EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
7 JANUARY 2018
The
Magi had set out on a journey to discover God.
In their search, they were using all the tools at their disposal – their
knowledge of the stars, their study, their wealth, and their natural
intelligence. These tools had led them
to Jerusalem, the capital city where a proper Jewish king should have been
born. But that was as far as they
got. To find this king, they have to ask
questions of the Jewish religious leaders.
The chief priests and scribes quote the words of the prophet Micah and
tell them that the promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, the city of
King David’s birth. These Gentile
visitors need the truth of revealed religion to complete their journey to Bethlehem,
where they encounter the newborn king of the Jews. In searching for God, they find that God had
been searching for them and reveals himself through his Word that had been entrusted
to the people of a particular religion.
Today, many
people, especially young people, are honestly and sincerely searching for God,
just as the Magi were searching. They
use the tools at their disposal – philosophy, science, spiritual writings, the
beauty of nature, and the study of world religions. But, like the Magi, they need the help of our
living religious tradition to realize that God is searching for them. Through Word and Sacrament, the Lord reveals
himself as he is, and not as we create him to be.
There is an
interesting analogy to this search in the many dating services found on line
these days. There is a Catholic dating site.
The searcher is told that the match will be a practicing Catholic and
provides all kinds of information about that person. But, in order to form a real relationship, the
searcher has to meet the other person.
In the course of dating, the desired person gradually reveals herself or
himself. In the course of that
self-revelation, the searcher discovers the truth about the other and can enter
into a loving relationship (or not!).
In the
ancient world, astrologers regarded the stars as gods who determined the fate
of human beings. The Magi used God’s
creation in their search and eventually encountered the truth that the God who
had created the stars was incarnate in a tiny child in Bethlehem. Saint Matthew uses their gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh to express the truth about the child. He is a king.
He is the Son of God. He is the
Suffering Servant who will give his life for everyone.
As we
continue to celebrate the Mystery of God taking on human flesh, this Feast of
the Epiphany reminds us that the Lord has revealed himself as a tiny child for
everyone, and not just for us. That is
why we need to do everything we can to allow the light of Christ to shine
through us. We need to be patient and
hospitable to those who are truly seeking.
We who hear God’s Word and celebrate the Lord’s presence in the
sacramental life of the Church must be bold in sharing the joy of the
Gospel. The evangelist, Saint Matthew,
tells the story of the Magi to help the Church at his time understand the same
point which Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, makes to the
Ephesians. It was the Lord’s intention
all along to draw everyone to himself, and to invite everyone to encounter the
Lord, who has been searching for them all along.
This task
is not always easy, and it requires a profound faith in the Christmas Mystery. When the prophet Isaiah proclaimed to his
people many centuries before Christ’s birth that the glory of the Lord was
shining upon them, they were struggling in the darkness to rebuild the ruined
temple and city of Jerusalem. As the
Magi prostrated themselves in the presence of the Lord, Herod was plotting to
kill him. The Feast of Epiphany invites
us to trust in the glory of the Lord, even in the midst of darkness of our
world. When Saint Matthew tells us that
the Magi returned home by another way, he implies that they have been
transformed by their encounter. We too are
transformed by our encounter with the Incarnate Lord, and we need to share it.
No comments:
Post a Comment