Where did the Magi come from?

The Feast of the Epiphany January 8th, 2023 Matthew 2, 1-12 Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, and I would invite you to reflect upon these three statues that we have here in our manger scene because they are pretty amazing. From the Gospel we don’t know a whole lot about the magi. We know that there was more than one, they came from the east, they were astrologers and they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Everything else is stuff of legend but fairly old legend. Someone once explained that we know the magi were men by the gifts. Women would have brought more practical gifts like diapers, baby food and a bassinette. Early medieval written legend going back to the third century interpreted the Magi as three kings based on the three gifts. In the 5th century they were given the names of Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar and they came from three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. Balthazar from Africa; Melchior from Europe and Gaspar from India or Asia. Now I think that this is pretty amazing. Obviously, India would be the only place east of Bethlehem also you might wonder how the three of them met up coming from such different places. But let’s suspend reason for a moment and let us focus on the 3 magi. Balthazar is very important. He is black. You might think that that is obvious he is supposed to be from Africa, but it is incredible. Gaspar is supposed to be from India, but he doesn’t look very Asian to me, and Melchior is supposed to be from Europe, and he looks pretty European to me. In fact, everyone here looks European and not just European but Northern European. Mary and Joseph and the little baby are whiter than I am. They look like they came from Sweden or Denmark. The statues aren’t supposed to be historically accurate but for 100s of years Balthazar has been Black. And not just Black but a Black King, we can imagine him the King of Wakanda and someone as beautiful of Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther. At first Balthazar was depicted as white, up until the 12th century. In art he is depicted as white, but they would show that he was from African because he had black attendants. In the 15th century things began to change. Balthazar was depicted as black with African clothing. That means that the slave traders when they would go back to the Churches in Portugal, they would see a Black King in their manger scenes. It means that the slave owners in our own country would have had a black Balthazar in the church. They might not have allowed Blacks in their churches, but he was there black and beautiful. It means that the KKK members in the deep south would have had their manger scenes and the white man who tried to throw Rosa Parks off the bus in Montgomery probably had a black Balthazar in their house as well. I wonder if the racists of today have a black Balthazar. Or did they swap him out with another white king? The legend is that Balthazar came from Africa, Melchior from Europe and Gaspar from India. If that is true, they would have meet in Jerusalem and together they went to see King Herod and from Herod they received the directions on how to get to Bethlehem. The star would have led the three of them to Mary and Joseph’s home and the scripture says that the three of them entered the house together. They entered the house, gave their gifts, prostrated themselves and did Jesus homage. I don’t know about you, but I think that is amazing. That three very different people, from three very different places together adored the child Jesus. I think that 2000 years later it remains a powerful image. Not just people from all over coming to worship the child Jesus, but that they did it together. So it is great that we have this black statue in the midst of our very white manger scene but we know that the challenge is to create a church where not just statues are at the altar but a place where everyone is at the altar. Catholic means universal, which is a challenge for each and every one of us. As we become more inclusive, we become more who we are called to be. So let us celebrate today, celebrate not just that we have three very different guys here at the manger, but that we have very different people who make up our local community and that our Universal Church is one where everyone is welcome. My prayer is, that the Catholic Church will be reflected not just in our artwork but in our pews as well.