The Unease of the Magi

Today is the Epiphany. Epiphany is an old greek word that originally meant insight brought about by confrontation with the Divine. Ancient Myths and Epic poems used to be scattered with moments like that, T.S. Eliot, knowing that plays off this idea his poem, Journey of the Magi.

Here is a recording of the poem.

I always loved that bit of writing. The last part of the poem when one of the Kings remembers the journey. Time has passed and he contemplates upon what he witnessed.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Yeah, the last lines aren’t exactly the most cheerful expression one would expect when meeting the Savior of Mankind. But I think, at times, that there is no response to witnessing Christ the infant King that is more human. No longer at ease in the old dispensation, the poem says, as the Kings slowly realize the uncomfortable responsibility of knowing the Christ. Their old ways are fading away. The days of Magic, Gods, and Fortune-telling are virtually meaningless in the face of this infant-God lying in the humblest of settings. There was an inversion of morality and there were many qualities that we think of today as heroic or admirable that were not thought of to be so back then. The greatest proof of this, of course, is the great King born in the humblest of settings.

I said before I sympathize with that unease. There are times, when I do think of backtracking from my faith, to reside in a comfortable level of hedonism, or merely pursue material gain. I do not disparage those that wish to make their lives a little less comfortable, but of course we are called to more. The Epiphany, being part of that Christmas season serves as a reminder of that.