My Jewish friends, somewhat in jest, sometimes refer to other Jews as "members of the tribe." It’s the kind of thing that they can say about one another, but, frankly, I’d be hesitant to refer to a Jew as a "member of the tribe." It strikes me as the kind of joking reference that Jews can make about other Jews, but that Christians probably shouldn’t. Sort of an in-house, in-the-family kind of thing.

But it does make the point that Jews feel a strong sense of kinship, and loyalty, and connectedness based on their religious, cultural, and genetic heritage. I’ve often admired that about them.

Well, what’s that got to do with the story of the magi, the so-called "Three Wise Men?" Let’s step back a bit and see what these guys are getting themselves into. This baby they’re going to see is born in Bethlehem (and the story goes to some pains to get Joseph and Mary there) because Bethlehem is the City of David, the greatest King of Israel ever. Joseph, we are told in genealogies in both Matthew and Luke, is a direct descendent of David. Mary, of course, is a good Jewish girl. The Magi don’t know exactly where to go (they take a wrong turn and go to Jerusalem first), but they do know that they are looking for the "child who has been born king of the Jews."

The point here is that what they are getting themselves into is an all-Jewish show, and a carefully credentialed all-Jewish show at that. Now, there are lots of lessons we can take from the story of the Epiphany, but let’s not fail to see the forest for the trees. Before we talk about the gifts, or the journey, or King Herod, or the star, or how many magi there were, or legends about their names, or any of that — don’t miss the big point: however many there were, whatever their names were, however they followed the star — they are not Jewish! In this carefully credentialed all-Jewish show, enter non-Jews.

In a culture in which non-Jews were considered unclean and were to be avoided whenever possible, imagine Joseph and Mary’s surprise when these heathens, these infidels, these unclean foreigners, these people who were not "members of the tribe," not "one of us," come bearing gifts.

One lesson of Epiphany is that the significance of the birth of Jesus goes beyond Judaism. That may seem rather obvious to us sitting where we are now, but in light of the fact that up to this point, the Bible has spent almost all of its time, and about a thousand pages, addressing thousands of years of Jewish history and Jewish thought, the fact that these Gentiles show up bearing gifts is of no small import. Traditionally, we call it the birth of the Church.

What wonderful, joyous news that is! That’s why we, most of whom would be excluded if this were a Jewish-only feast, hold a party every week. Celebrate! Give thanks! The Good News is breaking out of the confines of Israel and making God’s astounding love available to the formerly "unclean" likes of you and me. Alleluia!

Alleluia. That’s very good news. But don’t stop there. I think it would be a mistake to limit that lesson to the specific circumstances presented by the Epiphany. I think it would be a mistake to say, "Well, what this means is that you don’t have to be Jewish for the birth of Christ to herald something very significant."

That’s true, and that’s important, but I think God is up to something much bigger than that. When the foreign, unclean, non-Jewish Magi show up, God is saying, "No more can my love be defined, confined, or limited by any restriction of tribe, clan, family, language, nation, even religious tradition. Never again will anyone, because of who they are, be considered ‘unclean.’ This baby is for the whole world."

Since most of us don’t have a Jewish background, I think it’s easier for us to appreciate this story as representing the release from the restriction of being Jewish than it is for us to appreciate it as representing the release from all other restrictions that separate people. That’s a much more ambitious undertaking— just like God to do something like that! For many of us, if we’re brutally honest with ourselves, there is some classification we use to say, "Because you’re one of them, you can’t come to the manger. You’re not one of us." We do it with race; we’ve gotten better, but we have a long way to go. We do it with nationality and nationalism. (Many of our churches conflate a sense of blindly obedient patriotism and religious faith so that the two become indistinguishable, God becomes an American, and anyone who questions the policies of the government is "unchristian.") We do it with economics and class. (I’ve heard people whom I knew otherwise to be fine, devoted Christians refer poor people as "rabble" and try to keep them out.) We do it with gay people; we do it with disabled people; we do it with people from different countries; we do it with people of different faiths and cultures. We do it lots of ways. The test isn’t whether we say the politically correct thing; the test is how we say it, and, more importantly, how we act toward groups to which we do not belong. Often our tone and our actions, collectively and individually, say, "You’re not a member of my tribe."

There’s a word in our creed that causes lots of confusion and that I get asked about a lot. It is the word "catholic." "We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." Usually when people ask me about it, they’re confusing it with "Roman Catholic." Well, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re not Roman Catholic. The word "catholic" means "universal," "concerned with all people," "all embracing." At our weekly celebration, we always say that we are catholic. Like many things in the creed, it’s something we need to grow into.

So when you hear the story of the Magi, remember that it is the story of the birth of a Church that is catholic, universal, all embracing. And when you feel those very human, very tempting, limitations of tribe coming on, remember that you are a member of a tribe, but that God has redefined it to include

earth.

And the good news is, the gift of the Magi to you is, that’s bound to include you! Merry Christmas!