Slow down, the Magi just got to town

I once heard about a man who called his insurance agency. His sounded panicked and he spoke in a hurry.

“I want to get some fire insurance on my house!”

The agent pulled a form out of his desk and began to fill it out. After retrieving some rushed answers to his questions, the agent told the caller. “Before we insure the structure itself, we will have to do an inspection.”

“What kind of inspection?”

“What I mean is that we need to see your house before we write fire insurance on it.”

“Well, if you need to see the house first, then you had better hurry!”

Yesterday, Jan. 6, was Epiphany. For some of us that may mean no more than the price of radishes. Yet, for a great deal of the world and for thousands of years, Epiphany has been an important day.

In Greek the word “epiphany” means appearance. Theologically, Epiphany celebrates the appearance of God in Jesus Christ. Most of the church agrees on that fact.

What the church does not agree upon is which particular events in the life of Jesus should be celebrated during Epiphany. While some would go so far as to add his baptism and the wedding at Cana, most everyone recognizes that Epiphany is about the coming of the Magi to Bethlehem. Christmas and Epiphany are not the same.

Yet, in our rushed-up renditions of Christmas we have packed everything related to the birth and the first months of Jesus’ life into one long night. In this stylized version of the birth, everything happened at once and everyone was there at once. The angels were overhead. The shepherds were standing around outside and the Magi were kneeling beside the manger. The stable must have been pretty crowded.

However, most scholars agree that the Magi did not come until several months, maybe years, after Jesus was born. They were looking for a child as much as 2-years-old.

That is not true in our versions. For some reason, when it comes to Christmas and Epiphany, we act as if the house is on fire and we rush everything.

Yesterday was also the end of the 12 Days of Christmas. In some circles, the last night is called “The Twelfth Night.” The twelve days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day and go until Jan. 6.

Most of my life I have thought that the twelve days of Christmas were the 12 days leading up to Christmas, not the days following Christmas. I remember as a child singing the old song in school. I was singing the song as if I was counting down until Christmas.

I am not sure why I had it all backward. My suspicion is that the idea came from department stores. In my mind, I associated the twelve days of Christmas with the idea of only 12 days of shopping left until Christmas.

Retailers certainly want to add a sense of urgency to all of our shopping. Nothing does urgency better than a countdown, 12, 11, 10… days until Christmas.

Still, not all the blame falls on retailers. Some of it is ours. We are in a hurry. Counting twelve days after Christmas is pretty anticlimactic. Everything moves a lot quicker if we can count twelve days before Christmas. That is why Christmas feels so rushed for most of us. We rush to it and then through it. Yesterday was Epiphany. The Magi just got in town. Slow down, enjoy Christmas longer. You would think the house is on fire.

Dr. Mark Ross is the pastor of Marion Baptist Church. To learn more about MBC, visit http://www.marionbaptistchurchva.com/.