Epiphany Sunday 2008
January 5-6, 2008
Isaiah 60:1-6
January 5-6, 2008
Isaiah 60:1-6
Oldies Joke
Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement center were sitting on a bench under a tree when one turned to the other and said:
"Jack, I'm 83 years old now and I'm just full of aches and pains. I know you're about my age.
How do you feel?"
Jack said, "I feel j ust like a newborn baby."
"Really? Like a newborn baby?"
"Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants."
Joyful mode
We are still in Christmas season. The Church is still in a joyful mode of adoring the newborn baby lying in a manger whom we have waited patiently during advent season. The radiance of the infant Jesus remains the center of our reflection and meditation.
Today’s celebration is called the Solemnity of Epiphany, it is like a second Christmas. It is, in fact, the Christmas of the Eastern Churches. It proclaims that the child Jesus belongs to and is given to the whole world as its Savior. We, in the Western Church, Christmas season ends after the Baptism of the Lord, which is next Sunday.
Epiphany Sunday in some countries is also called “Three Kings Sunday.” The Three Kings or Magi according to the Bible journeyed from the East following the Big Star leading to the place where the child Jesus is born, so they could worship him.
The Gospel reading we have this Sunday has many symbolisms.
The Three Kings or the three Magi, traditionally named Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar represent the Gentile world or non-believers. They were looking for the King of the Jews. Although they were not Jews, they must have felt they belonged somehow to his kingdom, too. “We have come to do him homage,” they said. They did not care if they were foreigners, strangers, pagans from the East. They are pagans but they are also members of God’s children.
Being the first ones to receive the news of the birth of Christ, they signify that the coming of the child Jesus in the world is not only for a particular group of people but for the whole human race.
The birth of Christ is God’s gift of salvation for Gentiles or Jews, and for all people.
The importance of the three Wise Men in our faith as Christians is not only their perseverance to pursue relentlessly the “Big Star” that led them to the Child Jesus. But more than their patience and stamina, it is their act of homage and respect to the child Jesus that we need to follow. They recognise the Child as the newborn Messiah king, prostrate themselves, do him homage.
The three Magi expressed their act of worship to the baby Jesus by bringing him special gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. These three precious gifts brought by the Three Kings tell us something about the life and ministry of the Child Jesus: Gold signified his kingship; frankincense signifies his priesthood; a sign his offering/sacrifice to God; and myrrh a symbol Christ’s saving death (myrrh, used in anointing a body).
Then, we have King Herod, a figure of someone who cannot accept the Child Jesus as the King of World. King Herod who in the beginning pretended to be a “Christ friendly” politician, ended up trying to kill the Christ-child. Herod's advisors told him that the prophet Micah foretold the birth of a Messiah in Bethlehem, the birthplace of David where he was also anointed king (Mi 5:2). Herod feared that this child would be a threat to his throne, and he sent the magi to search for him on the pretence of offering him homage. He will do everything for his love for power. He will compete directly with God in order to stay in power. He doesn’t want to see the glory of God’s manifestation. He doesn’t want God to be part of his life for he is full of pride.
Our Journey to find the Star
If we are going to put ourselves in the today’s reading, how can we relate ourselves to the characters and their activities we heard from the Epiphany story?
Can we see ourselves like the Three Kings? Like the Three Magi we have our own journey, we are looking for enlightenment, we are searching for answer, we are longing for happiness. Are we persevering enough on our life’s journey? How motivated are we in reaching our goals in life?
Could we see ourselves perhaps like King Herod, who instead of welcoming Christ’s humbly and wholeheartedly, sometimes we prefer to accept values contrary to his teachings?
What gifts can we offer to the Child Jesus? As year 2008 unfolds what gift or resolution we could offer to God? We don’t have to buy the expensive gifts of the wise men. The most inexpensive gift but the most precious gift we could give to God is a pure and contrite heart. We are not perfect but we can allow the light of Jesus to enlighten the darkness of our hearts and thus renewed our lives.
We are all invited to discover the Lord through the different journeys in faith we undertake. But after encountering Christ we cannot return to our old ways. We must travel in a different direction by the way we live our lives.
Prayer
Christ, Help us now to come to you,
We want to walk in your light and rest in your warmth.
Please keep us on the right road,
heading toward your radiance,
bringing our treasures, our assets,
our gold, frankincense and myrrh, of our hearts.
Christ, be born again and again in us.
Be the gift we bear, the treasure in our hearts.
Amen.
* This is a recycled reflection of my homily last year.
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