The World

Feast of the Epiphany of The Lord A-1

At the Vigil Mass

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Bar 5: 5 Arise, Jerusalem, and look to the East and see your children gathered from the rising to the setting of the sun.

Collect May the splendour of your majesty, O Lord, we pray, shed its light upon our hearts, that we may pass through the shadows of this world and reach the brightness of our eternal home. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

At the Mass During the Day Entrance Antiphon Cf. Mal 3:1; 1 Chr 29:12 Behold, the Lord, the Mighty One, has come; and kingship is in his grasp, and power and dominion.

Collect O God, who on this day revealed your Only Begotten Son to the nations by the guidance of a star, grant in your mercy, that we, who know you already by faith, may be brought to behold the beauty of your sublime glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 71; Ephesians 3:2-3.5-6; Matthew 2:1-12

When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came Magi from the east to Jerusalem. They said, “Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and have come to adore him.” And king Herod hearing this was troubled, and all of Jerusalem with him. And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ would be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea. For it is written by the prophet, “You Bethlehem of the land of Judea are not the least among the princes of Judea, for out of you will come forth the captain who will rule my people Israel.” Then Herod, privately calling the wise men, carefully learned of them the time of the star which appeared to them. Then sending them on to Bethlehem, said “Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come to adore him.” Having heard the king they went their way; and behold the star which they had seen in the east went before them until it came and stood over where the child was. Seeing the star they rejoiced with very great joy. Entering the house they found the child with Mary his mother and falling down they adored him. Then opening their treasures they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Having received a word in a dream that they must not return to Herod, they went back via another route to their country. (Matthew 2:1-12)

The World In our Gospel passage today for the feast of the Epiphany, St Matthew presents us with one of the several extraordinary facts associated with our Lord’s birth which reverberated on a limited scene. The chapter opens with a matter‑of‑fact reference to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judah in the days of King Herod. Again, in a matter‑of‑fact manner, Matthew records that “there came Magi from the east to Jerusalem asking, where is he who is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to adore him.” (Matthew 2:1‑12) This visit was a sign from heaven that this Child is the child of the ages, the child whose work would be of world significance, the child long predicted as the Messiah‑King. God revealed through his angel the nature and work of this Child to Mary and Joseph (in Matthew, chapter 1), and now he reveals something of it to the Gentiles (in chapter 2). He is the King of the Jews. He cannot have been perceived by these pagan Magi as just an ordinary future King in a foreign land (like, say, Herod with whom they spoke), because they themselves felt entirely involved by the birth. This Child was a King whose reach would touch them and their world. There was a love and veneration in their attitude because they believed that this future King would be a boon to them. It is intriguing, incidentally, that this small company of learned pagans who arrived to pay their respects to the as‑yet unknown Child came from the East, and not, say, from the West and from Rome. If the entire scene were just a symbolic fiction, would it not have been more impressive if Matthew had invented a few learned people arriving from, say, Rome to adore the Child? After all, Rome was already the master of the world, and Herod himself occupied his throne only by Rome’s permission. But no, they came from the East and perhaps they were Zoroastrian Magi. This adds, in my view, to its undoubted credibility. The point, though, is that the event of their journey, their arrival and their words implied and bore witness to the fact that this obscure Child was a Messiah not just for the Jews but for the nations.

Matthew’s account of these profoundly religious pagans from the East bowing down before the Child Jesus, invites us to rest our gaze on Christ and to join with them in their faith and in their adoration of him. “And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him; and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:1‑12). Jesus is the Messiah‑King of the Jews but also the King of all the nations. Matthew sees in the action and words of the Magi heavenly testimony to the fact that the Christ‑Child is the universal Lord and King of the world. What happened was a fact full of significance and symbolism. Moreover, not only does it tell us about Christ but it tells us about what God can do and is doing in the hearts of those who do not know him. If we assume that the little band of Magi were, say, Zoroastrian priests and scribes, then God was not simply leaving them in a darkness bereft of any kind of revelation. God was leading them on to Christ. Christ is the true revelation and religion of God, but God was near to the efforts of the pagans to attain the light, in order to bring them to the Light. He gave them a star — which might have in fact been an Angel appearing as if a star. After all, an Angel enlightened Mary and Joseph in the first Chapter. Now in the second chapter, God is shown enlightening the pagans through a star. The point I am making here is that these good and conscientious pagans, searching from within their own religious tradition, were not being left to their own unaided powers. God was leading them on not to a fuller truth in their own religion, but to revealed truth beyond it. They were well disposed, and more so than their more religiously blessed interlocutors in Jerusalem, and they were using in good faith the means providence had placed at hand. One would think that Matthew saw these events as symbolic of the hand of God and his call in the life of the nations. God was present in the fallen religious life of the pagan world and was vouchsafing them with a form of revelation that called those with goodwill to the Saviour, the King of the Jews.

The word Epiphany in Greek means “manifestation.” We think of the manifestation or revelation of Christ to those of goodwill from the pagan world. Jesus Christ is the Messiah‑King of the Jews, but he is also the Messiah‑King of the world. He is the Lord of lords and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. God is at work in the heart of the world, granting revelations of sorts, in order to call it gradually to the person of Christ. The fulfilment of the world will consist in its acknowledging Jesus as its Lord, and living its life accordingly. At the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel (2:1-12), God reveals himself to the pagan Magi. At the end his Gospel, Christ sends his disciples to the whole world (28:18-20). Let us join with Jesus in bearing witness to him before the world, knowing that the grace of God has gone ahead of us to make our testimony fruitful.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.528 (The Mysteries of Jesus' Infancy), 484-487 (Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit)

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