Deacon Larry

Epiphany

Is 60: 1-6; Eph 3: 2-31, 5-6; Mt 2: 1-12

Dc. Larry Brockman

The year is 1976.  My wife Jane and I are expecting our 4th child.  We had 3 sons; I was one of two sons; and my Dad was one of 4 sons.  Almost 100 years had passed in my Dad’s family without a daughter being born!  We are waiting, and hoping that a little girl would be born.  Just 3 days before Christmas, Jane went into labor.  We had trained in the Le Boyer natural child birth method.  So I was there, right along side her as she labored.  Suddenly, the baby was born; my beautiful daughter Mary!  The doctor handed Mary to me, and I placed her in a warm water bath as she looked up at me with deep blue eyes!  What joy I experienced, but I experienced something else as well.  The whole process was an epiphany, the manifestation of a new life, yes.  But more than that- an answer to a prayer, and a sudden realization that things were different.  Soon after birth, I was ushered out of the room, and proudly proclaimed the good news to family and hospital staff alike, sharing my joy and euphoria over the birth of my daughter.   

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany.  In Europe and much of the world, it is the Epiphany which is the major Feast of the coming of the Lord, not Christmas day.  It is that day when the wise men, the kings, appeared at the scene of the nativity of the Lord.  They came from all over the world, a diverse representation of all the peoples come from afar to see the manifestation of the Lord, a fulfillment of a promise by God to send us a savior.  And not only that, Jesus was not just the Messiah for Israel, but the Messiah for all mankind. 

The manifestation of God was the birth of His son on Christmas.  But the Epiphany is the realization that Jesus is the Lord of all, the Savior of all, not just for Israel, but for the whole world.  It is the realization that the ancient promise, the ancient covenant, between God and the Jews, had been fulfilled for all of us.   

And just who was this Messiah that God sent?  His only son- true God and true man, fully human and fully divine.  Nothing like that had ever been promised by any of the religions of the world, that God himself would take on human nature and live and dwell amongst us as one of us, showing us the way to live a life pleasing to God through the example of His Gospel.  Proof of his humanity was birth as a helpless baby, coming into the world just as all of the rest of us do; to grow up and become an adult; to find out what life was all about.  That was a process that took 30 of his years.  His Mission of public ministry took just the last 3 years.   

Proof of His divinity is the inspiration of the Spirit, transmitted through the angels and dreams, to his parents, to his Aunt Elizabeth; and to the wise men.  The wise men, who travelled from all corners, had to be inspired.  They were not Jews or followers of the Jews.  Rather, they were Gentiles from diverse peoples and cultures.  All of whom heard the call, the prompting of the Spirit.  They were so convinced of the coming of the Messiah, that they brought precious gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and myrrh.  Some say the gifts were the best that the visitors had to offer from their own countries.  Others say the Gold signifies the coming Kingship of Christ; the frankincense signifies the recognition of the divinity, the smoke that reaches up to the almighty; and the myrrh represents a foretelling of the death of Jesus because myrrh was used in embalming.  The point is that these men were committed to their mission to find the Messiah.   

In the second reading, Paul refers to the Epiphany as the unveiling of a mystery.  And indeed, it was a mystery.  The Messiah was promised, yes, but the kind of Messiah that was sent, a spiritual messiah, not a worldly king with power and might, this had been a mystery that was not unveiled until Jesus grew up and fulfilled His mission.  And this culminated by Jesus command to his apostles to preach the Gospel to all nations, not just the Jews.   

And so, all of us today commemorate this manifestation, this Epiphany, this unveiling of the mystery on its anniversary.  It is a day of joy for all who allow themselves to be transformed by the Epiphany.   

Now the Wise men did not stay and bask in the glory of the Messiah they had found.  Rather, they returned to their homelands to spread the good news of the coming of the Messiah.  As I look out at all of you today it strikes me that all of you are called to do the same,.to spread the good news and the joy of Christmas to our world as a whole.  As Isaiah says: “Then you shall be radiant at what you see; your heart shall throb and overflow.”  And so, I ask all of you here today.  Are you ready to spread the glory of the Coming of the Lord?  Do I here an Amen?  Merry Christmas!