This year my mother-in-law’s quiz asked the name of the second king. Of course, I got it wrong!
Actually, I grew up in a church where we never sang We three kings, because we were constantly told it was more biblical to refer to them as Wise Men. That said, there was always three of them and that is equally unbiblical as that number relates to their gifts alone.
It’s only been in later life I’ve discovered the tradition that calls them Melchior, Balthazar and Caspar.
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany when we remember their story. This visit to the Christ child ‘internationalises’ Christmas.
These days I care very little about whether or not we reference them as either kings or magi. For as with all biblical myth stories the historicity is never the important part but the theology behind the narrative.
Epiphany theology is about being open to truth, sincerely searching for it and being led to unexpected wisdom.
Giving the kings/wise men names is a way for us to bring the story to life and ‘inhabit’ it for ourselves.
Part of the Ignatian tradition for people going through Months or Weeks of Guided Prayer, is to be given a piece of scripture every day and spend time putting yourself in the story and listening out for what Jesus might have said to you as he feeds 5,000 or calmed the storm on Lake Galilee.
I remember when I was asked to do this at an Ignatian Retreat and it was presented as something new. At that point I realised it had, actually, been part of my life since Sunday School days. For every Sunday at 3.00pm, we would gather to listen to the ‘Stories of Jesus, to live in these and become part of them. I’ll always be grateful to my Sunday School teachers who introduced me to these stories.
And now, in my seventh decade, just as it started in my first two, my story is grounded in THE Story, and I can think of no better foundation upon which to build in this New Year of 2022.
May yours be a Blessed Epiphany.
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