Feast of Epiphany
Is 60:1-6; Eph 2:2-3, 5-6; Mathew 2:1-12
Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word epiphany means “Manifestation” (or appearance).
God has manifested to mankind in various ways.
Bible gives many accounts of God’s manifestation. Moses was tending his flock in mount Horeb (Ex 3:1-7). Then he saw a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. The bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And God called him out the bush, and said: “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God manifested to Abraham in the form of fire on mount Horeb
Again we find God manifesting to the people of Israel in thunder and lightning. Israelites gathered together at the foot of Mount Sinai. There appeared thunder and lightning, and God appeared in the clouds and descended on Mount Sinai in fire, and God spoke “I am the Lord your God” (Ex 19).
We have a number of Biblical accounts of manifestation of God to mankind.
Finally God has made himself known to us most dearly in Jesus Christ. St Paul in his letter to Hebrews writes that Christ is “the perfect picture of God (Heb 1:3)
Man reacted differently to the manifestation of God. When Moses witnessed the presence of God in flames, he was taken up with wonder. He wanted to go closer to understand the secret of the mysterious flames. When God appeared to the Israelites in thunder and lightning they were overcome by fear and they fell on their face.
When God revealed himself in Jesus, the shepherds flocked together to the manger to have a look at the new born babe. The wise men saw the sign of God’s messiah in the sky and followed it to the manger with their gifts.
Today’s first reading gives an account of the prophecy of Isaiah.
“Above you the Lord now rises
And above you his glory appears
The nations come to your light
And kings to your dawning brightness
The wealth of the nations comes to you
Everyone in Sheba will come
Bringing gold and incense.
In today’s second reading we listen to St Paul that the mystery that was unknown to any man in the past generation has been revealed now. Jesus is God’s mystery and that has been revealed to everyone now. St Paul found the mystery and he walked to the sword to bear witness to the mystery. St Peter had a profound experience of the mystery and he willingly embraced the cross and accepted martyrdom to bear witness to Jesus. St Thomas went to the East bearing the mystery in his heart to be martyred there. So did all the Apostles, Saints and Martyrs.
Science has empowered man to cross the gravitational field of the earth and leap into the space. Human beings roamed in the space, they circled around the planets, and they walked on the surface of the moon. Great achievement of human intellect and industry. Even there one of them declared "I looked and looked and looked but I didn't see God."
To search for God it is not necessary to cross the boundaries of the earth. God manifests himself in his creation. The rhythmic movement of the numerous galaxies, countless solar systems, planets and satellites manifest God’s wisdom and love. Newton wrote, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. He is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is his duration reaches from eternity to eternity; his presence from infinity to infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done. We know him only by his most wise and excellent contrivances of things.”
Secondly God manifests himself to us in other people, in our parents, who gave us life; in our brothers and sisters, who love us; and in our friends, who stand by us in our struggles.
Then, God makes himself known to us in every event of our life. Oscar Hijuelos’ Mr. Ives’ Christmas is a wonderful novel. Edward Ives had an aptitude for drawing, he grew up and met his future wife in Art classes, he became a commercial artist. His wife gives birth to a son and a daughter. One afternoon, as he is walking on Madison and Forty-First Street in Manhattan, he has a full-blown mystical vision---the sidewalks under him lift, the buildings waver, the skyscrapers bow to him, he feels euphoric, the world’s goodness spins around him.
Mr. Ives is a devoutly religious man. But he doesn’t tell anyone else about his vision.
The next Christmas his son is senselessly murdered on a street corner. At some point the question becomes whether he can or should forgive the man who killed his son. If only he had a sign.
The world is filled with signs of God’s presence. But in our spiritual blindness, our hardness of heart, our deafness to the Voice we fail to recognize them.
Once we discover God for us, we have to transform ourselves into another star in the vast expanse of the universe. Our life, our acts of kindness, our sympathy and our selflessness will fall on others as powerful rays that radiate the warmth of our experience of God.
Like the star of Bethlehem that led the shepherds and the wise men to the manger, we will shine as guiding stars in our homes and wherever we go.
Satish Email: admin@oois-dxb.sch.ae