Epiphany, Year A January 3, 2021
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
What do I get for the God who gave me everything? This was the question we asked on Christmas day. The answer was to get him the most valuable, thoughtful, practical, and liberating gift we could – ourselves. That’s “what” we give, but now we wonder “how?” While we give gifts on Christmas day, many other cultures wait until today’s feast, the Epiphany, to make that exchange. So, it’s a fitting day to answer this question by looking how the Magi give themselves.
“Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem.” The first part of giving yourself is to take an interest, to pay attention. If, when your spouse wants to talk to you, you just keep on watching TV or playing games, they would be justified in saying you weren’t giving of yourself.
In their generous wisdom, these foreigners gave their attention to truth. They gave of themselves by studying the prophecies that helped them to notice the star but also by their willingness follow wherever the truth led, even to a foreign land. This was not the kind of idle curiosity satisfied by a quick google search, but a genuine desire to know.
If we would offer God any gift of ourselves, it begins with this willingness to seek the truth. Herod and all the leaders in Jerusalem are “troubled” by the efforts of the Magi because they are too distracted or too selfish to notice their own king’s birth, ashamed that foreigners figured it out first. In my experience, the vast majority of people who leave the Church or lose their faith are like these leaders in Jerusalem. I can respect when someone carefully studies and reflects and comes to the conclusion that Catholicism is wrong. They’re wrong, but at least they’re sincere in looking for the truth. Yet, most people don’t search their way out of the faith. They’re either so distracted that they just let it slip or they’re so caught up by emotional responses that they react out of a desire to be comfortable, not a desire for the truth.
The good news is that if you do have some measure of faith, but are facing doubts, your gift to God begins with asking the right questions. “Doubt” is not a sin, but an experience we all have. If you respond to your doubts like these wise men – by searching for the truth and by being willing to travel and sacrifice to find it – you will not only survive your doubt, you will come out stronger and be pleasing to God because you offer him that first part of yourself, your attention. Once we have set our minds and hearts on the truth, the gifts of the Magi show us how to continue that self-offering.
It’s obvious that gold is symbolic for wealth. We already know that we give ourselves to God by giving him money. We do that by supporting the Church and giving to the poor. This is necessary, but not enough. Again and again, scripture speaks of our souls as being “refined like gold in the furnace.” A soul that is golden is one that treats Jesus like a king. Gold signifies that Jesus is king and we offer him a golden soul when obey him as our king. Even if you’re flat broke, by simply doing what he asks through scripture and tradition, you offer him gold and you offer him yourself, which is all he really wants.
Frankincense is what it sounds like: incense. It is a symbol of prayer and praise rising up to God. Acknowledging that Jesus is not just a king but also a priest, we offer ourselves to him by participating in the worship he gives to his Father. Prayer, songs of praise, following rituals he gave us – these are ways we worship God with Christ. Recognizing that Jesus Christ is not just any priest but also God, we bow before him and speak willingly of the fact that he is our God. Yes, this means going to Mass. More importantly, it means going to Mass with the right attitude – the same attitude of the Magi: we go to give something, not to get something. The Magi worship Jesus, offer gifts, and return home. They don’t grumble about how long it takes, how bad the music is, how corrupt the government is, or how disappointing the priests of Jerusalem are. They came seeking truth, but their greatest success is that they managed to give of themselves in this act of worship. What took them a lifetime of study and months of travel costs us about an hour a week, and we do get to receive something every time.
As the traditional hymn “We Three Kings” puts it, “Myrrh… is bitter perfume” that “breathes a life of gathering gloom.” Jesus, like all prophets, will suffer for his loyalty to the truth. As an anointing used in burial, Myrrh symbolizes the reality of Christ’s impending death. The greatest proof of giving ourselves to someone is our willingness to suffer for them. Mothers know this well, having suffered pregnancy and childbirth just to meet their child for the first time. Everything we’ve already considered is tied to suffering. Time and effort in seeking the truth and wrestling with doubt, the suffering of obedience to something other than ourselves, and the self-denial of worshipping God whether we feel like it or not. Suffering is a required part of self-gift and, since it’s unavoidable anyway, we may as well make good use of it.
The fallen human tendency, however, is to resent those who cause us to suffer. So, Jesus Christ willingly accepts injustice and crucifixion to show us that we conquer evil and suffering not by power and revenge, but by love and forgiveness. The myrrh is symbolic foreshadowing of his 3 days in the tomb and a sign to us that we should offer him our sufferings. We do this primarily in two ways: by choosing to spiritually offer it up in prayer with words or in our imagination and by forgiving those who make us suffer. If you would give God the only gift he wants, yourself, then give him your pain, isolation, and resentment by forgiving your enemies as he forgave his from the cross.
“They opened their treasures and offered him gifts.” The gift of our time and attention in seeking the truth, the gold of our wealth and obedience, the incense of our prayer and worship, the myrrh of our suffering and forgiveness. God has designed human beings so that we learn who we are and what we’re worth precisely by making of gift of ourselves. So, give of yourself in order to fully become yourself. The Truth, Obedience, Worship, Suffering… ultimately, these are all extensions of the one gift God desires and the only thing that increases when you give it away: love.