Epiphany

THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY

Tonight, on this feast of the Epiphany, the True Light which shined into the World on Christmas Day has appeared not only to Israel but to the Gentiles as well, thereby fulfilling God's promise to Isaiah saying, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising."

Epiphaneia, from which we get the word Epiphany, means 'to appear' or 'to manifest.' God's appearance is the grand theme connecting and weaving its way through the seasons of Christmastide and Epiphany. At Christmas, Divine mercy and salvation appeared in the birth of Jesus Christ, when God chose to be born of a woman, born into history, into the human family: the eternal Son, the second person of the Trinity, gladly taking humanity into himself: Emmanuel- God with us! We might think of Eiphanytide as the expansion of the Christmas story, a season filled with wonders and miracles, fulfillment, promise, hope, and great joy. If Christmas is the manifestation of God in the flesh (Jesus born in Bethlehem), then Epiphanytide reveals His divinity and glory, drawing our eyes to contemplate his Divine Kingship and the appearing of Christ’s glory to the world.

From this feast day until the time of our Lenten preparation begins, the Sunday Gospel readings during Epiphany present different aspects of our Lord's Epiphany: revealing him to be the wisdom of God as he, a boy of twelve, teaches his elders, shows him to be the acceptable Son of God on the banks of the river Jordan and the recreator of the World by a miracle performed at Cana. But Epiphany first begins with the manifestation of a star. 

"WHEN Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod, the king, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him" (Mt. 2:1). Wise men have seen a star in the East, prompting them to leave their homeland in search of Israel’s king. Who are these wise men? Why does the appearing of a star initiate their journey? How, by this celestial sign, know a king has been born in Jerusalem? And why in the World are they determined to worship this king? 

First, St. Matthew says these were wise men, which is the literal translation of the Greek word magoi, from which we get the term magi. Learned and wise masters of astronomy, math, and the sciences, the Magi were common advisors to kings, such as the wise men summoned by King Nebuchadnezzar to interpret his dreams, which in the end, only Daniel, the man of God, could explain.

Next, we learn these Magi are from the East, meaning they were not from Israel but from a foreign land, culture, and people. But which particular land in the East? Early expositors, such as St. Clement of Alexandria, St. John Chrysostom, St. Leo the Great, and Cyril of Jerusalem, held that these men came from Persia, a place and culture known for its wisdom and knowledge. Other fathers of the church, such as Jerome and St. Augustine, deduced their origin and homeland to be in Babylon, a land residing east of Jerusalem. But there is a third option, one with a deeper connection to Old Testament prophecy and its redemptive-historical fulfillment. 

Returning to Isaiah chapter sixty (quoted earlier), we read, "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising... the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD." 

Through Isaiah, God foretold of visitors who would come from Sheba, riding on dromedaries (large camels) "who [would] bring gold and incense and praise the Lord." Now Sheba is another word for the land of Arabia, where Abraham sent his seven sons born to him by Keturah, whom Abraham took as his wife after Sarah's death (more on Abraham in a moment). 

In Psalm seventy-two, appointed to be read for the Evening office on this feast day, we read starting in verse ten: "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him." Prophesying that Kings from Arabia (from Sheba) shall come bearing gifts and fall down (prostrate themselves) before him. And don't miss this connection- all nations shall serve him. Meaning that the future ingathering of the Gentiles would be signified in the initiatory worship of Arabian kings.

The longstanding tradition of the wise men being Kings comes from Matthew and the earliest Christians who recognized by their visitation the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture. Now, in the visitation of these Arabian Magi from Sheba, Matthew is conveying something very important about this King Jesus born in Jerusalem: that Jesus isn't merely just another Jewish king. Oh no. What he's telling us without saying it is that this king, the one whom the prophets foretold, the promised one of Israel, is greater than every king who reigned before him. He's greater in power, greater in riches, and greater in wisdom: even greater than King Solomon! 

In the 12th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus said, "The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here." The Queen of Sheba journeyed to Jerusalem to be in Solomon's presence; his majesty and wisdom drew the pagan Arabian queen to Jerusalem's King. 

