The Epiphany of the Lord

God is good and loves all of us: Jews and gentiles alike. In the first reading, Isaiah gives us some prophetic hints of the Epiphany.  In the second reading, Paul tells the Ephesians that all of us who did not belong to the people of the first covenant are now co-heirs with our Jewish sisters and brothers.  We are blessed and are embraced by our gracious God.  Jesus, the Messiah, came for all us.

Tomorrow we will remember the Baptism of the Lord, and then we return to Ordinary Time.  And in preparation for that, the three gifts of the magi serve as important reminders to us about who Jesus is and how we ought to respond to Him as we settle back into our daily lives. 

The gold tells us that the Child in the manger is a King.  He is not a king as we normally would think of one, and He certainly wasn’t a King that the Jewish people were hoping for or expecting.  Jesus told us that His Kingdom is not of this world.  But He is a King and St. Ignatius Loyola, in one of the most important spiritual exercises, calls us to choose to live our lives under the standard of Christ the King.  We need to follow Him, obey Him, and work for the furthering of His Kingdom.  If we do not serve under the standard of Christ the King, we risk serving the other one who desires our allegiance, the prince of this world.  Christ is a King and we are called to be faithful members of His Kingdom.

The frankincense tells us that this beautiful Child is God.  The Word of God has come to us to be One with us, fully human and fully divine.  Humanity is changed forever with the birth of this Baby in Bethlehem.  God is not no longer distant or unapproachable, for Jesus calls us friends and prays that we will be one with Him as He is with the Father.  Each day we live with Jesus and for Jesus, under the power and direction of the Holy Spirit whom He has poured into our hearts.

The myrrh, strangest of all the gifts, tells us that this Child, lying quietly in His mother’s lap will one day die.  The wood of the manger is connected to the wood of the cross.  The myrrh is for His Body, which will lie in death, having been offered as a sacrifice for our sins.   We know that we will all die, but now there is no reason to fear, for our hope is that as we have shared in the death of Christ through baptism, so too we will share in His eternal life.

Now that the crèche set is put away, we are left only with Jesus, baptized in the Jordan, anointed by the Spirit, eager to begin His mission.  But we know that He is always with us in our daily lives. He is a King we serve, our God whom we worship and praise, and Crucified One who suffered and died and rose for us, all because of Love.  That too is an epiphany for us: we are loved – each and every one of us.  God is good.