The Epiphany of the Lord
Fr Dominic’s Homily
Just to remind you that:
• The Christmas ‘feast’ ends on the feast of Mary, the Mother of God, on January 1st. Which is usually 8 days.
• The end of the Christmas ‘season’ is today at Epiphany, which means that we have had at least 12 days of Christmas.
• However the official end of the ‘liturgical Christmas season’ is on the Baptism of Our Lord after which Ordinary Time begins. So we keep our nativity scene displayed to this day.
• Though many Churches keep their crib up until the Presentation of Our Lord which is 2nd February. I think that’s a lovely tradition to follow.
And today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. Now when someone has an “epiphany,” it means they’ve had a sudden inspired insight into the deeper meaning of something. It is an experience that changes our hearts. (In Greek it means an appearance of something divine.)
So today’s feast presents the realization that the Messiah was not just for the Jews, but is the fulfilment of the whole world. All goodness, truth and beauty finds its deepest fulfillment in Jesus. The light shining in Israel and on that manger, is meant to be the light for the whole world.
Now the Magi were, basically, the "scientists" of the ancient world. They studied philosophy, medicine, and the natural world - including the stars. They were astronomers and astrologers. Our word magic comes from it.
They usually worked for kings. A king would finance his own group of scholars and use them as consultants and translators to enhance his kingdom's reputation. King Herod had his own group of Magi.
The surveying of the night sky by the Magi represent all the ways we try to attain the true and good and beautiful. Because they all find fulfilment in Jesus. His light is the illumination of all the world. To his light all seekers are destined to travel. As the light of the world He is the goal and fulfillment of every human heart whether or not we realize it.
Matthew himself in the Gospel does not describe these wise men as kings or tell us how many there were. It wasn’t until 500 years later that they were described as kings. And then 300 years later they were given specific names of Gasper, Melchior and Balthazar. Their relics now lie in Cologne Cathedral. But Matthew does mention their gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh.
• Gold signifying kingship.
• Frankincense implies divinity.
• And myrrh implies his imminent suffering and death.
So the Magi travelled up to 1000 km following this star to Jerusalem but assumed that the infant king would be born in royal palace and so meet Herod. A bit like using Sat Nav they travelled all that way and then at the last minute end up in the wrong street at Herod’s palace.
Herod was a very paranoid king and killed anyone who was a threat to his regime so he tries to find out where this new king will be born. So he summons his own wise men. They tell him, quoting the prophet Micah, that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem in the land of Judah which was only 10 km away.
After being redirected to Bethlehem the Magi find Jesus and pay him homage. But they are warned in a dream not to return to Herod and so go home a different way. And what do Herod’s wise men do? Nothing - they stay where they are. They are unchanged. The Magi however are profoundly changed by the whole experience.
We all seek God with our hearts in this life whether or not we know it. Our hearts long for him because we are designed for him. However eventually we must reach a point in our lives when we realise that it is we who are being sought by a God who opens his heart for us.
Remember that the whole story of the bible in a nutshell is not how we find God – but how God finds us. And we must allow our own hearts to be changed by this epiphany.
We must allow ourselves to be found by a God who loved us so much that he gave this world his only son in the form of a tiny baby. Jesus the light of the world is the true light of our hearts.
And we must allow our hearts to be changed by this epiphany.
