(Alexandre-Francois Caminade, Adoration of the Magi 1831)
"Then you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow"
Matthew 2: 1-12
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010321.cfm
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I remember a few years ago in conversation with a younger
brother that he and a friend of his had planned on attending the famous
peaceful gathering known as Woodstock.
If you’re old enough to know what I’m referring to you can imagine how
surprised I was to learn this. That legendary three day festival in the summer
of 1969 became a real turning point in the counter cultural movement in
America. It set a new course and direction that sadly did not lead followers to
the ideals it represented.
My brother would have been about a junior in high school
at the time and he said that he and his friend had already packed their car and
started out. But, the weather and storms
they encountered turned them away and they returned home. They encountered
opposition and turned back. Whatever they hoped to find was denied them, thankfully I would say.
The point that amazed me, however, is that I never knew this until much later! Nor did my family or parents ever mention this fact. Apparently my brother kept the whole affair a
secret and so this little tidbit of news came as a fuller understanding; a kind
of epiphany that helped me understand my brother on a different, yet frankly
not totally shocked level. These unexpected “epiphanies,” whether for good or
ill are not all together uncommon as we journey through life. We come to a new understanding of a familiar person or a situation at times in
unexpected ways.
This Sunday we recall a far more meaningful revelation:
the Feast of the Lord’s Epiphany . While
the story of the visiting magoi, not royalty according to Matthew, is richly
symbolic it is also rooted very likely in some historical event. These “wise men” as we call them were taken
from an ancient group settled in modern day Iran (Persians) who were basically
a cross between astronomers and astrologers. They studied the planets, they
would interpret dreams, note the movement of the stars in the night sky and
they named the constellations and developed ancient calendars. As a strikingly
visible new star appeared they interpreted such a sign as an indication that a
new king was born. So they set out on a journey of discovery.
The search of the magi reminds us that they went in quest
of a person, not in discovery of a new philosophy. Yet, for all their wisdom in one sense they
were equally foolish or at best naïve. The star itself may be symbolic more
than actual for such a star in the sky won’t really provide a helpful navigation
point yet it does emphasize for the hearer the meaning of Jesus birth.
The naïve nature of this story, however, leads us to the
truth as the magi themselves discovered.
Upon arrival in Jerusalem they go to King Herod. Any first century Jew would know that the very
last place you would go to announce a “new king” would be to Herod! The
ruthless and cunning Herod was known as insanely paranoid of any rivals. He would kill his own brother, his mother and
wife! One historian of the time said that you were safer as one of Herod’s pigs
than you were as his family!
So to hear this news from the magi that he was “greatly
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” is to know that all knew some retaliation
was inevitable. So Herod deceptively requests from the magi a report on their
findings of the new born king and off they go to nearby Bethlehem.
Once they arrive at the home where the child and his
mother resided, likely around two years after Jesus’ birth, they now uncover a
truth, a new revelation and understanding that forever would change their
lives. In the ordinary but deeply moving scene they encounter the living God. They
are moved to lay down their precious wealth in offering and a new direction is
now set for them.
Jesus is a king and his kingdom and power far surpasses
that of Herod. His wisdom is everlasting
and after a dream warns the magi of Herod’s trickery, they return home by
another route. They, in a sense, lay
aside their alleged wisdom and now discover the source of all truth which then
makes them truly wise. As Archbishop Sheen famously stated: “No one encounters Christ
and returns by the same route.” In point, this is more about our faith and our
own journey whose purpose ultimately is a search for the truth; the discovery
of God in the person of his Son our Savior born in a time and a place. Who or
what is a guiding star for us? The mystery is uncovered, an epiphany reveals
the truth to us of this child.
If it is true that God has come in the flesh as our Christian/Catholic
tradition is built upon, then how could any other “power” pull us with the
illusion of their greatness? Yet we may
have a tendency to not only put away our Christmas decorations but along with
them any serious desire to continue our daily search, our daily journey, to
discover where this Christ continues to be present in the flesh.
This new uncovering reminds us that Christmas is not a
season but a person. How can we allow the new light of Christ to shine in the
world today? To know Christ we can only find him in his fullness within his
Church. But first we must discover him; we too must be convinced that there is
no other power, no other “shining star” brighter than that of Christ Jesus
himself.
The Church can reveal to us a rich spirituality that
leads us to Christ, a community of faith to which we are attached through
Baptism and where we feast on his Word and his sacramental presence especially
in the Eucharist. In this strange now
past year of 2020 the faith journey of all has been deeply tested and
restricted yet the journey must carry forward.
Isaiah, our first reading reads: “Rise up in splendor,
Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.” With those
beautiful words the prophet begins our liturgy this Sunday. That God’s plan
from the beginning was to bring all people’s together in Christ, Jew and Gentile
alike. To heal a broken world and restore all things in his Son. Once we know this, our lives find a new
route, a new journey.
Once we discover the power of unity and set aside those
habits that cause division, arrogance, power, revenge, self-indulgence and all
that embodies an enemy of the truth we can lay aside those things and offer to
the Lord gifts that he himself will take up and restore in our hearts.
For today you have revealed the mystery
of our salvation in Christ
as a light for the nations, and,
when he appeared in our mortal nature,
you made us new by the glory of his immortal nature.
(From Preface for the Epiphany)
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