January
8, 2017
Epiphany
of the Lord
Isaiah
60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-3a,5-6; Matthew 2:1-12
Good morning and
Happy feast of the three kings! Today’s feast of the Epiphany is commonly known
as the feast of the three kings. There is this message circulating in Viber and
Facebook saying that there were actually 6 Kings and not only 3? Only three
reached Bethlehem: by tradition the names of these 3 kings are King Melchor, King
Gaspar and King Balthazar. Unfortunately,
the three other kings did not reach Bethlehem. Where did they go? The 4th king
went to the USA, the 5th king to China, and 6th king to the Philippines. Their names were: BURGER KING, CHOWKING, and
TAPA KING, respectively.
This feast of
the Epiphany tells us that Jesus revealed himself as the Savior of all. My brothers
and sisters, if the Lord revealed himself to us, what is our response to this manifestation?
Let us reflect on this as we look at three characters from the gospel we have
heard.
The
first character are the MAGI. The three wise men were
astrologers. They know the prophecy of
Isaiah in first reading. As soon as they saw the sign of a star from the sky,
they knew that a new King will be born. What did they do? They exerted effort
to look for the newborn King. They traveled all the way from the East to
Jerusalem. Their long journey is indeed a journey of faith. They faced many
uncertainties ahead of them – they had no accurate map, GPS device or Waze app
to show the way. But they did not give up in their search. When they finally
reached Bethlehem, they needed more faith because they found a new born king
without a throne, without an army and without riches. Faith enabled them to
search for Jesus and recognize him as the newborn king and the Messiah.
Are we like the magi,
who would exert effort to find God’s presence in our lives? When things are
going well for us, it is easy to recognize God’s presence. But when at times we
undergo dark moments, it is difficult to recognize God’s presence. Actually we
don’t have to travel so far to find God.
Because our God is Emmanuel. He is with us. He has never left us but He
can be found and recognized by those who search for His presence.
The
second character are the SCRIBES. They were the experts in scriptures.
When Herod heard about the prophecy, he turned to the experts and inquired
where will this newborn king be born. As
experts in Scriptures, the scribes know the answer. They even quoted the
prophet Micah and said that the new king will be born in Bethlehem. But what is
ironic is that they know very well the prophecy and they were living near
Bethlehem but they were not affected by it. They did not act on it. They totally
ignored it. This explains why they were not able to find Jesus. They were near
yet so far.
Are we sometimes
like the scribes who have received the faith but still remain indifferent to
it? Are we like the scribes who have received the faith but still there is no
change in our lives? Back to normal. Business as usual? May we not commit the
same mistake of the scribes who simply ignored the presence of God.
The
last character is KING HEROD. When he learned about the fulfilment
of the prophecy that a new king was born, he was threatened. He trembled in fear.
Perhaps he told himself, “A new king is born. What will now happen to me? What will now happen to my kingdom?” So Herod
asked the Magi to report back to him so that he can also pay homage. But we
know that his plans were different. He wanted to identify the exact location of
the new born King so that he can kill Jesus. In other words, Herod’s reaction was
total rejection of the light of Christ. Are we sometimes like Herod? Do we
welcome Christ in our lives or do we want to eradicate and get rid of His presence?
My brothers and
sisters, today’s feast of the Epiphany tells us that the Lord has revealed
Himself as the Savior of all. Our first and second reading invite us to
respond to this revelation by sharing the light of Christ to others. But what is our response to this revelation?
Are we going to be like the scribes, who ignored the coming of Christ? Are we
going to be like Herod who rejected Christ? In this mass let us pray that we may
we become like the magi, who welcomed the coming of Christ, who ardently searched
for His presence to give glory and praise to Him. May we never give up in our
search to find Jesus in our lives. He is Emmanuel. He is truly with us. May He
bring light to our lives. Amen.
