Reflection for the Feast of the Epiphany, January 8, 2023
In the Readings for the Mass of the Epiphany (the Manifestation) of the Lord, 2023, we hear about the visit of the magi, the wise men from the east (Matthew 2: 1-12).
The men came to Jerusalem where they knew there was a beautiful Temple and asked for directions, since they had somehow lost sight of the star they had been watching ‘since its rising.’
That star intrigues me. I don’t know anything about the skies, but an astronomer I know tells me that stars are fascinating and he’s always looking at the night sky through his telescopes, searching for a new one. Perhaps that was what the Magi had been doing. And when they saw this unique sign, they must have looked for information in all the volumes at their disposal and discovered that a child who would be king would be born to the Jews. When Herod asked his own sages to ‘look it up,’ he began to feel threatened by the thought of a ‘new king’ in the area, and, while he did give the magi clues to the possible site of the event of this birth, it was only to devise a ruse to make it possible to destroy the child whom he saw as a threat to his own power: Come back and tell me where he is so I can come and worship him as well.
Here we have an enigma.
Wise men from the east, evidently non-Jews, diligently followed this star a very long way in order to offer him gifts! What inspiration had been given to them to set out on this journey—an unreasonable one, it must have seemed to their families—and what blind faith led them to follow that inspiration until they found the hidden desire of their souls? Even beyond that, what drew Herod, hardly a student of the prophecy, to believe that this infant would indeed be a long awaited king, though he refused to honor Him? How is it that the most unlikely characters—magi, a hated political leader, simple shepherds—would be the ones to whom Jesus would be revealed? Oh, the Mystery of God’s love. And the unpredictable ways of the human heart that could either reject or embrace the fulfillment of this prophecy.
Here’s what I’m thinking. All those times when we think we are unworthy of the love of God, unworthy of His mercy, unworthy of His attention, why don’t we recall this incredible story of God’s love and mercy and attention? If it could happen to Herod in Jerusalem, to uneducated shepherds in Bethlehem, to the magi who came from a far country, why couldn’t it happen to us? Why wouldn’t it? How could we doubt Him?
Still, it’s not too late. This story we’ve heard so many times that it hardly impresses us anymore is meant to do just that: to remind us that there is no logical limit to the Mystery of God’s involvement with the likes of us. We may not be wise or wear a crown in the capital cities or even tend someone else’s sheep, but we are exactly the ones to whom God wants to reveal Himself, over and over again, so that we can fall in love with Him—over and over again! I just can’t get tired of thinking of that. He wants my heart. And yours. And if at times we draw our heart back because we think we’re unworthy or we’ve lost the right to belong to Him, Jesus tells us on this Feast that He doesn’t ever see it that way. He wants us to be at peace knowing that He would go so far as to hurl a star into the sky so we can find our way, or send angels into the clouds to sing to us the good news of His presence within and among us, or even send strangers from a far country knocking at our door to let us know that He is near.
We are drawing near to the end of the Christmas Season. But there’s no end to His love for us. Ever. Let us be watchful—in the night sky, in the knock at our door, in the everyday circumstances of our hum drum lives, He comes. He loves. He is our Emmanuel—God With Us.
Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year
to you and all your loved ones.
and then