The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, Sunday, January 7, 2024

Matthew 2, 1–12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet:  “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.”  Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

The earliest reference by the Church Fathers to the celebration of the Epiphany dates back to about the year 200.  It was celebrated at various times in the East, but it seems always to have been celebrated on January 6 (until recently in the U.S.).  In the East, the Feast celebrates together on one day the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of the Lord, and the miracle at the wedding of Cana.  This was also true in the West, though the emphasis lay on the visit of the Magi.  And the institution of the separate Feast of the Baptism of the Lord by Pope Pius XII in 1955 has strengthened this emphasis.  The word “epiphany” comes from a Greek word meaning “an appearance” or “a manifestation”.  The Church celebrates the appearance of the Son of God to the Magi, who represent the Gentile people, fulfilling the prophecy that “the people who walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them who dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen” (Isaiah 9, 2).  The Magi were scholars of eastern lands who studied the night sky and searched for omens in the planets and the stars: “We saw his star at its rising.”  That is, the sky was believed to be a great crystalline sphere to which the stars were fixed.  Some questions have been asked about this star from very early times.  How can a star be followed?  Was this a true star or something else, perhaps the Holy Spirit?  St. Thomas Aquinas noted that the star would have had to be very low in the sky — just overhead — for it to be to be followed.  Probably it was not an actual star but an interior vision of one shared by the Magi.

But what was it that the Magi finally saw when they came to the site indicated by the star?  A Mother and her Child in a house (which the lectionary unhelpfully translates as “place”).  Since Luke describes the Lord’s Birth in a stable, it seems that some time afterwards Joseph and Mary found proper lodging in the town of Bethlehem itself.  Apart from the evidence of the star, the Magi had no way of knowing that this was the King they were seeking.  The circumstances of this Child’s Birth might have discouraged them more if they had found him still in the stable.  But they believed: “They prostrated themselves and did him homage.”  The eastern way of paying homage to a king was to fall on one’s face before him.  They knew that Jesus was “the newborn king of the Jews” but they may not have known that he was the Son of God.  They did not have the words of the Prophets to help them understand who they were adoring, nor did they have any visions beyond that of the star.  

“Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”  The gold may have originated in Egypt, but the use of gold was widespread.  Frankincense is derived from the resin of a particular kind of tree that grows in the Horn of Africa and in parts of the Arabian peninsula.  Myrrh, also derived from a resin, comes from the same places.  The Fathers posited that the gift of gold signified the kingship of Jesus; the frankincense, his godhead; the myrrh, his Death.  These would have been brought in copious amount, especially the incense, as would befit gifts to a king.

“They departed for their country by another way.”  We do not know how long the Magi stayed with the Holy Family or what words were exchanged between them.  Certainly Mary would have been amazed at their arrival for apart from a few vague verses in the Old Testament she would have had no forewarning of their coming.  The arrival of the caravan of the Magi may not have aroused a great amount of interest from the inhabitants of Bethlehem since the Magi seem to have come at night and they were accustomed to the caravans that passed through to nearby Jerusalem.

St. Bernard, thinking that the Magi found Jesus still in the stable, writes, “O wondrous faith of the Magi, which adored a little Child wrapped in swaddling clothes as God!  The dirtiness of the place did not soil them, the swaddling clothes of the Child did not scandalize them, nor did the poverty of the poor little Mother offend them.  This faith is greater than the faith which was confessed by the thief on the Cross!”