The Magi’s Gifts

ONE OF THE points of tension in the Scriptures – the Old Testament especially – is that, on the one hand, God chooses particular people to forward His purposes, yet He does so only to bring about a universal salvation. He calls Abraham, and makes a Chosen People of his descendants; yet His ultimate purpose is that all nations should come to know Him.

The prophet Isaiah, writing in Jerusalem at a time when Israel was caught between the great Empires of Assyria and Egypt, was present when ambassadors came from Egypt, then ruled by an Ethiopian dynasty from the far south. They probably came to enlist King Hezekiah’s support against the rival Empire. Isaiah wrote, “Ah, land of whirring wings which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; which sends ambassadors by the Nile, in vessels of papyrus upon the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation, tall and smooth...” Those of us who watched the recent Olympic Games may well recall the tall and slender athletes from east Africa, from Ethiopia and beyond.

 

Moral dimension

 

Isaiah continued, “At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide...” It is this passage that Saint Anthony takes for his ‘allegorical’ and ‘moral’ sermons for the Feast of the Epiphany. It reminds him of the gifts the Magi brought to the Christ-Child, symbolising the coming of the Gentile nations to acknowledge the God of Israel. That is the ‘allegorical’ meaning, where an ancient scripture originally referring to events of its own time foreshadows a greater truth concerning Christ and His Church.

There is also, however, a moral truth, an application to the spiritual lives of men and women of every age. As a preacher and evangelist, a ‘herald of the great King’, like Francis, Anthony was especially concerned to apply the Scriptures to the everyday life of his hearers. Now, the Ethiopian ambassadors represent sinners of every kind who come to present themselves before the throne of Christ. Some of Anthony’s interpretation depends on details of the Latin text which are not to be found in a modern English translation, so I will try to express the heart of his teaching rather than the strict letter.

 

Seven Deadly Sins

 

The ‘tall people’ means the proud; those who think they are above others. Like a tall tree in a great hurricane, they will be blown down. God wants us to be humble, to recognise our littleness, to be servants rather than masters in relation to our fellows.

The ‘smooth people’ are the misers and usurers (a favourite target of Anthony’s); those who exploit the poor like smooth and slippery snakes, cold and hard-hearted, who drink the blood of the weak and vulnerable.

The ‘people feared’ are the wrathful and violent; those who terrorise others to gain their ends. They may be near, in our own community, or far away in other lands, but still able to trouble us by their activities.

The ‘mighty people’ are hypocrites who deceive others with a show of virtue, and the ‘conquering people’ are the envious who cannot bear to see the good fortune of others and try to take it away.

Finally, those divided by the rivers are the gluttonous and lustful, carried away on the floods of sensuality. In this way, all the Seven Deadly Sins are represented.

Anthony concludes by reminding his readers of the loving mercy of God, shown above all in the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ. Like the Magi, we should bring Him our gifts: the gold of contrition, the incense of confession and the myrrh of satisfaction.

 

Anthony’s method

 

If we meditate upon Anthony’s approach, and apply it to our own situation, we can go a little further in relating the original Scripture to ourselves. At the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem and its King were not powerful in worldly terms, but they occupied a strategic position between Assyria and Egypt. Assyria was the stronger power, militaristic and expansionist. It had already swallowed up the northern Kingdom of Israel. Egypt, which historically had been powerful, was at this time relatively weak. Feeling itself threatened by the Assyrian expansion, it sought help from Jerusalem, which though not politically strong occupied a key position. We might also consider that, with its Temple and religious observance, it had a

‘moral stature’ in the world, whether or not that was recognised or valued by the world outside.

Following Anthony’s methods, let us see Assyria as representing Satan and all his supporters, seeking to dominate and swallow up the whole of humanity. Egypt is humanity, fallen from its former greatness, morally weak and conscious of its vulnerability. Yet between us and our Enemy is the Holy City, with its King. What should we do, but send ambassadors to that King, to plead for His support? Let us send Him gifts! And what other gift can we offer the King of kings, other than ‘ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice’?

 

Parallel progression

 

At Christmas, we see God entering the world, but as it were secretly and unobserved. At Epiphany, He is made manifest! The same progression takes place in the human soul: first God enters, through His grace, and almost unobtrusively. If He is welcomed, then that grace grows in us and transforms us, making us Christ-like, so that His presence in us is made manifest and reaches out to others. As soon as we give ourselves to Christ, we become part of the ‘Chosen People’, the ‘Israel of God’. But as with the historic Israel, we are chosen in order that not only we, but the whole world, may be brought into union with Christ.

It will not be long before the season of Lent is on us again; the ‘campaign season’ against the world, the flesh and the devil, the spiritual Assyria. We will only triumph under the leadership, and with the supporting grace, of Jesus Christ.