Happy New Year. Believe it or not we are in 2019, New Year …. New hope. New start. It is a gift from God. We are still in the season of Christmas. Today we celebrate Epiphany. It is a beautiful feast. Epiphany comes from Greek word which means manifestation or revelation. So, we can say that today, we celebrate the manifestation of the world; Jesus reveals Himself to the world. After his birth, Jesus revealed Himself to the shepherds. The shepherds were the first group to see Jesus. And then Jesus revealed to the Magi who came from the East to adore Him.
Now, why does this story of the wise men capture the attention of the Church? What is Matthew trying to tell us here? What is the point? The visit of the wise men, or this story captures the imagination of the Church for many reasons: First of all, the story of the wise men captures the attention of the Church because according to our Christian tradition, the wise men represent all the other peoples of the world. Christians, pagans, can be saved by God. Everyone can be saved. Salvation is for everyone. The wise men were pagans. However worshiped Jesus as pagans and they went back as pagans. Matthew wrote this story to tell us that Jesus is not just the Messiah for the Jews but for all the peoples. He is the Savior of the world. He came to save all the nations, not just the chosen people. Even He is born in Bethlehem, Jesus is for everyone. And in this sense, I am sure that the Magi represent all the other peoples of the world. Therefore, all the people can be saved. Even pagans. Salvation is universal. Salvation is for everyone.
Secondly this story captures our attention because the wise men remind us our journey to Christ. The gospel tells us that these wise men came from East, far away to adore Jesus. Can you imagine how comfortable was their trip? How many weeks they spend before getting into Bethlehem? They did not flight. They arrived into Bethlehem of feet. They suffered. They sacrifice themselves because they were looking for Christ. If the magi, pagans made such sacrifice, why can’t we? As we begin the new year, ask ourselves: What sacrifice do we make to deep our faith? What do we do to know Christ? How do we exhort ourselves to follow the footstep of the magi? Thirdly, this story captures our attention because of the gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Today we don’t need to go to Bethlehem to offer Jesus our gifts. For Jesus reveals Himself to us every day. He reveals Himself in the Eucharist. Take this is my body, this is my blood.
Jesus reveals Himself in the Scripture. Also, Jesus reveals Himself through each person we meet every day because we are the image of God. Christ is in each person. He is there. The question is what gift do we bring to Jesus to the people we meet? I am not talking about the material gifts. But the gift of a smile, love, compassion, and mercy. When you look at people who work with you, when you look at the strangers, when you look at the kids, ……. Can you see Christ in them?
Also, this story captures our attention because of the star …star that led the wise men to Bethlehem. The wise men followed the star that led them to the child Jesus. To them, the light of the star was a symbol of hope, symbol of joy and symbol of peace. All of us have stars to follow. Our stars are people who show us the way, who inspire us, who attract us. Sometimes good example can be a star.
John the Baptist was a guiding star. He led his disciples to Jesus. Remember the passage when Jesus was passing by, John the Baptist said to his disciples, point to Jesus, that this is the Lamb of God. Then two of his disciples followed Jesus. One of them were Andrew. The following day, Andrew met his brother Simon, and said to him, we have found the Messiah. And then he brought Simon to Jesus. Today, every one of us. Every baptized person, we are called to be star for others. We are called to bring our friends, and relatives close to Jesus. Our spirit to serve God and his people, our commitment to the poor, the homeless, the sick. Our spirit to bring peace, our generosity, our passion to Go, the way we live our faith as couple, our attitude to prayer are a powerful to attract people to God (can inspire people). Because through us, God can touch many lives. Through us, through our humble example or service, God change the hearts of many.
The question is: How does my life attract people to believe in God? How does your marriage inspire young people to get marriage in the Church? How does my life as priest attract young people to priesthood? How does our family, life attract people to reconcile? How does our life help people to know God, to serve God? How much our life affect people around us? Let us pray, let us become star of Christmas, star of Bethlehem leading people to Jesus.
