Homily for Epiphany Year A 2017
Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3a.5-6; Matthew 2:1-12
Introduction
"Where
is the newborn king of the Jews?" This is the question that the three
wise men from the East ask on arriving in Jerusalem. But why are these foreigners looking for the
King of the Jews? Why do these non-Jews
want to find and worship the King of the Jews?
Could it be that Jesus came into the world, not just for the Jews but
for all men and women?
Scripture and Theology
Today's feast, which marks the visit of the
three wise men, the Magi to Jesus, is fittingly called "the feast of the
Epiphany," a word which means manifestation. At Christmas the gospel told us about the
epiphany or manifestation of the newborn Jesus to the Jewish shepherds; today it
tells us about the epiphany or manifestation of Jesus to the non-Jewish world, represented
by these three men.
The search for meaning, truth and God was
not the monopoly of the Jews.
·
Yes, the Jewish people were the
chosen people of God.
·
Yes it is to them that God had
revealed himself very clearly through Moses and the Prophets.
·
Yes, it is to the Jews that God
had promised a Messiah.
But God did this so that the Jewish people would
be his instrument in bringing salvation to the rest of the world, in pointing other
nations to God. That is why these Magi
come to Jerusalem asking: "Where is
the King of the Jews? . . . [we] have come to do him homage."
But who were these three wise men? To be honest, Matthew's gospel gives us very
little information about them. It is not
clear if they were kings or priests, astrologers or astronomers, Babylonians (i.e.
today's Iraqis) or Persians (i.e. today's Iranians). Even the three names we give them: Melchior,
Caspar and Balthazar simply come from Catholic Tradition. But what we know about them is that they were
seeking something: meaning, truth, answers, all of which they hoped to find in
the newborn king of the Jews.
They were not as fortunate as the shepherds
to have angels appear to them and give them blow by blow directions on how to
find the newborn king. All they had to
rely on was a star in the sky. But as
Pope Francis reminded us recently, "the Magi did not set out because they
had seen the star, but they saw the star because they had already set out (cf.
Saint John Chrysostom). Their hearts
were open to the horizon and they could see what the heavens were showing them,
for they were guided by an inner restlessness.
They were open to something new."
Because the star did not give turn by turn
directions like a GPS, they had to stop in Jerusalem, much like in times past we
used to ask for directions at the gas station.
They had to ask the attendant: “Where
is the newborn king of the Jews?”
When King Herod heard about their quest, he
offered to help them. He called the
religious leaders and sent them off the library to do some research. They found in the Bible, in the books of Micah
and Samuel, the prophecy that the promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Herod gave these directions to the visitors
from the East, but he did so with ulterior motives, since he wanted to kill
this newborn king, once they found him.
Herod acted like the unsavoury gas station attendant, who gives you bad
directions, so he can follow you and do you harm.
Anyway, the wise men followed the star to
Bethlehem, and "On entering the
house they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered
him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
And so, after a long, treacherous and
possibly expensive journey, these three seekers found what they were looking
for, Jesus Christ, King of the Jews to the shepherds, King of the World to the
wise men. The irony is that Herod a
Jewish man wanted to kill the promised Messiah of the Jewish people, while
foreigners come to worship the newborn king of the Jews, bearing expensive
gifts.
Christian Life
What about us today?
·
By God's grace and the efforts
of the Church, what the three wise men represented has come to pass. Today Jesus is indeed the King of the World. People everywhere are seeking the King of the
Jews. Today there is no nation on earth
that has not at least heard about Jesus Christ.
·
Even St. Paul had said as much in
today's second reading proclaiming, "that
the Gentiles [that is the non-Jews like
you and me] are coheirs, members of the
same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." In other words, before the birth of Jesus we
Gentiles were step-children of God; now in Jesus Christ we too have been
adopted as sons and daughters of God.
·
And going back much farther,
the Psalm and the reading from Isaiah had also promised that all nations would
adore the Lord, all kings pay him homage and all nations serve him. Today the news about the newborn King of Jews
has spread far and wide, and he is being worshipped from east to west, from
north to south, from the rising of the sun to its setting.
And yet amidst this good news, there are
still obstacles that stand in the way of Jesus becoming the King of the world.
At his birth, Herod was the obstacle that tried
to stop Jesus becoming not only King of the Jews but king of the world. We know that Herod wanted to kill him. Indeed
when the Magi did not return to him, warned in a dream not to do so, Herod killed all males two years and under,
in the hope of finishing off the King of the Jews. But an angel had warned Joseph to take the
child Jesus and his mother and flee to Egypt much like today's refugees of
Syria and South Sudan.
The new born King of the Jews, however, is
still not safe from today's Herods. On
the one hand, he is still being persecuted by those who persecute Christians,
in Egypt where he once found refuge, in Babylon and Persia, the lands of the
wise men. On other hand, we Christians
of today, who St. Paul calls coheirs to the promise of Jesus Christ, sometimes behave
like Herod, treating this inheritance like it is ours alone, not wishing to share
it with others.
Some Christians behave like the child whose
parents invite the neighbour's child along on a family holiday; the child feels
jealous that he or she has to share the family attention and resources with an
outsider. The child forgets that love is
not a limited commodity like cookies, which when shared is also halved.
We Catholics, who now claim Jesus as our
King, must remember that we are not short-changed, if God also loves
Protestants and Jews, Muslims and atheists.
Like the Jewish people were, we are privileged to have the primary and
sure sources of God's love revealed in the Scriptures, Tradition and the
Sacraments. We are like the shepherds to whom God sent an angel to give them
the good news. Like God gave the wise
men a star to guide them, we must not exclude the possibility that God could
share his love with others, invite them to himself in ways known only to him.
Conclusion
And so, I invite each of us to imagine
ourselves as being that Jerusalem gas station attendant, to whom today's Magi
(non-Christians and non-Catholics, refugees and immigrants) might come asking "Where is the newborn king of the Jews?". How will you answer them? How will you treat them?
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