The Real Meaning of Epiphany
The feast of Epiphany is a very important feast in its own right. For me, it is particularly important. Two years ago, I visited St. Hubert’s for the first time. Fr. Spicer was kind enough to allow me to serve on the altar as a deacon. I told you then that I was a deacon in the Archdiocese of Washington DC. I told you that I would be moving to Whidbey Island, and that I hoped to serve you as your deacon. Just like two years ago, the Washington Redskins lost to the Seattle Seahawks that weekend!
Through God’s grace, all of that has happened. So let me take this opportunity to say that now that I am here as your deacon, and have gotten to know many of you well, I am even more pleased to be here. I thank you for allowing me to serve you, and I pray that Fr. Rick, the staff of St. Hubert and all parishioners feel that two years from the first time I met you, we continue to grow in faith and love in this wonderful parish.
The feast of Epiphany is a feast where one can easily get lost in the liturgical history. For example:
-We often hear people call this feast, the feast of the Three Kings. But the three historical figures, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, were not really kings at all. They were part of pagan religious group from modern day Iran, or perhaps also modern day Iraq, Syria, or Saudi Arabia. The term magi, which is translated roughly speaking as part prophet, part priest, part advisor to royalty is probably the most accurate name for them. We actually don’t even know if there were three of them; their names are more of legend than what we would consider real historical research. We also know that Gaspar was considered a very kindly man; when he passed away, he became a kind spirit known as Gaspar the Friendly Ghost. Just seeing if you were paying attention!
-This feast was not celebrated in the early Church at all. And its origins actually come from the Eastern part of Catholicism, not the Roman or Western part; In the East, Epiphany commemorated the birth of the Lord as Christmas did in the West. All told, it took Catholic leaders more than a thousand years to get on the same page about when Epiphany was to be celebrated.
-And finally, despite the choreography of the crèche sets or nativity scenes you see or keep in your home, when the Magi made the decision to visit the very young Jesus, it would have taken them nearly a year by camel, to follow the star from Iran or Iraq to Bethlehem. So the Jesus to whom they presented their gifts was more likely a toddler than a baby. Our Gospel from Matthew this morning talks about the Magi entering a house, not a stable or a manger.
Now you might ask at this point, why should we care about this? What is the real meaning of Epiphany and why do we continue to celebrate it? And why does it matter to us Catholics here on Whidbey Island on January 6, 2008?
The main reason we should care about Epiphany is because it is directly related to why Jesus Christ came to earth. When the Magi came to earth, they were demonstrating to the world for the first time something very important. The Magi visit demonstrated that Jesus came to redeem all of us, not just Jews but also Gentiles, all of us. He came to redeem not just the rich or powerful, but also the poor, the downtrodden, the despised. Our first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah presages the Gentile worship of the Messiah that the Magi manifested. St. Paul in the letter to the Ephesians we read this morning reminds us that all people in every age are coheirs to the promise of Jesus’ coming and in the living of the Gospel life.
The Magi believed the star they saw was a prophecy about a very important king being born. They were certainly right about that. But the Magi also believed that Jesus was to be a political revolutionary, who would usher in a new age of earthly justice and prosperity.
Jesus was not a political revolutionary. He did not overthrow the despised Roman Empire. Rather, as He would later tell a different set of religious leaders, the Pharisees, as they undertook to murder Him, that His Kingdom was not of this world.
The Magi reflected this misunderstanding. In today’s Gospel they bring gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus as a sign of respect typically given to royalty. But while their gifts were appropriate in a cultural sense, they were also irrelevant.
But let us not be too hard on the Magi. For Jesus was certainly a spiritual revolutionary. God could have come to earth in many different ways, including as a rich and powerful King. Instead He came as the most ordinary of human beings. And this says something very, very important brothers and sisters. It says that the most ordinary of persons is a king in the kingdom of God. The most ordinary of people that Jesus chooses as his followers can be prophets. And the most ordinary people, indeed all of us, are called to spread the faith, explain the faith, and practice the faith as priests in a common priesthood.
Even ministerial priests in Christ’s Church are called to be servants, and not be a religious class like the Magi. And so all of us are kings, all of us receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit that can include prophecy. And all of us are priests. Jesus calls us to full partnership in bringing about the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of mercy, justice, and peace.
So Jesus was a very different kind of king, in a kingdom not at all like the kingdoms the Magi knew or we know about in human history. He came to show us how to live, so that we could eventually be united with him in heaven forever. He gave us the roadmap to peace on this earth and in ourselves through his teachings. He gave us strength and graces for the journey to salvation through the Scriptures, the sacraments, and prayer. His presence with us is intimate and real, available every day of our lives if we simply ask for it.
Brothers and sisters, epiphany is a Greek word that roughly means a sudden recognition of something or insight of deep meaning. And so let us pray that on this feast of Epiphany more than two thousand years after the epiphany of the Magi, may we come to recognize the real meaning of Epiphany, and act on that meaning by living everyday, in the Kingdom of God Jesus revealed to us.