Episode 111: Year C – The Epiphany of the Lord
This upcoming Sunday is The Epiphany of the Lord, for which the readings are the same as the previous two years. The first reading is taken from Isaiah 60:1-6. The second reading is taken from Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6. And the Gospel is taken from Matthew 2:1-12. Given that we’ve already covered much of the apologetical material present in these readings for Years A and B, in this episode we provide a brief survey of the material already covered and simply highlight two extra details that we haven’t covered thus far: the identity of the magi and the dating of Christ’s birth.
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Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Dr. Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
This upcoming Sunday is The Epiphany of the Lord, for which the readings are the same as the previous two years. The first reading is taken from Isaiah 60:1-6. The second reading is taken from Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6. And the Gospel is taken from Matthew 2:1-12. Given that we’ve already covered much of the apologetical material present in these readings for Years A and B, in today’s episode I will only provide a brief survey of the material already covered and simply highlight two extra details that we haven’t covered thus far: the identity of the magi and the dating of Christ’s birth.
Let’s start with a brief survey of the apologetical material. In episode 7 of the Sunday Catholic Word, which was the episode for the Epiphany of the Lord, Year A, we looked at two challenges.
The first challenged the reliability of Matthew’s narrative as to whether the “magi,” who were from the East, really would have taken an international journey (from the Medo Persian Empire, or Babylon, to Jerusalem) to greet a newborn king of the Jews. For some skeptics, it doesn’t seem reasonable to think that ancient peoples would have taken such long journeys as Matthew says they did.
But, as we discussed in episode 7, the historical records suggest otherwise. Ancients did travel great distances in the ancient world.
The second challenge, which took up most of the episode, was the challenge concerning the star, and in particular Matthew’s description of it. For some skeptics, it seems absurd that a star would move in the sky to guide the magi to Jesus.
We can several responses that would show such a miracle wouldn’t be absurd given certain philosophical presuppositions. But we also looked at a possible explanation that doesn’t require the movement of a star in the sky. As discussed, it’s possible the phenomenon was a providentially ordered natural celestial phenomenon that involved Jupiter, the Regulus star, and Venus lining up in such a way that created the appearance of a single star, a celestial event that occurred in 3 B.C., the time of Jesus’ birth.
In episode 59 of the Sunday Catholic Word, which was the episode for the same feast Year B, we looked at several other challenges that are posed to the biblical narrative.
For example, we looked at the challenge as to whether Matthew disagrees with Luke as to where Joseph and Mary began their married life. Matthew seems to say they began their life in Bethlehem and Luke says they started out in Nazareth.
But, as we discussed, there is no disagreement because Matthew never says Joseph and Mary started out their life as a married couple in Bethlehem. He simply begins his narrative with them in Bethlehem, leaving out the details about their life in Nazareth. Omission doesn’t entail a contradiction.
We also looked at the challenge that states Luke and Matthew contradict each other because Luke doesn’t mention any magi, or wise-men, being present at Jesus’ birth whereas Matthew does.
But, as we discussed, Matthew simply could be recording a detail that Luke chooses to omit. Again, omission of a detail doesn’t entail a contradiction.
Finally, we looked at the challenge that states it seems unlikely that magi/wise men “from the east” would have concluded that the celestial sign signified the birth of a newborn Jewish king.
But, as we discussed, there were a series of predictions in Babylonian texts, referred to as Jupiter omens, that were related to the celestial event that took place at the time of Jesus’ birth. One of them was that if Jupiter reached a halting point in the morning and not some other time during the day, enemy kings would be destroyed by a king from a region that would have included Israel.
Okay, with our survey now complete, let’s move to the two other aspects of this epiphany story that I want to touch on.
The first is the identity of the Magi.
Now, there is nothing that I can say here that hasn’t already been said by my colleague and friend Jimmy Akin. So, I will just summarize here what he says in his article “The Mysteries of the Magi.” Please be sure to read his article in full.
When Matthew describes these men, the Greek word that’s used is magoi, which is the plural for magos. The more familiar Latin equivalent is magi.
