THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
5 JANUARY 2025
Saint Paul
tells the Ephesians that he has been given the stewardship of God’s grace. That gift was given to him on the road to
Damascus, when the Risen Lord appeared to him to initiate a most dramatic
conversion. As a responsible steward,
Saint Paul spent the rest of his life sharing that gift with people, especially
non-Jewish Gentiles.
Saint
Matthew explains the gift of God’s grace today.
The magi are probably astrologers who respond not by a direct revelation
by God, but by a star, part of God’s creation.
They follow the star, much like the Israelites followed a pillar of fire
when leaving Egypt. Expecting that a
king would be born in a capital city, they arrive in Jerusalem. There, the acting king seeks the advice of
the chief priests and the scribes. They
quote the Prophet Micah that the child would be born in Bethlehem. He sends them there, not to do homage, but to
eliminate a potential rival.
Directed by
the star, they arrive in Bethlehem.
Entering the house, they encounter what appears to be an ordinary
baby. But, guided by the revelation of
the Prophet Micah, they perceive much more.
They prostrate themselves to do him homage, acknowledging by their gifts
the true identity of this child. The
gold identifies him as the king they had traveled to visit. The frankincense declares that he is God, and
not just an ordinary king in the line of King David. The myrrh reflects his mission. Obeying the will of his Father, he will
sacrifice his entire life on the cross for the salvation of all. Having been warned in a dream not to return
to Herod, they depart by another way to their country.
The irony
is striking. Those who know better
should have recognized this gift of God’s grace. But they ignore it. Those who have had no understanding or
interest in the gift get it. Their
encounter with this gift changed them, indicated by their decision to return
home by another way. The poet T.S. Eliot
expresses this conversion in his poem, “Journey of the Magi.” Eliot speaks from the perspective of one of
the magi in his old age. He describes
the difficulties he and his fellow travelers had encountered on their way to
Bethlehem. After painting a word picture
of the Mystery that they had encountered, he ends the poem by saying: “We
returned to our places, these Kingdoms, but no longer at ease there, in the old
dispensation, with an alien people clutching their gods.” No longer aliens, they now share the gift of
God’s grace that Saint Paul describes in the second reading.
In the
first reading, the prophet Isaiah tells Jerusalem to rise in splendor and be so
radiant that the world will see the Lord’s light reflected through her
inhabitants. Ironically, he speaks to exiles
recently returned to Jerusalem after their fifty-year exile in Babylon. There is no splendor or radiance in this
destroyed city. But Isaiah promises that
God will prevail and overcome their darkness and hard work of rebuilding their
city. Saint Matthew sees this prophecy
fulfilled in today’s Gospel. The magi
encounter the splendor and radiance of the infant, who is king, God, and
suffering servant.
No matter
how dark and discouraging we may find our world today, we too have been
baptized as stewards of God’s grace. At
this Mass, we hear ordinary words and see gifts of bread and wine. Like the magi, we hear the Lord speaking to
us in the Word. We look beyond the
appearance of bread and wine. We
prostrate ourselves during the Eucharistic Prayer in homage and encounter the
Lord’s presence as his Body and Precious Blood.
Instead of bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we bring the
gifts of our hearts in praise and thanksgiving.
Then, transformed by these gifts, we are sent out to be stewards of
God’s grace to those we encounter in this New Year.
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