Celebrating Epiphany while empathizing with the oppressed and vulnerable
Louisville minister uses story of the Magi to urge Presbyterians to seek truth and resist systems of power
LOUISVILLE — Members of the Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gathered online for a midweek observance of Epiphany featuring a sermon by the Rev. Marissa Galván-Valle that served as a reminder of the need to step out of one’s comfort zone to be in solidarity with the vulnerable.
Galván-Valle’s sermon for Epiphany or Three Kings Day (Dia de los Reyes) was anchored by Matthew 2:1–12, describing the story of the magi who visited Jesus on the occasion of his birth and worshiped him.
Galván-Valle, a native of Puerto Rico, is the pastor of Louisville’s Beechmont Presbyterian Church, a multicultural, multiracial church with bilingual services in languages such as Spanish and English. It holds a big celebration for Epiphany that reflects a mix of traditions, including food and a pinata, and this year, people were invited to be like the magi by bringing gifts in the form of “much-needed items” for South Louisville Community Ministries.
When considering the passage from Mathew, Beechmont congregants were invited to think about the dangers facing the magi as they made their way to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus, and the implications of the journey for the people of today.
“They had to walk through unknown wilderness,” Galván-Valle noted during the UA chapel service. Also, “they were uncertain about where they were going to go, and then they decided to stop in Jerusalem.” They encountered Herod, a king who was “paranoid, obsessively controlling and willing to use murder, torture and political intrigue to maintain power.”
The journey also was a long one for the magi, whom the Bible says traveled from the east.
“It took months to get to Bethlehem,” Galván-Valle said. But “they could not stay distant. They had to see this child with their own eyes. They had to cut the distance between seeing from afar and experiencing the divine event there and then.”
Today, the magi story perhaps serves as an invitation to cut the distance and to discover God's revelations “for us today,” Galván-Valle said.
“God places a star in the sky to invite our curiosity and our courage, and even more importantly, God cuts the ultimate distance by becoming one of us, Immanuel,” Galván-Valle said. “After all, Epiphany means revelation. God is not hiding, and Jesus is a light that shines in the darkness.”
But “what is our response to this revelation?” Galván-Valle asked. For example, “would we, like the magi, leave our comfort zones, cross our self-imposed borders and boundaries, and kneel before a Messiah who has no measurable power, at least not the kind that the world recognizes today,” such as military might or economic wealth?
Galván-Valle also shared kernels from “The Magi: Nonviolent Heroes of the Nativity Story” by Sami Awad, co-director of Nonviolence International.
“He writes about the magi as seekers of truth and companions of the oppressed,” Galván-Valle said. “He sees their journey not as ambition driven, but as rooted in a spiritual commitment to truth. Their actions, to him, embody the essence of nonviolent (activists), crossing boundaries, facing risks, listening deeply and standing in solidarity with the vulnerable. In his interpretation, he sees their gifts — gold, frankincense and myrrh — not merely as symbols” but as “tangible expressions of human dignity and hope.”
The magi opted to return home by an alternate route rather than to return to Herod after receiving a warning in a dream. Herod had told them he wanted to go worship the baby but actually had murderous intentions — wanting to kill Jesus.
“When King Herod attempts to manipulate them (the magi) for his violent political ends, the magi, impacted by their encounter with Jesus and warned in a dream by a God, who is not even necessarily their God, refuse to comply,” Galván-Valle said. “They return home by another route, and this is a quiet but decisive act of defiance. They do not confront Herod with weapons or big speeches. They simply withdraw their cooperation, and that refusal disrupts a system built on fear and control.”
Galván-Valle went on to note that in “a world marked by war and violence and invasion and displacement and injustice, we are called to stop being distant and to respond to God's revelation in ways that cross boundaries but are always seeking the truth, the whole truth, and listening to all voices, especially those that are suffering, and accompany the vulnerable in their journeys. And we are also called to let that discovery transform our minds and souls, so we gain the courage to resist systems of power that exist only because people continue to cooperate with them.”
In that vein, Galván-Valle posed these questions for self-examination: “Are we willing to leave our comfort zones to keep discovering the face of Christ in others? Are we ready to follow the star, wherever he may lead? And are we willing to go home by another way?”
“Sami Awad reminds us the work of peace begins with truth-seeking, solidarity and a holy refusal to cooperate with injustice,” Galván-Valle noted. In the future, “may we have the courage to shorten the distance in whatever way we can, and may we be overwhelmed with joy when we discover the holy purpose waiting for us.”
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