) Regardless, they are of a type recognized by Herod.
4) The Star of Bethlehem could have been a supernova, comet, or planetary conjunction, but may well be a “midrash” (commentary) element on Numbers 22-24 (the Balaam narrative), especially 24.17, the fourth oracle.
a) Rabbinic commentary (in the ancient Targums) had associated this oracle with the appearance of the Messiah.
5) The magi offer the best example of a sound “Mariology” in that they bow to and worship Jesus in Mary’s lap. They honor Mary but worship her Child.
a) The gifts are offered to the Child.
b) The number of the gifts gave rise to the tradition of the number of magi.
i) The gifts they bring echo Isa. 60.6 and Ps. 72.10.
ii) The tradition that gold signifies kingship, incense divinity, and myrrh redemptive suffering is later than Matthew.