Epiphany January 2, 2022
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“Nations shall walk by your light.” So says the prophet Isaiah of the city of Jerusalem. God chose the Israelites so that he could reveal himself through them and call all nations to himself. They were to be the exemplars, the messengers, the witnesses to the nations. They knew that a king would rise up to make them this light to the nations and eventually even pagans had heard of the prophecy. This is why Persian Magi were aware of the birth of a Jewish king in a small province of the Roman Empire. But what of the prophecy? Do nations really walk in the light of Jerusalem? Why not? What can we do about it?
There’s a few things to clear up here. First is that the prophecy isn’t really focused on the literal city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, because it was the home of the temple and the mother city of the Jews, becomes a symbol, a metaphor for the covenant and the Jewish nation as a whole. In Jesus Christ, that meaning is taken up and transformed. In a real way, Mary represents the New Jerusalem because just as the city housed God in the temple, so Mary housed God in her womb. And Mary is also symbolic of the Church. So there’s this mysterious connection between Jerusalem, Mary, and the Church – all centered on Jesus Christ, God-made-man. The Church is the New Jerusalem, so the prophecy is not fulfilled by nations focusing on the literal city of Jerusalem, but by their walking by the light of the Church, the New Jerusalem and New Israel.
When we put it that way, there are examples of this prophecy being fulfilled. Throughout history, there have been nations who answered to the light of the Church’s teaching. Not that this requires the Pope to be a literal king, but that kings and governors and rulers actually acknowledged the light of Christ in the Church. Honoring of Sundays, days off of work on Holy Days like Christmas and Easter, laws based on moral truths and even rulers doing penance and seeking forgiveness from the Church after they had sinned in some terrible way.
Yet, for all the historical examples and the more obscure contemporary ones, where is that light now? What are the nations doing now? They seem to be very far from the light indeed. Why? Because of Original Sin, human beings and the nations they build have a tendency to drift towards darkness. Without a continual deliberate effort to purify ourselves, concupiscence is going to win out and drag whole nations into darkness. There’s something of a cycle – when the Church gets to a point of being too comfortable in a society, her members tend to grow complacent. The search for the truth, the proclamation of that truth, and the worship of God all start to decline.
That’s where responsibility falls on us. The Church is the New Israel and the New Jerusalem, so we as members of the Church are the ones called to draw all nations to the light. How? By imitating these Magi. By baptism, all of us share in the kingship of Jesus Christ. We are royalty like these Magi. We ought to be wise like them too. And how did they bring light to nations? By searching for the truth, by following it despite the risks, and by bringing their best to the Lord.
Despite being outside the covenant, these Magi are called wise men because they heed the natural human desire for truth. We all have it. When we’re not drowning ourselves in pleasure and convenience, there is a tug on our hearts and minds to know what it really true, what really matters. The Magi watched the stars – they were like scientists and philosophers, studying the world in search for something deeper. Seeing the intricacies of nature, they knew there is a God. But they also knew there was more to know, so they searched.
And when their search told them it was time to travel all the way to Jerusalem because God chose Israel to be his people, they did it. And when they arrived, it was not in arrogance. They came simply seeking the truth. The Jewish scribes, because they had scripture, were able to give them the rest of the answer: Bethlehem. All too often, when we follow our search for truth – in politics, business, family – we think the truth we already know is all we need to know. When we encounter people who don’t know what we do – like the Magi knew what the scribes didn’t – we assume they must be wrong about everything else and don’t listen. But that isn’t what the Magi did.
Like them, if we can overcome our pride and remain focused on seeking greater truth rather than browbeating others, we can make progress and learn even from our enemies. Herod wants to manipulate the Magi, but they nonetheless are able to learn what they need from the scribes under his command. And again they follow the truth they find.
When they finally arrive at Jesus who is the truth, what do they do? They worship him and offer him gifts. That is why we are made kings and queens of this world, to lead it in worshiping our God and the ultimate king. Gold can be seen as a symbol of the best the earth has to offer. We do not offer God leftovers and spare time, but the best. Frankincense is a sign of prayer – the rising smoke of incense like prayers rising from earth to heaven. Myrrh – a burial spice – is a sign of the suffering and self-denial and sacrifice this worship requires.
And then, once the Magi learn of Herod’s plot, how do they respond? By going their own way. They do not rage at the corrupt institution. They do not start an insurrection. They do not muster their foreign army to invade. They do not waste time being angry at the world for being the world. They simply return home, carrying the truth with them and keeping that act of worship at the center of their lives. Eventually, the rise of Christianity inside and outside the Roman Empire causes the corrupt empire to fall and others to rise in its place, even some nations that heeded the light of Christ. How? Because like the Magi, millions of Christians sought the truth, were willing to suffer from the world for that truth, and offered their best in worship to God.
In their humble search for truth and in their sincere act of worship these Magi-Kings, who are not Jewish, actually fulfill the prophecy of being a light to the nations better than the Jews, a warning to us that just belonging to God’s people is not enough. How much should we, who have already received Christ into our very selves, be willing to do likewise? And if we do not, how will anyone see the light?