Epiphany – Year B (January 8th)

Epiphany – Year B (January 8th)
Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72: 2, 7-8, 10-13
Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6
Matthew 2:1-12
Next Sunday the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany. The name means, “showing forth”, and not surprisingly the readings for the feast speak of the light shining on the mystery of God’s plan.

The first reading urges a depressed Jerusalem, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of YHWH has shone upon you”. This is in contrast to the present situation, “Behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick clouds the peoples”. Then we are given a vision of what will happen to the People of God (in decided contrast to what is going on at present), “Lift up your eyes round about and see”. And what do they see? A very cheering vision: “Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters on their nurses’ shoulders”, which will have a (literally) splendid effect on Jerusalem, “Then you shall see and you will be radiant”, at the picture of the flow of wealth into Jerusalem, including “dromedaries of Midian and Ephah”. And the climax is “And they shall announce the praises of YHWH”. That is what it is all about.

The psalm is a song for a newly-crowned King of Judaea, “May he judge your people with justice, and your poor with uprightness”. There is the mystery of God’s subversive plan; the King is indeed to have a vast domain, “from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth”, and to accept the homage of other potentates, but only as long as he looks after the “poor…the needy and the helpless”. It would be good if all our Presidents and leaders were to make this their motto, and it would shed light on a darkened world.

The second reading for the solemnity also speaks of the mystery of God’s plan; and here it is revealed as the astonishing fact that “the Gentiles are to be co-heirs, and the same body, and co-sharers if the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel”. This is indeed a very hidden mystery, and one to which Paul knows himself to be called.

The mystery is acted out in the lovely story that is the gospel for next Sunday, the story of the arrival of the Magi in Jerusalem. These people are precisely Gentiles, and they have it right, even if they start their visit with a tactless enquiry, “Where is the one born King of the Jews?”. This is less than tactful, because there is a King of the Jews happily reigning, and his name is Herod; and he has a decidedly brisk way with anything that threatens his throne (including the murder of his wives and sons). Unsurprisingly, Herod and the Jerusalem establishment are “disturbed” at the tidings; but very surprisingly, they believe that the Magi have it right, because Herod actually asks his advisers where the Messiah is to be born. They press the buttons on their computer, and come up with the answer, “Bethlehem”, so the Magi set off in that direction, with a promise to return and tell Herod all about it, because he too wishes to “worship” the child (though the reader is uncomfortably aware that what Herod means by “worship” is probably rather different from what the Magi are proposing to do).

However God is in charge of this mystery of light, and they are now led by the light of a star; they perform their worship, and offer their gifts of “gold, frankincense and myrrh” (which is why you thought that there were three of them), symbolising Jesus’ kingship, priesthood, and the fact that he is going to die.

Then, as we worry about whether these dolts are going to go back and tell Herod how to find (and kill) the little child, we are reminded once more that God is in charge, for they were “warned in a dream”, and return home by another route. A new light shines in our world.