The Epiphany of the Lord
From the first lesson today, “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem. Your light has come.” The Anawim, the holy remnant of God rejoice that their Savior has come. We glow in the soft light of the Nativity. We hear the baby cry. The cattle are lowing. The night air is cold and the stars shine in their multitude. All is quiet. All is calm. The feast of the Epiphany remembers the day the Wise Kings came to visit the new born King. Isaiah captures the moment today when he says, “Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.” We imagine the exotic scene in dust covered Jerusalem. The Wise Kings come and they are ablaze with color and mystery. Who are these strangers from the East? Herod is very interested to meet them and find out their business. In the world of ancient Kings the worst kind of news was to discover that there was a rival to the throne. In the ancient way you dispatch your rival as quickly as you can. Nothing like a good blade for Christmas. The new born King, Jesus Emmanuel was a huge threat to the throne of Herod. This spelled danger and the Magi from the East were the unintended friends to a hostile Herod. What was it like for Joseph and Mary? These were simple country folk. How do you welcome important visitors into your stable? The new parents with their baby must have felt very vulnerable. They had no protection. Everything happened unplanned. In the proper way of doing things Mary would have wanted her parents to be there. She would have wanted the women of her village to be there as well helping her with her pregnancy. This is not how it should have happened. Mary and Joseph were alone and afraid hiding from danger in a stable with little protection. Then this huge retinue of Kings and servants approaches. O happy day, my foot. More like, “O my God!!” The Wise Kings in this story represent the world beyond Judaism. They represent us from far across the sea. The Messiah came as Savior for us all. His birth is good news for foreign people as well. It must have been very strange for Mary and Joseph to greet very important people. The Kings in their turn prostrated themselves before Jesus. More like it should have been the other way around. In front of royalty people bow and scrape. Here they all bow to the baby Jesus. It is all lovely and beautiful. We love gold, frankincense and myrrh. I know gold but I have no idea what frankincense and myrrh look like. I guess I’ll buy them in the New Year sales. There is always a sale somewhere. Alleluia.
With love, Fr. Pat.