Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Not That Kind of Christian

Home
Progressive Christian
Religious Events
Making Epiphany Great Again

Making Epiphany Great Again

Last updated on: January 9, 2024 at 9:21 am by Matt Schur

Making Epiphany Great Again 2024-01-09T09:21:30-05:00 Matt Schur

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The 3 Wise Men riding away from the White House

Image Credit: generated using AI, 1/8/2024

January 6th is about an unstable, power-hungry, and paranoid leader with delusions of grandeur. He demanded complete fealty, showing no qualms about getting rid of someone if he sensed even the smallest hint of disloyalty in them…but he was loyal to nobody but himself. He craved power, and once he had it he was not afraid to do terrible things to keep it.

Yes, one of the primary players in the events of January 6th was…King Herod.

What? You thought I was talking about somebody else?

How strange.

Epiphany and Political Power

For churches that follow the liturgical calendar, January 6th is known as the Feast of the Epiphany. It’s the commemoration of when the magi (wise men) visited Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.

How ironic that it’s also the day of the year we remember the actions of another unstable, power-hungry, and paranoid leader with delusions of grandeur. Donald Trump may not have ordered the killing of every child under age two like Herod did, but when he whipped a mob into a frenzy and then ordered them to march to the Capitol it did lead to the unjust deaths of several people.

Epiphany and Resistance

Yes, in the Epiphany story of 2021, Donald Trump was Herod.

And the rest of us? We all have the opportunity to play the part of the magi.

The magi were there to worship the Christ child. They brought gifts for him—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But their biggest act of worship was when they directly disobeyed Herod’s instructions and left without telling him Jesus’s whereabouts.

It was, in effect, an act of civil disobedience against a tyrant who planned to kill the Christ child. When told what Herod’s plan was, the magi did the right thing. They realized that although Herod had wanted them to think he was acting in Jesus’s interests, in reality, he wanted nothing to do with Jesus. He was just using these first would-be followers of Jesus as a pawn to retain political power.

Herod, Trump, and the Church

Two thousand years ago, Herod’s plan didn’t succeed because those who recognized Jesus as king chose to resist when they realized what he was up to.

In 2021 on the other hand, Donald Trump’s plan to illegally and unconstitutionally retain power came scarily close to succeeding in large part because he had the support of millions of Christians.

Folks—if we’re on the side of Herod in the Epiphany story, we’re on the wrong side. But that’s exactly where too many Christians and Christian leaders have chosen to place themselves. Donald Trump’s largest source of support throughout his relatively short political career has come from the church, and he has paid lip service to the people of faith who have shown him loyalty.

Power is for Others

For Trump, however, the church is simply a means to an end. And that end is not the well-being of the United States. Reasonable people can, and have, disagreed on which governing philosophy best serves the people, but for his entire adult life, the question for Donald Trump has been which philosophy best serves him. He will wholeheartedly embrace whatever he perceives the answer to be, then completely change course if the prevailing winds begin blowing in a different direction.

It’s all about him, and that has already proven to be a dangerous thing.

As we saw in the original Epiphany story with Herod, and as we saw on the day of Epiphany in 2021, when the primary beneficiary of a person’s power is themselves, the ones who are hurt are the ones for whom Jesus has called us to care.

Let’s not allow the church to be used as a means to the end of satisfying a selfish narcissist’s need to feel powerful. Instead, let’s worship the newborn king by using God’s humble power to serve our neighbors in need.

In other words, Let’s Make Epiphany Great Again.

General Christian

Religious Events

Politics and Religion

Current Events

Epiphany

Politics and Religion

Progressive Christianity

About Matt Schur

After graduating with a B.A. in English from Truman State and an M.A. in Systematic Theology from Luther Seminary, Matt Schur spent years wandering in a vocational wilderness before finally discovering his calling— assisting and advocating for the marginalized and vulnerable. He currently lives out that call as a case manager and housing specialist for people experiencing homelessness. He also serves an ELCA campus ministry part-time as its music director and pianist, and has published two books of progressive Christian poetry: “Cross Sections” (2021) and “Imperfectly Perfect” (2023). His writing has been featured in “Valiant Scribe Literary Journal,” “Unlikely Stories,” and “Cathexis Northwest Press.” You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

December 30, 2023

Why I Love the Bible’s “Christmas That Isn’t Christmas”

Next Post

January 11, 2024 Barbie, the Golden Globes, and the Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category biblical interpretation Capital Punishment Christmas Current Events Death Penalty Epiphany Evangelical Football Fundamentalist He Gets Us John light Movies Patriarchy Politics and Religion Progressive Christianity Seasonal Holidays Solstice Super Bowl taylor swift Toxic masculinity Translation Uncategorized Unhelpful phrases

Select a Month February 2024 January 2024 December 2023

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz