Sharing the Word – January-06-2019 – Feast of Epiphany of the Lord(Year C)
Readings: 1st Reading; Isaiah 60 : 1 – 6
Responsorial Psalm; Ps. 71 : 1-2, 7-8, 10 -13.
2nd Reading; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6.
Gospel; Matthew 2 : 1 – 12.
Our first reading foretells that the coming of the Messiah is good-news that will be shared beyond the borders of Israel. People will travel over sea and desert to give glory to Him. The News of His coming will brighten the whole world as all people are special and belonging to God. I recall all the festivities at our homes in Kom, in Esu, in Nso, in Buea, in Bamenda and just everywhere, as proof to this.
The Gospel from Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah who is to come and the one who has come for all peoples. The Magi represent people of distant lands who will come with their gifts to benefit from Jesus’s offer of Universal peace, joy and wisdom.
We are told in the Gospel that the magi were led to Jesus by the light of a bright star. Often, however, it is not through an experience of light, but of darkness, that people discover Jesus. This should not really surprise us. The fact is, we cannot see the stars in the bright light of day, but only in the darkness of night, and the darker the night, the brighter they shine. Just as the stars continue to shine even when we do not see them, so the Lord’s light is always there, though it is sometimes hidden from us by the clouds, clouds of confusion, distraction and unbelief. Everyone needs a star to follow, just as the ship at sea needs a lighthouse beacon to guide it to port. From now on we have a star that will not deceive us; we have a compass that will not lie to us. This will only be so when we keep it alive!
And we should remember this! Just as the star and the Heavenly music were not what the first Christmas was about, but were merely pointers to the Christ-child, so the externals, which surround our Christmas, are not what Christmas is all about. They are merely the wrappings of the gift. Only a fool would mistake the wrappings for the gift. Even though the wrappings have been disposed of, Jesus , the gift of God, remains with us. ‘ Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time’ (Matt.28:20). Yes, He remains with us. He is our light. Shall we bring the light of Jesus Christ to those we meet through the witness of our life and testimony or do we try to quench even the light in others and hide what light we may have received?
The Gospel gives us an account of the wise men with Herod. The magi were wise men, yet they came to surrender their wisdom to the new-born King. They looked for Him not just nearby but in the far west beyond. When they saw Him, they prostrated themselves at the new-born king’s feet and worshiped Him. A sign that human wisdom is not enough to understand God. The Psalmist tells us “all nations shall fall prostrate before you, O lord”, from East to West and from Great Kings to commoners.
We are tempted to condemn Herod for being cunning and wanting to kill Jesus. If we celebrate Jesus’ birth and destroy what he came for, we may have done worse than Herod.
We all have gifts from God, like the Magi. Gifts of Knowledge, health, wealth like frankincense, gold and myrrh which the Magi brought to worship the new-born king. How do we use our own gifts? To worship God? Worship other humans? Or do we use them to destroy other people? The Magi refused to hand-over Jesus to Herod to be killed. Do we hand over the innocent to our own ‘Herods’ for destruction? True Christians should act like the Magi and give ‘Herod’ no opportunity to destroy the light we received at Christmas! When we have met and worshiped Jesus, we should change the promise we accepted to ‘Herod’ by going back using a different Jesus-led road.
A story of “The Other Wise man” by one renown writer called Henry Van Dyke recounts that there were really four wise men from the East who saw the star of the new-born King and set out to do him homage. The fourth wise man called Artaban carried pearls of great price. On his way, he stooped to save a dying man and this made him late to meet the caravan of the other three. He sold part of his treasure, bought a camel and recommenced his journey to cross the desert to do homage to the baby Jesus. Every so often on his way, he stopped and used part of his treasure meant for the baby King Jesus to help a suffering person, the homeless, the hungry, the sick, the naked, etc and only arrived Bethlehem too late when the parents of the baby-Jesus had fled with Him to Egypt.
Artaban continued to Egypt, stopping every so often to extend a helping hand to the needy. In Egypt, he did not still find the Child Jesus. So, he continued his search through many lands till 33 years later when he arrived one day in Jerusalem. Then, a crucifixion of a ‘convicted criminal’ was about to take place. Out of curiosity, he joined the boisterous crowd to follow the preceding and learnt that the man to be crucified was the King he had been searching for. He felt disappointed and empty that he could not help him. He had helped so many people on his way searching for this man whom the star in the East had revealed to him. Now he had nothing left and could not help Him. While he mourned inside him, he heard a strong voice telling him “verily, I say unto you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me”. He realised then that his treasures had all the while been accepted. He had after all found the baby-Jesus king, not once as the other three wise men, but many more times. This assurance resonated from within him and filled him with calm radiance of wonder and joy.
Jesus promises and gives food to the hungry, clothing to the naked, health to the sick, comfort to the afflicted, hope to the despair. To maintain His light we Christians receive at Christmas, we must continue to be instruments of His deeds and wishes.
When the singing of the angels is still, the shepherds all back to their herds, and the magi back to the east, then the real mission of Christmas has begun. It is the mission to give food to the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the lonely, replace hate with love, and give justice to all.
A Little Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You for sending the star announcing your birth to bring salvation to all nations. You Lord are the star that will guide me until the lights of the eternal port appear on the horizon. Stay with me Lord, and let Your presence and light inflame my heart and raise my spirit, so that I may be the light to others as I journey toward Your Kingdom with undimmed hope. Help me to be a good witness of the joy of the Gospel to all I meet. Amen.
Have a Blessed Week!
Bobe Talla Toh
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