The Epiphany
(Isaiah 60:1-6;
Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12)
In the Eastern Church today’s solemnity of the Epiphany of
Our Lord has precedence over Christmas, whereas for us in the West, Christmas
Day is the greater celebration; and the reason for this diversity is that these
two solemn celebrations are complementary
.
At Christmas we celebrate God’s inconceivable humility and wondrous
goodness whereby His only-begotten Son puts on human flesh, becoming Himself
fully and truly human in His divine Sonship, in order to involve Himself with
us totally – sin alone excepted -- for a right understanding and resolving of the
mess into which we had got ourselves and our world by deliberate and wilful sinning
against God and against our own humanity.
And that Christmas awareness of such amazing humility and goodness on
God’s part batters at the foundations of modern pride by inviting and provoking
us to humble gratitude and childlike trust. On Christmas Day we recalled the
words of Elizabeth to Mary our Mother (Luke 1:45);
Blessed are you who believed that
what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled
and we too, as her true children, likewise renewed at
Christmas the sincerity of our belief in Jesus the Lord and our Redeemer, and the simplicity of our trust in all God’s
promises for our salvation.
At the Epiphany, however, we rejoice in the divine glory manifested
in the earthly life and being of Him Who, though coming as Saviour, deigns to
be like us:
As an Infant, Who, like some
uniquely wondrous lodestone, draws the heavens (planetary movements of those
times being apparently confirmed by modern computer simulation) and the Magi (men
guided by their learning in science and philosophy and deeply motivated by
their sincere religious commitment) from lands afar, to His crib in Bethlehem;
At His baptism, when His humility
before John opened the very heavens, calling forth a divine witness as the
Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, and the Father proclaimed Him to be His own
beloved Son;
At the wedding in Cana, where as a
passing guest He changed, at His mother’s instigation (!), water into rich and
copious new wine; His power there being manifested and matched by His divine
awareness, human generosity, and filial compliance.
All these resplendent signs of His human majesty, glory, power, and compassion, give us unshakeable confidence that what He has
promised, He can and will fulfil in and for His Church throughout the succeeding
ages of her public proclamation and witness, and for all His true disciples as
they try to live their personal lives according to His teaching and for the
praise and glory of His most holy Name.
For us, therefore, who are disciples of Jesus, there should
be a more than worldly, human, joy when we celebrate the birth, the majesty and
power, of Jesus, because His Kingdom is not of this world, as He Himself said. As you
all are well aware, though human joy appears most desirable, experience does --
at times -- show it to be equally unreliable; again, worldly joy can change some
people into louts and hooligans even more easily than it makes others into
happy and generous companions; and when circumstances change, such joy can
quickly disappear, leaving behind it corrosive complaint rather than grateful
and calm peace.
Jesus the Lord triumphed for us by destroying sin and death
in our flesh, and His renewed coming this Christmas season is a confirmation of
His promise that He will share His triumph with all who put their faith, and
find their joy, in Him, becoming one with Him through baptism and the
Eucharist. His victories are eternally
valid; for, in His Resurrection human flesh has once again been restored to
heaven and is now, indeed, at the right
hand of the Father in glory; and He, the Risen Son of Man, is both willing and
able to triumph over the darkness of sin and ignorance, not only in the world
around us, as was shown by His bringing to naught the schemes of that cunning
and murderous tyrant, Herod.
Arise, shine; for your light has
come, the glory of the LORD has dawned upon you. Though darkness covers the
earth and thick clouds the peoples, upon you the LORD will dawn and over you His
glory will be seen;
but also in our own very intimate, complicated, and shadowy,
minds and hearts.
Just as at Christmas we rejoiced and renewed our humble and
grateful trust in the promises made to us in Christ, in accordance with the
teaching of St. Paul who most emphatically teaches us (2 Corinthians 1:20) that:
However many are the promises of
God, their "Yes" (is) in Him; therefore the Amen from us also goes to
God for glory;
even so now, on this feast of the Epiphany – a word which
means the shining-forth, manifestation, of the glory of Christ – we should
exultantly rejoice and stir up anew the confidence which heaven alone gives, as the
prophet Isaiah proclaimed:
Then you shall see and be radiant,
your heart shall throb and overflow. For
the riches of the sea shall be poured out before you, the wealth of nations
shall come to you.
Grateful trust and sure confidence, humility and power,
patience and vigour, joy and peace, each is so necessary for, and all are so
beautifully complementary in, the fulfilment of our Christian vocation and
personal calling, just as Christmas and Epiphany are equally essential for the
fullness of our liturgical celebration and appreciation of Jesus, perfect God and
perfect Man, coming to serve us as our total and unique Saviour.
And so, though the deep darkness of human sin is so evident
in the world around, and even though our own souls may know something of its oppressive
shadow at times, nevertheless, His glory will appear for those who firmly
believe His promises and confidently commit their lives to His most loving, and
supremely powerful, Providence.
Therefore, People of God, I urge you in this holy season to
discover deeper peace by confirming your trust in Jesus’ promises, and to renew
your confidence by stirring up your joy, as you celebrate His glory and power;
for such are the signs given and the blessings offered us in this sublime
culmination of the Christmas season which is today’s Epiphany. The multitude of
angels sang:
Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests!
And the shepherds, having told their good tidings to all
gathered around the Infant Christ, returned to their sheep in the fields:
Glorifying and praising God for
all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
Let all of us, too, dear People of God, sincerely pray that
our celebration of the Epiphany today may give glory to God and further the
exaltation of Holy Mother Church, through the comforting and strengthening of
all those who are her true children.
Amen.
