GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION IS FOR ALL

FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY - Matthew 2:1-12

In the feast of the Epiphany, we celebrate the universality of salvation. Jesus reveals himself and is recognised as the Saviour of the world, meaning that salvation is offered to all. The first reading, taken from the prophet Isaiah, already gives the idea that God has a plan for all humankind, affirming that all peoples will walk towards the Light that shines in Jerusalem.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul asserts that salvation is not the privilege of a group, of a nation or of a race. The same promise was made to all and all will “share the same inheritance” (Ep 3:6). According to Paul, there is no reason for any kind of bigotry or xenophobia, since “there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Col 3:11). All may fill at home, “members of the household of God” (Ep 2:19).

In Matthew 2:1-12, the Magi stand for all the outsiders who want to come in and sing with all the elect God’s glory, thus partaking the same inheritance in Christ. Coming from the East, they might have belonged to the nations that were the great enemies of Israel. However, God is not bound by such old quarrels and enmities, since all nations belong to him. Those foreigners were moved by a great quest which they would not abandon until it had been fulfilled. In their pursue, they were moved by hope, so that they would not accept defeat or failure. They were on a long journey in search of a new king and they would not give up until they found him. And enlightened by the star which guided them, they knew that the newborn king was divine. Once they found him, they prostrated themselves before him in adoration (Mt 2:11).

In contrast with them, the people of Jerusalem, guided by their religious and political leaders, were so concerned with themselves that they saw in the child a threat to their power and influence. Their knowledge of the Scriptures and their religious practice made them conceited and unable to care about a child, even if he was an extraordinary and divine child. Closed in the past,  they had lost the vision of the promises, leaving them hopeless and bitter. Rejecting the Child, they planned his death and were willing to massacre the innocent to protect their interests. 

One day, Jesus would warn the leaders of the people, saying, "Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God” (Lk 13: 27-29).

Are we like the Magi, searching tirelessly for life and salvation, which is only found in Christ; or are we so full of ourselves that we see a threat to our way of life in everything that is different and that demands change?