The little girls always wanted to be Mary, or maybe, if there were good wings and halos, an angel part wouldn't be too bad.  But for the boys, no contest, one of the kings was THE part.  Great outfit, fancy crown, important, elegant, obviously a person of power and influence.  Why would you want to waltz around in some old bathrobe as a lowly shepherd if you could have a cape, and a crown?  This is such a good story, and one that you might think you know like the back of your hand ---    We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar --- we even have the hymn to prove it -- but if we read or listen to what is really there in the gospel of Matthew, then we have to realize that much of what we think we know is simply part of the version of the story as we have told it through the years.  Like a lot of our traditions, it is sometime difficult to separate the biblical story from the folklore or the work of the poets.

          The men from the East aren't kings, there aren't necessarily three of them, they don't have names, and we aren't told where exactly they come from other than the East.  They do bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

          So, if it isn't really the way we have always thought it, what is so important about this story?  Why do these wise men even matter?

          Some translations, including the NRSV call them Magi, and then a foot note which says, "or astrologers."  But even that is a bit of a misleading identity.  These are not physics majors working for NASA -- at the time of Jesus, the term referred to astronomers or fortune tellers.  One commentator says "They were not so much respectable wise men or kings but horoscope fanatics --- a practice condemned by Jewish standards.  We might compare them to people in fortune-teller booths, or people on the psychic hot-line or other occupations that foretell the future by stars, tea leaves, Tarot cards, etc." (Stoffregen)  In other words, for the Jews they would represent all that was wrong in the Gentile world, the epitome of idolatry and hocus-pocus.  Like the shepherds in the gospel of Luke, these were not the models of religious piety, they too would be last on the list of who should be invited to view this Savior of the world, but Matthew makes them the heroes of the story.

          Now this is where the story gets interesting, and why it is important enough to keep telling.  God is up to something here! This is what God is so good at, taking the things that would get someone's attention, like a star that would attract fortune tellers, and bringing them to new life through that sign.  And though they assumed that this new king would somehow be found in the seat of power and authority, Jerusalem,  after their chat with Herod and a check on a small reference in the Hebrew scriptures, they were guided to the lowly, nothing spot of Bethlehem.  As they knelt down before the child,  they too had an epiphany, something was shown to them that helped them to see differently, they were changed, and then, perhaps the most important line in the whole text:  They went home by another way.

          And that is the gospel in the nutshell.  We are guided by the light of Christ, and we see in a new way, we recognize what we had been blind to before, and then, we walk another path.

          You've heard people use the word in everyday conversation --- "I was going about my business, living my life in the most ordinary way, and then, I had a real epiphany!"  It is like having the lights turned on, like seeing something for the first time that has been right in front of you.  And usually, an epiphany turns us in another direction.

          The light goes on and people realize that they are in the wrong line of work, or that their drinking is getting in the way of their life, or that they were always loved, or that they don't deserve to be treated badly, or that they have been thinking negatively about a situation and don't have to think that way anymore.  They have an epiphany, a new insight, a new understanding, a new way of seeing.  And that is a pretty good description of the work of the Spirit.

          And over and over, scripture keeps telling us that the light shines, the epiphany happens where its least expected, and it often addresses those who are the most unlikely.  That ought to help us to keep any sense of judgment out of where and how God is most likely to show up.  And it ought to help us to realize that we have work to do, to invite those who are on the outside to come and see.

We hear it at every baptism, words that also come from the gospel of Matthew, "Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."  You might be part of someone else's epiphany!

          Jim and Donna from my husband Jay's former parish, St. Barnabas in the Desert, had been taking a faith formation class for several years, and when they had finished the class they decided that they wanted to really get out and live their faith. They walked into Jay's office one day and Jim asked what he could do to make a difference in the lives of homeless people. Jay had just returned from a trip to Minneapolis and had heard about the Bridging program here where his brother-in-law is a volunteer.  He had a brochure sitting on his desk.  Bridging is a program that collects used furniture and provides it for people who are getting set up in a home for the first time and do not have the means to furnish the house.  They get a referral through social services, and can go to the Bridging warehouse and they get a one time only, one hour shopping session to pick out what they need for their new household.  The couple in Arizona had an epiphany, they started it as a sort of part time hobby, but realized that a part-time commitment wouldn't cut it; they quit their jobs, sold their home at the base of Camelback mountain, liquidated some assets, and took on some sizeable debt to accomplish their mission.

          That is just one story, and you probably all have a story like that from your own life, or from people you know you were walking one path, and then, Epiphany!  Lights on!  and by the power of God, a new road is taken.  And so we keep telling the story of the three kings, we keep telling about the ones who came and saw, and went home by another road --- because they connect with our stories, and remind us that once we have encountered the Christ, nothing is ever the same, and it is that light that changes us, no matter who we are, no matter how low or unimportant in the eyes of the world.  

          Keep your eyes on the star, arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon YOU.  Don't be afraid to go home by another way.

Amen