And now, the Magi have come to be in the presence of the Greater Solomon, Jesus Christ: because Jesus is the greater Solomon, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You see, these pagan Magi have seen a great light, and they have responded: in the words of Isaiah, "Kings have come to his light, and kings to the brightness of his rising." A Divine sign appeared in the heavens, the Christmas star, a sign given for the World to see, and yet, it was wise men from Arabia who recognized it. And why? Because the wise man always seeks the king.

But how did they know which sign to look for? And, as Arabs from Sheba, how were they even aware of this Jewish prophecy? Understand that Israel's messianic prophecy wasn't exactly a secret. Pagan Kings and emperors were very interested in the Hebrew prophets and the implications of prophetic fulfillment, especially concerning a Jewish King who would arise from the house of David. 

But how did they know to look for a star- "his star"- signifying the birth of the prophesied king? Well, they knew of the oracle of Balaam, the pagan prophet of Israel, as recorded in the book of Numbers, chapter twenty-four, beginning at verse seventeen, which reads, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth."

"A star shall come out of Jacob,” which is another name for Israel. These wise men knew what to look for: their grace-given curiosity led them to a sign, and by its appearing, curiosity turned into searching: wise men in search of the king. The psalmist sings that "the heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the sky above his handiwork." St Paul puts it this way, "what can be known about God is plain to [all men] because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, since the creation of the World, in the things that have been made." 

We call this natural or the general revelation of God: every created thing is given as a sign, a sacrament pointing to its Creator, the God of heaven and earth; this is the grace of God given to all, given to lead all peoples from the land of the East to the King of Jerusalem. Beloved, the wise man apprehends even the slightest bit of Divine revelation and follows. But natural revelation only takes us so far. Such was the case of the Magi, who by the natural sign of a star came to Jerusalem, but it took the holy scriptures, the divinely revealed word of God, to bring them to the king.  In searching the Old Testament scriptures, the Magi knew that the king they had left the sands of Arabia to worship was to be found in Bethlehem. But they came to this by Divine revelation, not by their own understanding. For, even the wisest of men must seek the wisdom of God if they are to find him.

So, by the appearing of a star, gentiles came into the presence of Israel’s King: King of Peace and king of the World. A light has drawn the nations into the court of the greater Solomon, and they worship. You see, the wise man seeks the king to worship Him; not for personal gain; not for philosophical engagement; to test or question him; not to receive anything except the king himself; to bow down before him in adoration, to shower him with riches, to give him all honor and praise.

In the adoration of the Magi, we find a beautiful picture of the worship God came to restore lost in the garden where man fell from grace, choosing to worship the creature instead of the Creator. But in the visitation of the Magi, we see the beasts of the field, even the celestial heavens bowing before their Creator. In Mary and Joseph, we see a picture of restored Israel worshipping her king, the obeisance and adoration of the magi signifying worship being restored to the Gentiles. "Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising."

And this brings us back to Abraham, whom God called from the East, the Father of Isaac, and the sons of Arabia, to whom God made a covenant promise: "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing... and in you, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." God promised to bless not merely Abraham, nor just his offspring, but all the nations of the earth: Foreign queens, Arabian Wise-Men, Samaritan Lepers, Roman Soldiers, Greek Philosophers, and gentiles from every tongue, tribe, and nation.

And we, my friends, are partakers of this great mystery, the salvific mystery made manifest to the apostles, "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the Gospel." And by faith, we have been adopted by the Father through the regenerative waters and the power of the Holy Spirit: you are no longer strangers but sons and daughters of the living God. 

This covenantal promise of God inaugurated by the appearing of Christ in the flesh was confirmed in the adoration of the Magi, who are the first fruits of the Abrahamic promise, the great mystery spoken of by Paul, a mystery fulfilled through mercy and grace, which we have been caught up in. The glorious appearing of God to the gentiles, first to the Magi, and now, even unto us today. May God be praised! Amen+