Homily
for January 6, 2008
Liturgical Year A- Cycle II
Epiphany of the Lord By
Dcn. Ray Alcouffe Topic:
Bringing your gifts to Christ
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Gospel
Mt 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“They prostrated
themselves and did him homage”
In the midst of the Christmas season
which recounts the
nativity of our Lord, we come to this feast of the Epiphany. Let us
recall what
we have heard over these past twelve days of Christmas in order to
understand
this feast and our part in it. In Luke’s
account, the events surrounding the birth of Jesus seem to be heaven
directed
with angels proclaiming good tidings and joy while guiding the process
from God
to man. The warmth that we feel at
Christmas is due to that. In Matthew’s account, on the other hand, we
have a
drama that is more human directed, more nitty gritty worldly with high
drama of
a wicked king, court intrigue, plots of deception leading to the murder
of
innocents. The angel’s role here is to
give warnings in order to protect the newborn Savior - fear seems to be
the
prevailing motif. Yet from this, we draw
out a message of hope and ultimately truth when we focus not on the
seamy events
but on the quest of the Magi for the newborn King of the Jews. We come to what has traditionally come
to be called the
Epiphany - the manifestation of the status of Jesus in the world.
In the early centuries of the Church, the
Epiphany celebrated three events, which manifested Jesus - the quest of
the
Magi, the baptism of Jesus, and the miracle of water made wine at
Cana.
In the West from about the fifth century on,
a separation of the celebrations came about and Epiphany focused on the
Magi
with the Baptism of the Lord celebrated on the following Sunday. Why are the Magi, a priestly cast of
astrologers from
either Persia or Babylon, so important?
In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth, it is through these gentiles,
these non-Jews, that Jerusalem and eventually the rest of the world
became
aware of Jesus as the newborn King of the Jews.
This was an event which showed that Jesus came not only for the Jews
but
for all mankind - that he was to be the Savior of the world. In
the big picture then in God’s view, we can
say that truth had come into the world, a truth accessible to
everyone.
The main elements of the story of the Magi is
the star and the gifts. Since they were astrologers,
the Magi had great learning and were highly educated for their
era.
When the star appeared, their knowledge told
them that is was a sign of the birth of someone who would be the King
of the
Jews. Since they were seekers after the truth, this sign propelled them
on
their quest. And the gifts? Well once you find the
truth, you want to
be in its presence, to do it homage, to give what you can to honor
it.
Such was their intent. Notice then that in
their quest, they did not seek truth as a thing, they sought truth as a
person
- and that makes all the difference. We
too should enter the picture here. For
amidst all the turmoil of our world and in our lives, whoever we are,
we want
the truth. We are two kinds of persons
when it comes to truth. One, we are materialistic, in which truth is a
thing to
be possessed; cold, hard facts are the only reality. Two, we are
spiritual,
truth and God are the same - truth is a person and contact with the
truth opens
up not only our mind but our heart as well.
It behooves us well then to pay attention to our spirituality, to God
when we are on our own quest for the truth. To appreciate what it means to
confront the truth let us
explore the story of the Magi in a different way:
The Secret of the Gifts by
Paul Flucke
The story has been told for centuries now
-- how Gaspar,
Melchior and Balthasar brought gifts to the newborn king. Ah, you
say, everyone knows. They brought gold, frankincense and
myrrh. So it has been told. But the story is
incomplete.
Listen to the rest. You shall learn the secret of the gifts. Those who watched saw the first of
the three visitors
pause at the door: Gaspar, a wealthy man with a cloak of fine velvet,
trimmed
in flawless fur. They could not see that
it was the Angel Gabriel, guarding the holy place, before whom Gaspar
stopped. "All who enter must bring a gift,"
Gabriel told
Gaspar. Struggling to lift a finely wrought
box, Gaspar said,
"I have brought bars of the finest gold." "Your gift," Gabriel said, "must be
something of the essence of yourself, something precious to your
soul." "Such have I brought," Gaspar
said.
