Mt 2:1-12
Is 60:1-6
Eph 3:2-3a,5-6
focus: Jesus is the light, the Savior of all humankind.
We are invited to receive the light and to manifest it to others. Some things we’ve lost we seek with greater intensity than others. If we’ve lost a penny, we don’t bother much; if it’s a hundred dollar bill, we bother much more! A person who misplaced their only set of car keys may turn the whole house upside down. Parents who’ve lost a child will never, never stop searching!
Today’s gospel presents us with the magi form the East. Their scientific insight, and probably what they’ve read in their own sacred writings, move them to embark upon a great search, a long journey. They follow a star. They travel “from the east.” They bring gifts. The diligence of their search indicates their belief in the value of the One for whom they search. They seek a special “newborn king.”
They don’t mind the discomfort, the troubles and risks that often came with traveling in antiquity. In Jerusalem, they have to contend with the power hunger, the fear, and the intrigue of King Herod. Finally, the seekers arrive. Because the eyes of their hearts are open they can recognize the wonder-full work of God in the poor child of Bethlehem. They use their own knowledge; they are willing to learn from the Scribes in Jerusalem;and they are ready to be surprised by God! Beyond the reverence due to any ruler, they fall down – in worship. They become the first representatives of the peopleswho get to Jesus after his birth. They acknowledge, as was said earlier in Matthews Gospel,that in this child “God is with us.”
Oftentimes artists depicted in paintings the effect that the visit in the stable had on the magi. The rough hands of the old men become tender and their faces marvel as they kneel down at the manger and present their gifts to the child. The gifts symbolically fit with the recipient: The gold represents Jesus’ royalty, the incense points to his divinity, and the myrrh indicates his suffering and death. Then the magi are warned in a dream not to return to Herod; and they depart for their county by another way. That they are open to such guidance from God shows once again that they are people who listen inward. At the same time, this different route symbolically expresses that their experience has transformed them. The ways they choose in their lives now are new and different ones!
In today’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah presents with a vision of God’s light and glory, which, he says, will be granted to many nations. One day, so Isaiah, nations and kings will walk by this shining radiance and will joyfully come with their gifts and riches to praise and adore God. With the Evangelist Matthew, we see this prophecy fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Today’s solemnity of Epiphany, the word translated means ‘Manifestation,’ expounds for us in greater fullness the meaning of Christmas: Jesus is the Light of the nations, as the 2nd Vatican Council points out, ‘Lumen Gentium.’ He is the Messiah, the shepherd and ruler of his people Israel and of all peoples. And in him, as the preface of the feast proclaims, God has renewed all humanity in God’s own immortal image. Through Him, in Him, God gives all of us, all humans, a share in his divine nature.
My sisters and brothers, Jesus is the light, the Savior of all humankind. We, like the magi, are called upon to receive the light and to manifest it to others. In a threefold way, the magi are models for us. First, they were seekers. They made use of their mind’s natural light in order to gain knowledge; and they were open to a revelation that they could only receive. Prayer, regular and persistent prayer, is necessary for such openness of mind and heart to come about.
Second, the wise magi were also people of action. They were ready to set out, to act upon what they had understood. They took risks, and gave up the comfort of their lives at home, for the sake of the journey. The result was that they found God, not in abstract concepts, but in the person of Jesus Christ. Also for us, finding God is very concrete and often involves concrete human beings.
Finally, the magi were transformed by their experience. They returned on a different route. It was impossible for them to be silent about what they had heard and seen. They became persons of manifestation themselves.
Cardinal Kurt Koch, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,wrote, “As the Lord’s appearance in Bethlehem was plain and inconspicuous, so His Epiphany in the lives of Christians will occur ordinarily and not sensationally. And as the Lord appeared in our world humanly and in solidarity with the people, his appearance can be extended through the church today and bring encouragement and liberation. Since Christmas, God’s Epiphany wants to continue through the lives of Christians in this world.”
‘Lumen Caecis’ is the motto of our missionary Benedictine Congregation, Light for the Blind. That’s what all of us can be as a result of our search for God and of our pilgrimage to Bethlehem.
~Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB