Homily for Epiphany Sunday, January 8, 2023. Gospel of St. Matthew 2:1-12. Theme: Responding to the Epiphany of Jesus
The Nativity of Jesus has always had two "bookends" in the liturgy, so to speak, that open and close the "12 Days of Christmas" celebration. The first of these is Christmas Day itself when Jesus is revealed to the Jewish shepherds of Bethlehem as the Promised Messiah of Israel. The second bookend is today’s feast of the Epiphany when the true identity of Jesus is revealed to Magi from the East. The Magi are also known by other titles such as astrologers, wise men, scholars and kings, but we really don’t know exactly who they were nor precisely where they came from. However, Matthew’s Gospel preserves and passes on their story because it proclaims the Good News that Christ came for all people and not just for the Hebrews. The joyful message of the Epiphany is that anyone of good will can receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life through the Promised Messiah of Israel, Jesus Christ.
Matthew recorded and passed on the story of the Epiphany so that it might help us to deepen our own relationship with Jesus. He tells us about the Bethlehem Star that filled the Magi with joy, to teach us that the bright light of faith will lead us to happiness in Christ. He recounts their long journey from the faraway lands of the East, to remind us that seeking Jesus is worth all the time and effort it takes to encounter Him. And he specifies the gifts that the Wise Men laid before the Christ Child: gold to pay homage to His royalty; frankincense to honor His divinity; and the burial ointment of myrrh to prophesy His saving death. The symbolism of these gifts should lead us to serve Christ as our King, worship Him as our God, and trust in Him as our Savior.
But important lessons from the Epiphany can also be learned from King Herod and the Jewish Scholars, as well as the Magi. All together they provide us with examples of the various responses people can have to the Good News that God has sent his Son into the world as its Savior. As we start off the New Year, which is typically a time to evaluate our lives and make resolutions for improvement, let’s take a look at these characters and see if they can help us to identify and, if need be readjust, our own response to Jesus.
The first type of response can be found in the reaction of Herod when he learns about the birth of the Newborn King of the Jews. Now, Herod was a very wicked man whose jealousy and thirst for power had led him to kill one of his wives and several of his own sons whom he saw as threats to his throne. So, it’s no surprise that he would order the slaughter of the little boys of Bethlehem in an attempt to get rid of the Christ Child. Herod saw Jesus as a threat and he wanted Him out of his life at any cost.. He cared only about his own status and situation with power, prestige and pleasure being the false gods he worshiped in his life. He had no room in his heart for the one true God and so his response to Jesus was a fear that gave birth to rejection.
A second type of response can be found in the Jewish scholars whom Herod called to advise him about the Messiah’s birthplace. They knew the Scriptures very well. They were, after all, the professional Bible experts of their day. They knew all of the prophecies about the Messiah. Yet when the news of his birth reaches them they do nothing at all. They stay put in Jerusalem rather than go to Bethlehem (which is only a few miles away) to see for themselves if their long-hoped-for dreams have indeed come true. Their response to Jesus was apathy, a complacent yawn. They were comfortable and happy with life as they knew it, and they didn’t want a Messiah and his teachings to disturb the status quo.
The third type of response we find in the Magi themselves. They were utterly intrigued, totally captivated, by the quest to find the One whom the star proclaimed. They had invested a lot of themselves, their time and energy, in studying the prophecies and charting the constellations concerning the Messiah. They knew from their reading of Hebrew Scripture that the Newborn King of the Jews would bring great blessings to planet Earth and especially to those who accepted Him. And so they spent long hours mapping out their route to Jerusalem, gathering up supplies for the trip, and selecting precious gifts to properly pay him homage. Christian tradition tells us that after they found Christ they gave up their pagan religious practices of occult magic and astrology to serve their new King, God and Savior. The response of the Magi was one of joy giving birth to a new life in Christ.
It seems to me that today’s liturgy is placing before each one of us a very important and personal question: What is my own response to the epiphany of Jesus as King, God and Savior of my life? Like Herod, does part of me find Him and His teachings to be a threat to something that I do not want to give up or change? Or like the religious scholars who were disinterested in actually finding the Messiah, do I at times find Christ and Christianity to be boring and unexciting? Of course, it goes without saying that the Gospel wants us to share in the response of the Magi. They were totally committed to following the star, finding the Newborn King and pledging their fidelity to Him. They were willing to do whatever was necessary to share in the blessings of the One whom the prophet Isaiah called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.
As we begin this new year, let’s ask the Lord for the grace to respond wholeheartedly to the Epiphany of Jesus. Let’s be willing to do whatever it takes to personally encounter Christ in our lives and not be afraid of changing whatever needs to be changed. Let’s let go of any complacency we might have towards the practice of our Faith and go the extra mile in prayer, the reading of Scripture and showing mercy to others. If we walk by the light of faith, like the Magi following the star, we will surely discover Jesus in a new and deeper way as they did. And then we can more meaningfully offer him our own precious Magi gifts, so to speak, the gift of our very lives lived in faith, filled with hope, and rooted in love.
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