We are accustomed to think of the Gospels as providing us with an account of the life and ministry of Jesus the Christ. The past century or so has been marked with a great deal of discussion about how much of their content provides us with real access to what has been termed "the historical Jesus". Much of the interest has been focused on the significance of the fact the gospels themselves were put together a generation of two (30-70 years) after the events which they describe happened. Much has been made of the oral nature of the sources which the writers used as well as the existence of earlier documents which have been lost but were incorporated into the present gospel texts. But within the last 25 years the discovery of a series of papyrus manuscripts at Naj Hammadi has given us an entirely different understanding of the circumstances of the 1st century CE which produced our canonical gospels. These documents seem to challenge some of the established conclusions about Christian origins.
The effects of this discovery are still being played out but they included: a repositioning of the historical Jesus discussion in the sense that the Gospels are now seen to reflect the needs of the communities which sprang up as the result of Jesus ministry; a realization that these communities covered a wider range of responses to Jesus ministry than we were previously aware ; and, that what these communities have in common is their concern with a series of questions which were provoked by Jesus life, death and resurrection and finally that the answers to them provide the content of these accounts which have a generic title of Gospel. But what were these questions which produced so much controversy? Elaine Pagels suggests that they centered on: - How is one to understand the resurrection? What about women's participation in priestly and episcopal office? Who Was Christ, and how does he relate to the believer? What are the similarities between Christianity and other world religions? (1)
The Feast of Epiphany offers an appropriate time to consider the latter question since the coming of the Magi seemingly out of nowhere in a Gospel written for a Jewish Christian community requires some explanation. First, however, let's look quickly at the other readings because they introduce some words which are central to our discussion. The third Isaiah uses the word nations in a way which parallels the meaning of gentiles in Ephesians but in the latter context we clearly have a reference to the composition of the Christian communities who were a part of Paul's missionary efforts. Depending upon the translation the text of what we know as the nunc dimittis in Luke 2:29ff, the words nations and gentiles are interchangeable with the latter making more sense in terms of the venue of the Lucan community which was clearly - gentile.
Raymond E. Brown in his definitive work, The Birth of the Messiah, suggests that the role of the Shepherds in Luke and the Magi in Matthew have a similar theological function - that the conception and birth of Jesus as the Messiah should be proclaimed abroad and should be met by belief and adoration with the addition in Matthew that the belief and adoration would be the response of the Gentiles and coupled with a rejection of the newborn king by many prominent forces in Israel.(2) In this context, the Magi represent a justification for the inclusion of Gentiles within the Kingdom of God and clearly provide reasons why a largely Jewish-Christian community would support their inclusion in the Church as represented by the work of Paul and the presence of communities such as those to which the stories of Luke/Acts are attached.
If we return to the vision of the Third Isaiah, the nations represented are not easily attached to the concepts represented by the gentiles that we have observed in our other readings and whatever the language problems we might have with translation it can be argued that we have more than an issue of translation but, in fact, one of fundamental difference in understanding. Simply put, the information supplied by the Naj Hammadi manuscripts suggest that the early Christian groups represented by these writings reflects a widespread response to the ministry of Jesus and the remembering of his work in generically speaking the Gospels includes religious traditions best represented by the term nations rather than the gentiles as more commonly found in the canonical New Testament. As represented in Matthew, the Magi represent suggests Norman Brown the best of pagan lore coming to acknowledge the Messiah as Lord. In this reading, the problem, if indeed there is any, of the similarities between Christianity and other world religions is solved. On the other hand, if the Magi are illustrative of the possibility that other religious traditions are able to understand the birth of the Messiah in their own terms. What might such a Jesus look like? A partial answer to this question is provided in the Naj Hammadi manuscripts.
However, before responding to this question, let me remind you of the distinction between the stance represented by beginning with other religious visions of Jesus and what was the common response taken by the tradition represented in the canonical Gospels. They did make use of a great deal of pagan philosophy by using its terminology to represent their understanding of the Christian message. Sometimes, however, these terms had both a technical philosophical sense while retaining at the same time a ground in religious practice which produced no little ambiguity as to what was their intended meaning.. For example One of the key words in question was logos. In John's Gospel, Jesus was portrayed as the Word (logos) made flesh. But at the time the Gospels were being written logos was felt to be the source of "enlightenment" whereby, in this understanding, Jesus was the one who made accessible to everyone without regard to their religious tradition a state of spiritual being which overcomes the limitation of the flesh including death itself. This ambiguity is quite obvious in the following quotations from Paul.
And last of all he appeared to me too; it was though I was born when no one expected it (1Cor.15:7)
And we who have been modeled on the earthly man will be modeled on the heavenly man..........put it this way, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God: and the perishable cannot inherit what lasts for ever. I will tell you something that has been secret: we are not all going to die but we all shall be changed....because our present perishable nature must put on imperishability and our mortal nature must put on immortality (1Cor 15)Clearly the Christian religion would look very different if it were the outcome of what we will call a Buddhist Jesus interpretation. It would be essentially a solitary experience best described by a saying of Jesus from the non canonical Gospel of Thomas
Blessed are the solitary and the chosen, for you will find the Kingdom. For you are from it and to it you will return
So the coming of the Magi serves notice that from the beginning, the very same questions about our faith which are inescapable today have been with us from the very beginning of Christianity. In rejecting the Jesus as bringer of Enlightenment, the early church did not answer the questions about Jesus, his resurrection, the role of women or its relationship with other religions once and for all. It rather made possible the continued existence of a community - we call it the body of Christ - whose life depends on the continual presence of these questions. It also created an institution that was stable and enduring because in Arthur Darby Nock's words - (its) "perfect because unconscious correspondence to the needs and aspirations of ordinary humanity". Those who would confine the Church to what it has been have obviously missed this point. World politics and world religions are dynamically intertwined now as then. The Roman solution to this relationship be it Empire or Church is no longer tenable. Nor can we simple discard the past. In this light the present crisis in the Anglican communion offers a remarkable dare I say God-given opportunity to find another way.
1. Elaine Pagels, THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS, Vintage(pb), 1989, p.150: c.f. Eline Pages, BEYOND BELIEF, Thw Secret Gospel of Thomas, Vintage (pb), 2004
2. Raymond E. Brown, THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH, Harper(pb), 1979, p.444
The Rev. Roger A. Balk, Ph.d.