We Three Kings--Clamavi De Profundis
The Christmas season officially ends today as the Catholic Church and western Christian
denominations that borrow its liturgical
calendar observe the Feast of the
Epiphany. In the United States and some other countries
the feast is now celebrated on the first Sunday
after New Year’s Day. Theologically it is a celebration of
the revelation to the world of Jesus as the fully human God the Son. As such it celebrates a facet of the Trinity.
Little wonder that my Unitarian
Universalists, who deny the whole Three-in-one
God deal, don’t make much of the day.
There are several components of the
revelation. The first is the visit by
the Magi to the Child in Bethlehem—the announcement of the Holy presence to the Gentile world. Second is the baptism of Jesus in the River
Jordan by his cousin John, the half-mad preacher. Third is the marriage party in Cana
where Jesus was said to have performed his first miracles—proof of his divine
power.
Despite the complexity of the multiple stories, in the West the Feast
of the Epiphany is largely all about those Magi. In a fact in most Latin American countries it is most commonly known as Día de los Reyes Magos (Feast of the Three Kings), which sort
of diverts attention from the alleged star.
On the Eve the Magi are
finally added to Nativity scenes and on January 6, children wake up to gifts from the Kings. It is the main gift giving occasion of the Christmas season, or at least was until
ubiquitous Santa Claus began
invading traditional cultures.
In Jolly Olde England the 5th was Twelfth
Night of Shakespearean fame. It
was a traditional time for mumming
and the wassail. The Yule Log was left burning until the
6th. It was also a day for playing
practical jokes, similar to April Fool’s
Day. Thus all of the foolery in
the Bard’s play which was written to
be performed on its namesake. All of
this gayety and mirth, was, of course, squelched by those pesky Puritans and few vestiges of these
traditions are still celebrated.
Now about those alleged Kings…First,
it they existed at all they were surely not rulers of any sort. What we
know of them comes from the Gospel of
Mathew as described in the King
James Version:
2 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days
of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we
have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes
of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus
it is written by the prophet,
6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least
among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall
rule my people Israel.
7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men,
enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search
diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word
again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the
star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over
where the young child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding
great joy.
11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the
young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when
they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and
frankincense and myrrh.
12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not
return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Note that they are not identified in
any way as kings. They are said to be
from the east so it is likely that
they were meant to represent Persian
priests or Asian astrologers. Nor is any number set. The early church sometimes used figures up to
twelve. Eventually the number was
settled at three and totally un-Biblical
tales sprang up around them. They
even grew names and origin stories—Melchior,
a Persian; Caspar, an Indian; and Balthazar from Arabia—perhaps
from Yemen which then had Jewish kings.
The Adoration of the Magi by Carlo Dolci.
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There is no reason to believe that
their visit fit neatly into the later liturgical
calendar twelve days after a mid-winter birth. In fact the kind of Biblical scholars who try
to find historical accuracy in the Bible
think that the visit may have been up to two years after the birth and that the
Holy family may have been in
residence in Bethlehem for that
long. They infer this from the fact that
Herod ordered the massacre of all male children under two years of age,
not just infants.
Then there is the issue of the Star.
Of course if you are a literalist, you believe that an actual star
either hovered over the City of David,
or actually moved, leading the Magi on their journey. But those seeking natural explanations for the phenomena
have proposed various possibilities, most commonly a comet or the appearance of a near-solar
system super nova. The problem with either of these
suggestions is that the very careful records
kept by Chinese astrologers make no
note of either phenomenon in a five year window around the time of Jesus’s
presumed birth. And they surely would
have noted it.
One explanation that has gained some
traction is that the Star was actually a triple
conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Pisces which is known to have occurred
in 7 BCE, a little late for the story but close enough for some. But contemporary Babylonian records show little interest in the event and does not
suggest that the planets converged closely enough in the sky to create a super
bright object.
Then perhaps it was a UFO.
That will probably be a History
Channel two hour special next year.
Or the Star and the Magi are all pious fiction and poetry meant to convey the understanding of the birth of the Messiah to the secular world. No mention of
the Magi can be found in the simple nativity story found in Luke.
Presumably the sudden presence of well-dressed strangers in the
stable would have been noted by those shepherds. And why did they have to follow a Star
when God apparently had no shortage of herald
angels to tell the travelers just where to go.
But I don’t want to nit-pick a treasured story. After all,
much fiction can be truth in a
broader sense, or at least symbolic of
a truth.
An icon of the Baptism of Jesus by his cousin John shows the focus of the Orthodox Feast of the Epiphany.
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Back to the Feast of the Epiphany. The Copts
and Eastern Orthodox also
celebrate the feast but on different dates dependent on their calendars. They also celebrate the incarnation of God in
Man, but build their observances not so much on the Kings. They concentrate on the Baptism as the great
announcement.
It was also much more celebrated in
the Medieval Western church as
evidenced by many pre-Renaissance paintings
of the Baptism and concerning Jesus’s relations with his cousin John.
But those virtually disappeared signaling a change of Christology in the Catholic Church. Emphasis on
John and other earthy relatives of
Jesus such as his siblings like James of Jerusalem seemed uncomfortably
close to viewing Jesus as a wholly mortal
man, not a partner in a godhead.
Anyway, there you have it—The Feast
of the Epiphany. Celebrate or not as you
choose. But tomorrow it won’t be
Christmas any more.
We Three Kings writer and composer the Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
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The song most associated with the Epiphany is, of Course, We
Three Kings. It was
written in 1857 by John Henry Hopkins
Jr., Rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He wrote
the carol for a Christmas pageant in
New York City at his alma
mater, the General Theological
Seminary. He
published the carol in 1863 in his book Carols,
Hymns, and Songs. It was the first American Christmas carol to achieve world popularity, as well
as the first to be featured in Christmas
Carols Old and New, the prestigious and influential collection
published in Britain in 1916 and was
printed in the hymnal of the Episcopal Church.
It has been recorded countless times. This version with lyrics and stunning art is by Clamavi De Profundis described by themselves as, “…a family that
loves to sing together and record inspiring and uplifting music. Our music is
influenced by classical and fantasy literature as well as cinematic,
traditional, religious, and classical music. Being a family, we have the unique
advantage of similar sounding voices that blend well together. We also have a
very broad vocal range potential of over five octaves with a particular focus
on singing in the deeper registers. This all enables us to create well blended
recordings with a lot of musical depth.”
Hey Murfin,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're still alive and kicking. Looks like you've learned to type. I was doing some writing about my brief encounter with Franklin Rosemont back around 1970 and your name popped up!
I read your bio of Joan Baez with a lot of pleasure and appreciation.
Hope your doing well,
David Daskovsky