But as he kneeled to lay his gold before the
child, he stopped and stood erect. In
his outstretched hand lay not gold, but a hammer. Its scarred and
blackened head was larger
than a man's fist; its handle, of sinewy wood, as long as a man's
forearm. Gaspar stammered, dumbfounded. The angel said softly, "What you hold
in your hands
is the hammer of your greed, used to pound wealth from those who labor
so that
you may live in luxury, to build a mansion for yourself while others
dwell in
hovels." Gaspar bowed his head in shame and
turned to leave. But Gabriel blocked the way: "No, you
have not offered your gift." "Give this?"
Gaspar blurted in horror.
"Not to a king!" "This is why you came," Gabriel said.
"You
cannot take it back. It's too
heavy. Leave it here or it will destroy
you." "Why, the child cannot lift it,"
Gaspar
protested. "He is the only one who can," replied
the
angel. Next to step to the door was
Melchior, the scholar with
the length of his beard and furrows of his brow to bespeak the wisdom
of
age. He, too, paused before the door. "What have you brought?" asked
Gabriel. "Frankincense, the fragrance of
hidden lands and
bygone days," Melchior replied. "Your gift," cautioned Gabriel, "must
be
something precious to your soul." Melchior stood breathless, kneeling
reverently down to
draw from beneath his robe a silver flask.
But the vessel in his hand was not silver at all. It was common clay,
tough and stained. Aghast, he pulled the
stopper from its mouth and sniffed the contents. "This is vinegar!"
Melchior snarled. "You have brought what you are made
of,"
Gabriel said. "Bitterness. The
soured wine of a life turned grim with jealousy and hate; carried
within too
long, the memory of old hurts, hoarded resentments, and smoldering
anger. You
have sought knowledge, but filled your life with poison." Melchior's shoulders drooped. Turning
his face away, he
fumbled to hide the earthen jar. Gabriel touched Melchior's arm:
"Wait, you must
leave your gift." Melchior sighed with pain deep from
within. "But
this is vile stuff," he protested.
"What if the child should touch it to his lips?" "You must leave that worry to
heaven," Gabriel
replied. "There is use even for vinegar." One more visitor strode forward:
Balthasar, the leader of
many legions and scourge of walled cities.
He grasped a brass-bound box. "I bring myrrh," he said,
"the most precious booty of my boldest conquest. Many have fought
and died for such as this,
the essence of a most rare herb." "But is it the essence of
yourself?"
Gabriel asked. The soldier shuffled forward, bowing
his head near the
ground and releasing his grip on the handle of the box. But what
he lay before the baby's feet was
his own spear. "It cannot be!" he whispered
hoarsely.
"Some enemy has cast a spell." "That is more true than you know,"
Gabriel said
from behind. "A thousand enemies
have cast their spell on you and turned your soul into a spear.
Living only to conquer, you have been conquered.
Each battle you win leads only to another." Balthasar grasped the weapon and
turned to the door. "I cannot leave this." "Are you sure?"
Gabriel asked. "But here?" the warrior
whispered.
"He is but a child. The spear could
pierce his flesh." "That fear
you must leave to heaven," Gabriel replied. What of the gifts, you ask -- the
hammer, vinegar and
spear. Another story tells how they were seen once more, years later,
on a
lonely hill outside Jerusalem. But do
not worry. That is a burden heaven itself took care of as only heaven
can.
Heaven can take care of our burdens
also. I consider myself a lifelong seeker after the
truth and this story has a profound impact upon me. To know that
no matter who I think I might be
or how much I fill my mind with knowledge, it is not enough - I am not
in the
end satisfied. I need also to fill my
heart from the fount of truth, who is a person, who is God. The
same for you. No matter who you think you
are, no matter what state you find yourself in, when you are ready to
bring
your gifts to the Christ child, you will be transformed. We will
in a few minutes come forward to do
just that. We will come forward to take
in God’s sublime truth and it makes all the difference when we see this
as a
person not a thing!