Epiphany
Fr. Albert
St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia
Epiphany means revelation or manifestation. God reveals himself to the world in today’s feast. 2000 years later, Jesus Christ is still the most well-known man in history and the founder of the world’s largest religion. Many people, however, look at Mohammed or Buddha or Abraham and think that Jesus is just like them. They too are historical figures who founded large religions. What makes Jesus different? What makes Christianity right? What makes the Catholic Church right?
There are many reasons that Jesus Christ is unique, but consider this one: prophecy. Of all the founders of major world religions, only Jesus Christ was foretold. We do not see this with Mohammed. We do not see this with Buddha. We do not see this with Abraham.
The Jewish prophets said that a messiah was coming. The virgin birth was prophesied. We can see the coming of the magi, and even the gifts they would bring in the prophecy in our first reading and in the psalm. When the Magi came looking for the king, the scribes found the place of his birth in a 700-year-old scroll. In the book of Numbers, there was even a prophecy about the star that they followed. And that prophecy didn’t come from a Jew, but from a pagan named Balaam.
That is six prophecies just about his birth, and there are more. When you add all the prophecies he fulfills throughout his life, we can get over a hundred. Over 300 depending on how strictly you define prophecy. Jesus Christ is not just an extraordinary man in history who happened to start a religion. Humanity, and especially the Jews, were already waiting for him. Sometimes he fulfilled the prophecies in surprising and unexpected ways, but he was not completely unexpected.
Yet, even with all that expectation, what Jesus gave us was still a surprise in many ways. The Magi realized Jesus was not only the messiah, but that he was also God; and they worshiped him. Jesus fulfilled God’s promises to the Jews, but he also surpassed them. Salvation was not just for the Jews, but the whole world. St. Paul describes the mystery that “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body.”
The Same body. God planned all of human history to one day bring all people into a single body, into a single communion in his son Jesus Christ. Ever since Adam and Eve, God told us that he planned to send a savior. When his Son came, he gathered followers and sent them to make this unity happen. That is why we believe in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Jesus sent out his Apostles and his Apostles passed their mission on through every generation. The Catholic Church can trace the line of Popes back to Peter and to Jesus himself.
So what does that mean for us? It means that we have work to do. Epiphany means manifestation. God manifested his plan to the Jews and to the whole world. His Son came to bring all people into one body. If we really believe what Scripture is telling us, if we really believe what the Church is telling us, then we need to spread the good news. God wants the whole world to know him and his son, and he asked us to make it happen.
So, how do we do that? Learn from the Magi. They were Truth-seekers. Seek the Truth always, but more importantly, act on the Truth. As soon as they realized the Truth that there was a King in Israel, they left. Recognizing the king was not a purely academic exercise, but a fact to be acted upon.
The Magi were also gift-givers: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. They represent the three basic practices of a faithful Jew or Christian. Gold stands for almsgiving, frankincense for prayer, and myrrh for sacrifice or fasting. There are a thousand gimmicks people use to try to spread their faith, but the best place to start is to simply live it in our daily and weekly lives. If we seek the truth and follow it, if we let our faith affect our bank account, schedule, and stomachs, people will notice. The faith grows best by attraction.
Just as it’s a paradox that a King who is also God is born in secret in a cave, so it is a paradox that the Catholic faith is most inviting when it is serious, and even a bit difficult. It is a way of living that stands out without being flashy. God has manifested himself to us; all we have to do is act like it.