BIBLE STUDY #26

THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

January 2, 2011

Gospel        Matthew 2:1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod, 
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage.”
When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled, 
and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, 
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, 
for thus it has been written through the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod called the magi secretly 
and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 
“Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word, 
that I too may go and do him homage.”
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, 
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures 
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, 
they departed for their country by another way.

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

According to Webster’s Dictionary, Epiphany is defined as “1 cap : January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ 2 : an appearance or manifestation esp. of a divine being 3 a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something  (2) an intuitive grasp of reality  through something (as an event) usually simple and striking.”

Paragraph 528 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states  “ The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world.  The great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men (magi) from the East, together with his baptism in the Jordan and the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee. In the magi, representatives of the neighboring pagan religions, the Gospel sees the first-fruits of the nations, who welcome the good news of salvation through the Incarnation. The magi’s coming to Jerusalem in order to pay homage to the king of the Jews shows that they seek in Israel, in the messianic light of the star of David, the one who will be king of the nations. Their coming means that pagans can discover Jesus and worship him as Son of God and savior of the world only by turning toward the Jews ands receiving from them the messianic promise as contained in the Old Testament. The Epiphany shows that “the full number of nations” now takes its “place in the family of the patriarchs” and acquires Israelitica dignitas (are made “worthy of the heritage of Israel”).

Today’s gospel looks to the future of Jesus when he will be accepted by the gentiles but rejected by his own people. However, not all Jews rejected Jesus, such as the Apostles, the women who followed him, Matthews’s community (for the most part) and many other Jews who were the first followers of Jesus. We can’t be anti Semitic and say all the Jews rejected Jesus, because that’s just not true. Initially, Jesus’ followers saw themselves as a sect of Judaism. Eventually the followers of Jesus broke away from Judaism to make Christianity a separate religion, so I think a case can be made that the Jewish converts to Christianity rejected Judaism, and not the other way around.

Matthew is very careful in placing Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem of Judea, so not to be confused with the Bethlehem of Galilee. Bethlehem of Judea is the City of David, so it’s important to make that connection to King David so Jesus can  be seen to fulfill all of the prophecies of the Messiah, especially to the Jewish converts in Matthew’s community.

Herod was king from 37 B.C. to 4 A.D. and he reigned over a kingdom as large as King David’s. He had a bloody struggle trying to maintain his position against the Hasmoneans (the Jewish priestly rulers) and from other movements who were trying to overthrow him

The Magi arrive on Herod’s doorstep. Magi were originally from the Persian priestly caste, but the term magi came to mean any possessor of supernatural power. In Matthew’s case, they are astrologers. In some older translations of the bible, the magi are introduced as wise men. Also notice that they have no names and it doesn’t say how many. Traditionally, there are three magi because there are three gifts in 2:11, and they have been named as Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior, although the names are not in the bible. There is also an old tradition of asking God to bless your house and those in it by taking a piece of chalk and writing “20+C+M+B+11” over your front door. Just as the magi sought out Christ, so should we.

The magi ask where they can find the newborn King of the Jews. The only other time Jesus is referred to as the King of the Jews is in the passion narrative (see Matt 27:37). This tells us what type of King Jesus will be; one who will serve and give up his life for the many, not one who wants to be served. All leaders in the church should be reminded of this regularly.

A new star in the heavens marked a new ruler in the ancient world; not just Jesus, but any new ruler (see the OT story of Balaam, a magus, (singular for magi), in Numbers 24:17). Notice that this star stops once the near Jerusalem, and did not lead them directly to Jesus so they had to ask Herod where this new king was to be born. Here we see the gentiles go to the Jews for instruction about messianic prophecy, which is the proper course of salvation history.

The magi tell Herod that they have come to do homage to this newborn king. Worship of Jesus is also the last act of the disciples towards Jesus (see 28:17); Jesus life begins and ends with people worshipping him.

Herod consults with “all the chief priests and scribes of the people” who tell him that it’s been prophesied that the Messiah will be born in “Bethlehem, land of Judah.” The gospel states that Herod and all Jerusalem were greatly troubled; but, truth be known, most Jews, including the priests, hated Herod and would have been glad to see him go. It is ironic that these enemies of Jesus witness to his birth and messiahship. Also, there is a Jewish legend about the child Moses in which the ‘sacred scribes’ warn Pharaoh about the birth of one who will deliver Israel from Egypt and the king makes plans to destroy him. Remember, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is the new Moses, or as I might say, the new and improved Moses.

