Solemnity of The Epiphany of The Lord
Reading I
Is 60:1-6
Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.
Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.
Raise your eyes and look about;
they all gather and come to you:
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.
Then you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow,
for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you,
the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.
Caravans of camels shall fill you,
dromedaries from Midian and Ephah;
all from Sheba shall come
bearing gold and frankincense,
and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
R. (cf. 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king's son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Reading II
Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6
Brothers and sisters:
You have heard of the stewardship of God's grace
that was given to me for your benefit,
namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.
It was not made known to people in other generations
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,
and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Gospel
Mt 2:1-12
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod,
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage."
When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled, and all
Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people,
he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea,
for thus it has been written through the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel."
Then Herod called the magi secretly
and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said,
"Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word,
that I too may go and do him homage."
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them,
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star,
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed for their country by another way.
COMMENTARY
The prophet Isaiah foretells of a future when all parts of the world will
process to Zion for rebuilding the city amid splendid prosperity. God is
radiating a dazzling presence from within the city. Like the sunrise in
this area, darkness immediately surrenders to brilliant light; there is neither
dawn or dusk. The nations come to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and not
simply to receive instruction from the Lord at the Temple. The people from
the Arabian peninsula associated with Abraham and the earliest ancestral days
now participate in their ancient patrimony. One day all nations will
become God's children through faith. Matthew will weave these and other
themes into the infancy narrative. This passage of Isaiah thereby came
into the ancient church liturgy for the feast of Epiphany.
The author of the Letter to the Ephesians assumes that what he is going to tell
them about Paul's role in the announcement of God's plan is something they
should already be aware of. Namely, he is speaking of the revelation of
the mystery of Christ. The content of Paul's insight is the full and equal
participation of Gentiles in the church. In other words, there is full and
equal participation of Gentiles with Jews in the one body. This insight
into the mystery of Christ made Paul the apostle of the Gentiles.
The birth of Jesus is immediately placed in the context of the relationship to
wider political and social events. Herod the Great was a vassal king under
the Roman emperor; he reigned from 37 to 4 BC, and was an extraordinary,
dominant personality. The magi were a "class" of wise men,
variously associated with interpretation of dreams, Zorastrianism, astrology,
and magic. In later Christian tradition they became kings under the
influence of Ps 72:10; Isaiah 49:7; 60:10. Their number being three was
deduced from the three gifts. Eventually, they were named Caspar, Bathasar,
and Melchior. They were understood as representatives of the Gentile world
in all its racial diversity who come to Christ. That they came from the
East could mean Persia, East Syria, or Arabia.
Jesus is designated a royal messiah. The star that leads to Christ is
probably a midrashic element derived from Num 22-24, the Balaam narrative, esp.
24:17, the fourth oracle; the star there is identified with the Messiah.
If the star was a true historical event, it could be a supernova, a comet, or a
planetary conjunction. The humble town of Bethlehem was the city of
David's ancestor Ruth and of his immediate family. It contrasts against
Herod's mighty and extravagant Jerusalem. There does not seem to have been
a dominant belief at that time that the Messiah would be born there. The
magi offer a model of sound Mariology as worshipers of Christ in a Marian
context. The list of gifts may be inspired by Isaiah 60:6,11,13, which
along with Ps 72:10-11 is implicitly cited. In later tradition, gold came
to signify the kingship of Christ, incense his divinity, myrrh his redemptive
suffering - or virtue, prayer, and suffering.
REFLECTION
From the very beginning of Matthew's Gospel, he presents Jesus' mission - he is
the savior of all. The birth of the Messiah was foretold by the Scriptures
and God's chosen people who possessed this great treasure should have recognized
Jesus' birth as the fulfillment of God's word. Yet the learned of Israel
did not recognize the signs, however, the lowly shepherds did - those who were
called ignorant, smelly, the scum of the earth. But God's saving power
does not end there - the Gentiles, pagans, all those who did not worship the God
of Israel came in search of the wondrous mystery that lay in a manger in the
town of Bethlehem.
I remember a time when I visited a leper colony in the Dominican Republic.
There were about 500 lepers in that place and when I walked through the doors I
was horrified. There were men, women, and children living in subhuman
conditions. Many were missing parts of their fingers and other limbs,
and many had faces that had been deformed as a result of this terrible disease
that has been around since biblical times. I couldn't get myself to
approach any of these people. I was so scared of contracting this disease
that I kept away from them - I shut them out and didn't extend to them even the
kindest word because I was afraid that if I did I would end up like them.
I didn't realize that just one kind word from me could have changed their lives.
That day there were 501 lepers in that place because I suffered from leprosy in
my heart. Their flesh was sick - mine was clean; their heart was clean -
mine was sick.
Matthew is very clear in his narrative of the birth of Jesus - God came to save
everyone and not just a few! Let's not forget that things are written for
a reason. There must have been great friction in Matthew's community between
Gentiles and Jews, otherwise he would not have written his Gospel with this
strong message of salvation for all. This message must resound today just
as it did when Matthew wrote his Gospel. Many of us have forgotten this
most essential of messages, and have at times even become offended at the
thought that someone else who we consider unworthy may also be saved.
Who is to say that we are more or less worthy than anyone else? Who is to
say that we don't suffer from the same ills as those we condemn? We, who
consider ourselves "good Catholics", have as much need for salvation
as those who are homeless, alcoholics, addicts, and criminals (to name just a
few). We share in the same broken humanity as every other human being on
this earth and therefore need the same salvation that is brought to us through
Jesus Christ. We must not alienate people simply because they don't fit in
to our preconceived idea of what a Christian is. And because we "go
to Church" on Sunday does not make us anymore worthy of Jesus than those
who avoid setting foot in a holy place.
Biblical Sources:
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Seitz, C.
(ed.) "Reading and Preaching the Book of Isaiah"; Bruce, F.F.,
"The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians";
Ellis, P. F., "Matthew"; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., "Introduction
to the New Testament"; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) "The New
Jerome Biblical Commentary.
Reflection:
Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa