FEAST OF EPIPHANY: Matthew 2:1-12
We are celebrating this Sunday the Feast of Epiphany, also called of the kings or wise men. In people’s imagination, three kings came from the East to pay their respect to the new born Messiah, the King of Peace. However, reading the text, we find that it mentions only the Magi who came from the East, saying nothing about their number and their names. Who were they? We do not know. In Babylon and in Persia, there were people called magi, who were connected with sanctuaries and the study of the stars. For the writer of the Gospel, all that does not matter. It only matters that they were foreigners and that they came looking for the Messiah, so that in him they may find salvation.
Coming from afar, they were guided and strengthened by the hope of finding rest and peace in the new born king. Tirelessly, they went on searching, never giving up. And they were not ashamed to look for help, when they lost direction. For them, no effort was to big compared with the reward of finding that child. Yes, they were looking for a child, because a child is always an affirmation of life and a promise of a better future.
Like them we are searching for life and peace, and can only find them in the infant king, Jesus Christ. The feast of Epiphany is the feast of the universality of God’s plan of salvation. Jesus came for all - Jews and non-Jews. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “Pagans share the same inheritance” with the Jews. Indeed, the mystery of God’s love is revealed in Jesus:
“This mystery that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets was unknown to any men in past generations; it means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the same promise has been made to them, in Jesus Christ, through the gospel.” - Eph 3:5-6
No comments:
Post a Comment