Art Reading Scripture

The Adoration of the Magi, Bernardino Luini, 1520-1525, The Louvre Paris, France

On entering the house, (the Magi) knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11

Epiphany, the visitation and adoration of the Magi, provides a bookend for the Christmas season. Luke begins the story we read on December 24-25 with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem manger, the announcement of the angels and the visitation and adoration of the shepherds. Matthew offers a later story, perhaps two years later, still in Bethlehem, when Magi comes form the east, consult Herod, chief priests and scribes, and follow a star to a house in Bethlehem. Epiphany is celebrated on January 6 after the twelve days of Christmas are past. (Eastern Orthodox Christians used a different calendar to determine the date of Christmas than did the Western Catholic Church, hence the difference in the date of celebration. The differing calendars also affect the celebration of Easter.) Often these stories are pushed together into one event, one night, but that is not the way they come to us in the Gospels. Bernardo Luini kept the two stories separate, painting one scene with angels and shepherds and this scene with the Magi presenting their gifts.

Magi is a title that has taken on various meanings: Kings and Wise Men most popularly. "Magi" is connected to the word magician, as exploration of supernatural phenomena, outside what is natural or typically understood. Magi were part of a Persian priestly group serving the king, hence they came from the east and were attuned to royal matters like the birth a new king. Primarily they searched the heavens for signs. They were astrologers looking for new stars, or odd events in the heavens where the gods resided. Magi were seen either as wise, exploring the realm of spirit and the heavens, or fools. Their predictions were unreliable. Astrology has always been a questionable field of inquiry and meaning. Philosophers ridiculed them. Kings and Emperors, always afraid of threats to their rule listened to them just in case, so that they might prevent their predictions from coming to fruition.

The scene Luini paints invites the viewer to adore the Christ child as the Magi do. The Magi on the left looks out from the painting directly at the viewer and points to a long procession of others who are coming to the stable bearing gifts. His message may be something like, "As we have come, as they are coming, so you also come to the Christ child bearing gifts and devotion, to kneel and adore. Joseph is also gazing out the window with his hand over his heart in amazement that such an entourage is coming. The child Jesus is visibly older in this painting than in Luini's "Nativity and Annunciation of the Shepherds." He is standing rather than lying on the ground. Wonderfully, oddly, not sure what it means, but with a bit of a smirk he points his finger at one of the gifts. Perhaps he is saying, "What am I supposed to do with that?" Walter Bruggeman wrote, "You can bring your expensive gifts to Bethlehem, but no one in Bethlehem needs them. Jerusalem, maybe. Isaiah 60 knows what to do with them, but not Bethlehem." Traditions of this story and the specific reference to two of the items offered come from Isaiah: "A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and proclaim the praise of the LORD." Is 60:6. Tradition, expressed in the song, "We Three Kings of Orient Are," sees these gold as a sign of royalty fit for a king, frankincense fit for burning along with prayers to a deity, and myrrh as a burial spice indicating Jesus humanity and destiny with death. The cross beams of the stable may also allude to that fate.

The Magi presented their gifts to Jesus. The other person in the scene, Mary holds up Jesus, presenting him to the Magi, and to all who come to adore him. The gift God gives is not intended solely for kings and people of power. Jesus is a gift to all people who worship and adore, follow and offer themselves to his service. It is not gold or frankincense or even myrrh, which were all very rich expensive items, that matters, but rather devotion and life lived in Christ given in love for the world. God gives God's self, God's love to all who come.

Keep the faith. Say your prayers. Love like Jesus.

Pastor Tim Bauer