As Akin points out in his article, the term magi originally referred to one of the six tribes of the Medes in Persia (modern Iran). We get this from the Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories (1:101:1), which dates to around 440 B.C. The way Herodotus describes such magi suggests they were like the Jewish tribe of Levi, priests who were appointed to perform priestly functions.
The book of Daniel also speaks of magi who were called upon to interpret the king’s dreams (Dan. 1:20, 2:2, 10, 27).
In Persia, the magi were also looked to for interpreting heavenly omens. Herodotus records a case involving the fifth century Persian king Xerxes I, who sought from magi an interpretation of a solar eclipse that took place before his battle with the Greeks.
Overtime, the term magi would extend beyond the boundaries Persian priestly casts and refer to a variety of different types of individuals. But given that Matthew tells us that the magi “come from the east,” and he doesn’t describe them as being fellow Jews, and he uses this event as evidence that Gentiles can be Christians, most scholars conclude that they were Gentile astrologers from a distant land in the east, whether Arabia, Babylonia, or Persia.
St. Justin Martyr sided with the Arabia option in his Dialogue with Trypho 78:1. Tertullian went with the Arabian option as well in his Against Marcion 3:13.
Babylon is a solid contender for many scholars because of the association of magi with Babylonia in the book of Daniel.
But given the association of magi with the Persian priestly caste who interpret heavenly omens, most Church Fathers go with the Persia option.
Let me now saw a few things concerning the timing of Jesus’ birth, which is relevant to our Gospel reading from Matthew 2:1-12.
As I said for my comments concerning the identity of the Magi, there is nothing that I can say here that hasn’t already been said best by Jimmy Akin. So, again, I’ll just summarize here what he says in a variety of his articles. But one you can check out is the same article I mentioned already, “The Mysteries of the Magi.”
Many scholars say that Jesus was born about 7 to 6 B.C. The reason for this claim is based on a combination of two details. The first is that they think Herod died in 4 B.C. The second is that Herod orders the killing of all male children under the age of 2 when the magi visit him, thereby indicating that the magi visit Herod right around two years after Jesus’ birth. Although, as Akin points out, it may not have been a full two years since Herod may have added a “safety” margin of time to his order of execution.
So, if Jesus was born two years before Herod’s execution order, then that puts Jesus being born about 7 to 6 B.C.
But scholars have challenged the assumption that Herod died in 4 B.C. Some have argued that he died in 1 B.C. The American bible scholar Jack Finegan is one such individual. He did this in his book Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 2nd ed. Andrew Steinmann, Distinguished Professor of Theology and Hebrew at Concordia University Chicago, is another. He makes this argument in his From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology, 2nd ed.
Given this new dating of Herod’s death, Jesus’ birth would have been in the year of 3 to 2 B.C., which is the year the early Church Fathers believed to be the correct one.
What’s really neat, as Akin points out, is that this dating maps on with what we can decipher from Luke’s narrative. He tells us that Jesus began his ministry at “about thirty years old” (Luke 3:23). And Luke locates this during the “fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (3:1), which would have been A.D. 29. If we subtract 30 from 29, and bear in mind that there is no “Year 0” between 1 B.C. and A.D. 1, we find ourselves in the year 2 B.C.
Conclusion
Well, my friends, that does it for this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. Again, I encourage you to listen to episodes 7 and 59 of the Sunday Catholic Word, episodes for the Epiphany of the Lord for Years A and B, to fully appreciate the apologetical material that is present in the readings for this feast day. But even here in today’s episode, we were able to add a tidbit of extra information.
As always, I want to thank you for subscribing to the podcast. And please be sure to tell your friends about it and invite them to subscribe as well through any podcast platform that they use. You can also access the archived episodes of the Sunday Catholic Word at sundaycatholicword.com.
You might also want to check out the other great podcasts in our Catholic Answers podcast network: Cy Kellet’s Catholic Answers Focus, Trent Horn’s The Counsel of Trent, Joe Heschmeyer’s Shameless Popery, Jimmy Akin’s The Jimmy Akin podcast, and Tim Staples “1 on 1 with Tim,” all of which can be found at catholic.com.
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I hope you have a blessed Epiphany of the Lord, Year C. Until next time, God Bless.