EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

Cycle “C”: Mt. 2. 1 – 12

Let us first dispose of King Herod, the Hitler of the New Testament. The Roman senate had appointed him king of Judea in 40 B.C. There he remained for 43 long years. He rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem in grand style. But because he was half Jew half Idumaean, the Jews despised him as one who didn’t observe the Law. So Herod was insecure and suspicious. His favourite hobby was murdering people by strangling, burning alive, drowning, poisoning, and the sword. His murdered his first wife, Mariamme, on a charge of infidelity, and went on to have nine other wives. He added on the distinction of murdering his two sons, Alexander and Aristobolus. Even as the three wise men were visiting, he was making arrangements to murder a third son, Antipater. The Roman emperor Augustus stated that it was safer to be Herod’s pig than to be his son ! Let me put the finishing touch to this dinosaur’s career by telling you that when he was 70 years old, and knowing that his end wasn’t far off, he retired to Jericho, the loveliest of the cities he had built. He rounded up 5,000 prominent men of Jerusalem, giving order that they should be killed the moment he himself should die. This was to forestall the general rejoicing he knew would follow when he croaked it. For your kind information the order was not carried out; and I’d rather not tell you the manner of his death as it would turn your stomach and spoil your Sunday.
I’ve wasted precious time talking about that prize idiot, so I’d better hurry on to the Three Wise men from the East. It seems they had seen the Star two years before their arrival. The star could have been Halley’s comet or a brilliant conjunction of the planets Saturn and Jupiter, or even a special appearance of Venus. In the mind of the evangelist Mathew it represented a supernatural phenomenon. These wise men or Magi had shared that general expectation about a leader or messiah spread abroad by the Jewish merchants around the world. Much before they arrived Bethlehem, the Holy Family had moved from the stable to a house. The wise men on entering the house must have been surprised, since they were accustomed to court splendour and a cultured milieu, livered servants and colourful trappings. Yet they responded to divine inspiration and fell down and worshipped and offered their gifts. The Magi had kept faith with their Star. They had come because God calls all people, of every race and nation, to recognise Jesus as their Lord and do him homage. Through the shepherds and the Magi at the beginning of Jesus’ life, God’s kingdom broke into the world. And at the end of Jesus’ life, above his head would appear the answer to the question the Magi had asked 33 years earlier: “This is the King of the Jews.” These three gentiles became the first Christians. They had also walked into history. Whenever the Christmas story is told, they will be remembered. These men had proved wise, indeed. They had risked all for God and became big winners. They came from 5,000 miles away and were energised by their encounter with Jesus. The Temple priests and lawyers were within five miles, but remained dull and dumb in their comfort and accustomed ways.
I’m sure that everyone here has a goal in life. Goals make a big difference in life. A person without a goal does not know what he wants, and what he has he wants more of. When that’s not enough, they want better, and when better’s not enough, their life becomes meaningless; they are sad and alienated, even angry with themselves.  People’s goals are like the Star of the wise men of our Gospel, symbol of the attraction of light in darkness. That Star can sometimes mean trouble; but trouble is easier to handle than meaninglessness. Those who have died for something are far better off than those who live for nothing.  Darkness is the colour of night, the colour of melancholy, grief and loss. It is the colour of death, worn by Lucifer, the Swastika and neo-Nazi thugs, Darth Vader, the wicked witch, motorcycle gangs and Dracula.
Our deepest source of meaning, purpose and commitment is to be instruments of Jesus’ Epiphany in the world  -  like the Magi, though not necessarily in such dramatic fashion. We make ours the final blessing of today’s Mass the major goal of our life. Here is the text: “the Wise Men followed the Star, and found Christ…may you too find the Lord when your pilgrimage is ended.”

PRAYER: (Jan Berry)          

God of gold, we seek your glory;
the richness that transforms our drabness into colour;
and brightens our dullness with vibrant light;
your wonder and joy at the heart of all life.
God of incense, we offer you our prayer;
our spoken and unspeakable longings, our questioning of truth,
our search for your mystery deep within.
God of myrrh, we cry to you in our suffering:
the pain of all our rejections and bereavements;
our baffled despair at undeserved suffering,
our rage at continuing injustice;
and we embrace you, God-with-us,
in our wealth, in our yearning,
in our anger and loss.