The Good Shepherd of Israel is to be born in the city from which the shepherd-King David was born. As soon as the magi learn this, they leave, and lo and behold, they are overjoyed to see the star lead them to the infant Jesus. This star will lead the magi out of pagan worship and superstition . When they arrived, they prostrated themselves in worship, an activity proper only to God or Jesus, another indication of Jesus divinity.

This Epiphany story is also the first of several times Matthew speaks against the sin of hypocrisy. Herod wants the magi to return and tell him where the infant is, not so he can go worship as he says, but to kill him. God directs the magi to go home in a different way. This infuriates Herod, and sets us up for the story of the Holy Innocents in 2:13-18.

Notice that when the magi arrive to worship Jesus and bring him gifts (one never visited a king in the ancient world without bringing gifts) that Joseph isn’t mentioned. He never makes an appearance unless he is needed.

The word ‘Epiphany’ means manifestation. What is being manifested to us? What are we being told? First and foremost, Jesus is the King of the Jews (ironically, this is what was put on the cross with the acronym INRI), the Messiah, the Savior of the world. This is not the first time we are told this (see 1:18-25) and certainly not the last time in this gospel. Matthew is making sure we know who Jesus is; when we come to the end of the gospel, if nothing else, we should know who Jesus is.

We also learn that faith in Jesus is open to everyone. The magi represent all those gentiles who will come to know and love Jesus Christ down through the centuries. Faith is a gift from God, not a birthright. Notice that one statue of the magi has black skin. All people are welcome, regardless of race, creed, color, origin, wealth, beauty, national origin, gender, or any of those other criteria we use to judge people. So we learn that prejudice is bad, and that we are not to be judgmental, a theme that appears more than once in the gospels.

Last Sunday was the Feast of the Holy Family, and I talked about family at the end of mass. Many people feel excluded by the church because they are not in a traditional family, that is, husband, wife, and children. My definition of family is whoever you love the most. I also pointed out the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is not a traditional family.  Joseph is a foster father to Jesus; Mary, born with out original sin, was an unwed pregnant teenager before she married Joseph, and their son Jesus is the divine Son of God. Pretty unique, I think, which tells me that regardless of your situation, you are welcome. God loves all people: even the worst sinners are still made in the image and likeness of God. God loves all people and so should we.

We here at St. Joseph’s want to make everyone feel welcome. This doesn’t mean we approve of everything, but we welcome them so they can receive God’s grace and grow in their love of God and their faith. We realize that while we preach, we who are here are also sinners in need of God’s mercy and redemption. I take my cue from the visit of Pope Benedict to the U.S. a few years ago when he said that we while we respect other people’s beliefs, we propose Jesus Christ. We also respect everyone who enters our church, and we have no problem professing our faith in Jesus.

People will come up to me asking why ‘they’ or ‘them’, those sinners, are allowed to receive communion. My response is, “If I exclude them for their sins, shouldn’t I do the same to you for your sins?” That’s the problem with being judgmental: we seem to always point the finger at someone else, and never at ourselves.

I made sure to tell all the non-traditional people last week that they are welcomed and loved in our church, and that their contributions, however great or small, are very much appreciated.

We also believe that our church is not a church of saints but of redeemed sinners. We know that we can fall back into sin with no trouble. That’s why we need God in our lives: we can’t live the Christian life by ourselves. Becoming like Herod is not that far away: it’s just excluding God in our lives. The less we have God in our lives, the more room we make for evil. As God is excluded more and more in our culture and in our lives, we end up with things like abortion and euthanasia. How can we imitate Jesus love and sacrifice and still do these things? The answer is: we can’t. Faith and evil are mutually exclusive.

The magi bringing gifts symbolizes what we give to God. As the saying goes, “How God made us is God’s gift to us; what we do with our lives is our gift to God.” Not giving back to God is the epitome of ingratitude. We are a stewardship parish and try to put our time, talent, and treasure to work in thanksgiving to God and for the good of our community. We commonly make the mistake in thinking that we have to do something great. We don’t. God will transform our gifts into something great, but we need to offer him ourselves to make this transformation possible. If everyone does a little, no one has to do a lot; in fact if everyone does a little, we probably wouldn’t need anyone to do a lot.

And we know that God won’t be out done in generosity. God promises to bless us 30, 60, and a hundred fold for our generosity.

Let us all follow that star and grow in our love of Jesus Christ.

May all of you have a happy and healthy new year blessed with the love of God in your hearts.

Fr. Phil