The Epiphany of the Lord

The Epiphany of the Lord

By REV. FR. SAMUEL FREDERICK

Ish 60:1-6, Eph. 3:2-3.5-6, Mt. 2:1-12. On this Second of Christmas Year B, the Solemnity of Epiphany of the Lord, the Church invites us to celebrates how God, who came to live among us, revealed Himself. The key to understanding today’s Gospel is having a background information that Matthew, wrote primarily to Jewish audience. A people who are quite familiar with today’s first reading, where Isaiah speaks of a time that nations shall bring gold and frankincense to Israel. Thus, the gifts brought by the Magi calls to mind this reality: “A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord." The Magi symbolises the Gentiles which the Psalmist echoes: "May the kings of Tarshish and the islands render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall prostrate before him…” From this reference, we can deduce that the Magi were kings.

The visitation of Gentile Maggi implies that Jesus came not only for the Jewish nation but for the whole World. This is to debunk the stand that the Christian faith is not for Africans or that Christ is sent to only the tribes of Israel. From the visit, we can see that God had us in mind from the moment of the birth of Jesus. Paul affirms this fact in today’s second reading. We are not strangers to the Christian faith, we are “fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. Hence, today's Gospel narrates the story of how the Son of God was revealed to the Gentile wise men as the new born King who came to save the whole world. The wise men upon seeing the child fell down and worshipped Him. Every time we come before Jesus, we are challenged to do exactly what the wise men did. The wise men are called wise because they worshipped God in the child Jesus, no excuse, no pride and no over glorification of their personality. Like the chief priests and scribes, we find many Christians who after advancing in their professions or prosper in their businesses begin to show little or no interest in Jesus or Christian faith, they rationalise that they do not need to go to confession or that the Church is not progressive that is why they become nominal Christians. Today, we are called to offer Jesus, not only our gold - treasure - but our precious hearts as well; not only frankincense - burnt offering - but also our lives of priestly holiness; and not myrrh - adornment - but our lives as living sacrifices of praise, living and acceptable to God (Cf. Rom. 12:1-2).

May Jesus the light of the world illumine our hearts and minds so that we can speak the language of love and bring the world out of darkness to worship the true God! Amen!! Be safe and happy Sunday!!!

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