The Epiphany
3rd January 2010
Sung Eucharist
Preacher: The Dean
The gifts of wise men
Today
we are celebrating the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ, as transferred from 6
January. This feast used to be subtitled the ‘Manifestation of Christ to the
Gentiles’. The Feast of the Epiphany is one of the oldest feast days while the
visit of the magi is the main theme of the feast.
The
magi have always been very popular and we find them depicted near the crib of
the child Jesus in early Christian cemeteries dating back only 150 years after
the birth of Jesus, while the shepherd’s image only appears about 200 years
later. It seems that Christians were not happy with the few details of the
gospel account. Their curiosity was immense, far too much had been left out.
Where did the magi come from? What were their names? How did they travel? What
did they do once they returned to their countries? Many stories were made up in
the early Christian times to answer all these questions. It was said that there
were three of them : one of them came from Africa, one from Asia and one from
Because
the wise men were Gentiles, not Jews, western Epiphany celebrates the
manifestation or the revelation of Christ to the whole world. It celebrates
God’s ‘showing up among us’ in the person of Jesus Christ. Epiphany is a day of
celebration of how we have not been left in darkness.
Well,
all these are just. However, the story tells that the gifts the wise men (magi)
brought were gold, frankincense and myrrh. The action of these magi highlights
the significance of Epiphany. Today, let us read the offering of these magi and
let us now look at the gospel passage and try to understand what the Scripture
tells us.
The
first gift offered by the magi was the shiny, expensive gift of gold. It was a
symbol of nobility, indicating they believed that Jesus was King. The second
one, fragrance of the smoke released from the burning frankincense symbolized
the prayer of humankind ascending to God. It showed that the magi acknowledged
that Jesus was true God. The third one, Myrrh was used to anoint the body of a
deceased person and prevent the body from decay. It represented the wise men's
belief that Jesus was also truly human, like us subject to life and death,
sickness and aging.
Besides
these three kinds of gifts, more important, the Scripture also describes the
actions of the wise men: they looked, they were overjoyed, they entered, they
worshipped, they offered, etc. This was their meeting with Jesus and the
process of their conversion.
'They
looked' - this refers to their first meeting and recognition; 'overjoyed'
indicates that this first contact and meeting became a source of belief and joy
- it showed how highly they treasured the event; 'they entered'- they proceeded
from joy to action, they took one more step, their joy was turned into action,
their faith became an integral part of their lives and grew deeper. They
'worshipped'- action and life rose to the higher level of faith and conversion,
so that they could lay their whole beings and lives before God in total
submission; 'they offered'- this symbolized that after people have submitted
themselves and acknowledged that all that they are and have belong to God, they
henceforth will sacrifice themselves and their whole lives to God.
In
this process of 'looking, being overjoyed, entering, worshipping, offering,
being overjoyed is a very important key. I remember Rev. Canon Simon Ho once said,
“Those who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and those who
love it are not equal to those who delight in it.”
To
be in contact with someone, to know and acknowledge, all these are important,
but not so important as to treasure, to appreciate and love; and to treasure
and love cannot be equated with being overjoyed. 'What is good, you are happy
about' - this means to be joyful about an event or deed. Some people know they
should study and that studying is beneficial, but they are not joyful about
studying. Some people know they should help others and believe that in helping
others they are helping Jesus, but in carrying out the virtue of love they do
not necessarily feel happy. Such people will not persevere in doing good
because they are not happy.
We
may acknowledge mentally that faith is good, correct and necessary, but even
more than that, we must be joyful about our faith and be proud of it.
Intellectually,
Christians 'believe' that the Gospel is good news. But if we look carefully at
the faces of some of the Christians we meet in church every Sunday we may not
necessarily recognize that they have received the good news or that they are
going to a joyful banquet. As to those who do not go to church, even less can
we judge if they are happy in their faith.
The
magi were what the Jews of that time called 'foreigners' (Gentiles). They were
not part of God's 'Chosen People,' nor did they have the same kind of faith the
Jewish people had. They may have been astrologers or among those people who in
their hearts search for some sort of belief and depth to life. What was special
about them was that they were very alert to everything that went on around
them; any natural phenomenon was part of their concern.
They
were concerned about the environment and they wanted to find the truth; perhaps
they daily researched and investigated astronomy, geography, and the like. They
investigated circumstances about heaven and man, understood past and present
changes, succeeded in establishing a school of thought. Their aim was to
discover the mysteries of life.
The
way is never far from humankind. For those who wish to discover the Way to
life, the 'Way' is only a short distance away. They need not go far for God is
right beside those who search for him. In the end they 'see the star!
And
after the magi saw, what then? Perhaps thousands of people saw the star, but
only a few were overjoyed and followed it. There may not have been three as
tradition says, but certainly there were not many of them.
From
recognizing to action, from faith to life, is an important and necessary
process. For this we need strong motivation, determination and perseverance.
Ultimately the source of such motivation and determination is God, but the
proximate cause can be due to 'human' factors, such as a good education,
encouragement from friends, religious inspiration, others' good example,
wholesome books that disseminate correct knowledge, mutual support from a faith
community, and so on.
The
highest point of course is the offering of the whole person, a long-term
offering that is happy and joyous, offering all that we have and all that we
are.
In
fact, these magi stand for the people of the whole world who let themselves be
guided by Jesus’ message of peace and love. They are the image of the Church,
made up of people from every race, tribe, language and nation. To become a
member of the Church does not mean that one loses or gives up one’s identity,
it does not mean submitting to a false and unjust uniformity. Persons and
peoples have to keep their cultural characteristics and enrich the universal
Church with them. No person is so rich that he or she lacks nothing, and nobody
is so poor that he or she can offer nothing.
Present-day
people, like those at the time of Jesus, look at the star differently. Some,
like the magi, fall to their knees and offer their gift, that is, they see in
him the light of the world. Others are just indifferent, while others still may
even try to put out the light of this star. They all saw the same thing : a
new-born child, but their responses have been quite different. Who can
recognize him? Only those who allow the light of Holy Scripture that speaks of
him to illumine them. Let us be modern magi, who could recognize Jesus and
offer our lives to him as the gift to God.