Homily for Epiphany Sunday, January 5, 2025. Gospel of St. Matthew 2:1-12. Theme: What is My Epiphany Response?
The Christmas Season has two major feasts, each of which proclaims that the Savior has been born for us, but each with its own particular slant. The first of these is Christmas Day itself when the birth of Jesus is revealed to the Jewish shepherds of Bethlehem as the fulfilment of God’s promise of a Messiah in Israel. The second is today’s feast of the Epiphany to the Magi wherein the mission of Jesus as Messiah is expanded to include those who are outside the confines of Judaism. As the early Church grew and spread throughout the Roman Empire, the Epiphany became a very important celebration because of its joyful message that all peoples can receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life through Jesus, Who is Lord and Messiah.
That Jesus is the Universal Savior of the world is nothing new for us to hear today. But in first century Israel the very idea that the Messiah had come for the good of all peoples and nations was utterly revolutionary and controversial! The Hebrews had been raised and taught to believe that only Israel was God’s Chosen flock and that the Gentiles were spiritually unclean and alienated from all that was holy. There were bitter arguments and fiery disagreements over it among the first Christians. who were by and large Jewish converts, but the truth won out. We hear it from St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians which is the second reading of today’s Liturgy, “the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and co-partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
And so in response to this controversy the Apostle St. Matthew included the Epiphany in his Gospel to show that from the very beginning, Jesus revealed Himself to the Gentiles as well as to Israel. But another important thing that St. Matthew teaches us in his retelling of the story is that people can have very different responses to learning about Jesus Christ. The Epiphany story has intriguing and intense drama seen in the various ways in which people can respond 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 to rule over his kingdom 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 wanted Him out of his life at any cost. He cared only about his own status and situation with prestige and power being the false gods he worshiped in his life. His response to the news about Jesus was that of fear, the fear of losing what he possessed and this led to rejecting Christ.
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 and were aware of the prophecies about the Messiah. They were, after all, the professional Bible experts of their day. Yet when the news of His birth reached them they did nothing at all. They stayed put in Jerusalem rather than go to Bethlehem (which is only 5 miles away) to see for themselves if their long-hoped-for dreams about the Savior of Israel had indeed come true. But 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 their status quo.
The third type of response is the one we find in the Magi themselves. They were utterly consumed, 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 spent long hours mapping out their route to Jerusalem, gathering up supplies for the trip, and selecting precious gifts to properly pay Him homage. Stories tell us that later in life they heard the Gospel of Jesus from early Christian missionaries, they gave up their pagan religious practices to serve Christ as their God and Savior. The response of the Magi was one of faith which brought them the joy of new life in Christ.
So, today’s liturgy might be 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? Like Herod, does part of me find Christ and His teachings to somehow be a threat to my present lifestyle? Would I rather have Him out of my life rather than change my behavior? Or perhaps do I respond more like the religious scholars by thinking that Christ and Christianity are a disturbance to my comfort zone? Does following Jesus’ Gospel demand too much of a change from me? Finally of course, St. Matthew’s Epiphany story hopes to inspire us by the example of the Magi. They were totally committed to following the star, to finding the Newborn King and pledging their fidelity to Him. Encountering Jesus changed their lives forever. They had discovered in Him everything for which they had been longing and searching. Is that how Jesus is for me? Is this my response to Him?
There’s probably a tiny trace of Herod and a little bit of the Jewish scholars in all of us now and then. But as we begin this new year, let’s ask the Lord for the grace to respond wholeheartedly to the Epiphany more like the Magi. Let’s be willing to do whatever it takes to personally encounter Christ in our lives. Let’s take up the journey to Jesus and not be afraid of what might lay ahead. If we walk by the light of faith, like the Magi following the star, we will surely discover Jesus in a newer and deeper personal way just as they did.
