Upon recognising the universality of God’s salvation and seeing the wondrous deeds of the Lord in the household of Cornelius (a gentile), in Acts of the Apostles, Peter said: “…In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34-35) Indeed God has no favourites. His grace is available and accessible to all peoples who are willing and open to it. The feast of Epiphany which we celebrate today, calls us to realize like Peter that God’s ways are not human ways and his thoughts not our thoughts. Human beings discriminate, we choose and select, we reject based on our human prejudices and biases, but God welcomes all. All he requires are openness to his grace, faith and willingness to follow where he leads.
The word Epiphany comes from the Greek word “Epiphaino”, which means “appearing, a manifestation, a shining forth of something that was previously a secret or hidden. A time when the astrologers in the persons of Casper, Balthasar and Melchior known as the three wise men from the East came paid homage to Jesus. In this feast of Epiphany, we celebrate the manifestation, the showing forth of the Christ to all peoples. The light of Christ is manifested to the nations. God is offering all peoples the grace to be part of this great event and inviting all to be his children. Sometimes we think of ourselves as the chosen people, we say we have Abraham as our father, we have the fullness of means to salvation, we have the sacraments, the scripture, the tradition, the magisterium, the Virgin Mary, the saints.
And we become complacent, or arrogant. Yes, all these are important and in fact necessary. But we must set out like the magi on the journey to meet Jesus. We must realize that our Christian life is a constant search for Christ who is the truth and light of the world. If we do not realize this, we cannot lay claim to our inheritance in Christ. Jesus himself says that God is able to raise children to Abraham from these stones (Mt. 3:9) if we do not do the needful as Christians. Note that the quantifiers ‘all’ and ‘every’ play vital role in our liturgy of today. Our first reading indicates that it is all nations and peoples that are assembling to behold the glory of God.
And in our response to the psalm, we affirm that all nations shall worship the Lord. St Paul in the second reading teaches the same universality when he includes the pagans as sharers of the inheritance of God’s grace. Our gospel presents to us, the wise men from the East who received this offer of grace and responded with openness and set out on a journey of faith trusting the sign of a star which was given them to lead them to the new born king to offer him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh; signifying his Kingship and Royalty, his Divinity and Priesthood, and his Sacrificial death., and how Herod tried to bring an end to divine will of God for his children.
Dear friends, it is pellucid from today’s liturgy that the Lord has a personal star for each one of us through our various callings in life. Have you discovered your own star and are you following it faithfully? Just like the Magi were led by the star to the new born king, we too shall reach the presence of God if we follow our star closely. Notwithstanding all the evil afflicting our world and notwithstanding our own personal struggles with sin, Jesus invites us today to rise and shine as he has no intention of giving up on us, no matter what. He is irrevocably committed to his mission of guiding us into the intimacy of eternal communion with his Father.
Therefore, let us arise and follow the star today. Are you troubled by the guilt of present or past sins and you are struggling to let go? Arise and follow your star! Are you finding it too hard to forgive someone who has hurt you deeply? Arise and follow your star! Are you afflicted by some addiction or unhealthy relationship? Arise and follow your star! Are you losing the virtue of hope and giving in to despair on account of an illness or death in the family? Arise and follow your star! Are the struggles of everyday cost of living pressures overburdening you? Arise and follow your star! Is your marriage or family falling apart and your whole life seems to be unravelling? Arise and follow your star! Are you worried that you might not be able to keep your New Year’s resolutions? Arise and follow your star! Be rest assured that no matter the difficulties and temptations, the star of Bethlehem has come to stay.
The universal revelation of God in Christ is permanent. He is always with us – Immanuel. And wherever the will of God leads us, his grace will sustain us. Thus, we should not be afraid but rather let us trust in the steadfastness of the Lord for, “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). We must also shun discrimination, jealousy, vain glory and pride, insecurity and obsession with power, by not being destiny destroyers or star killer’s just like Herold the Great, who felt threatened by the infant Jesus who had his own destiny and mission, and blinded by obsession with power, insecurity and jealousy, he set out to destroy what he would never be able to fight. He killed many children, yet did not achieve his aim because he cannot thwart the divine plan of God.
We must be like the Magi who seek out to look for Christ despite the difficulties they faced and when they found him their joy were complete and return through a different way, which translates to mean that, at every moment we encounter Christ our lives are being transformed from sin to holiness, vice to virtue, pride to humility and not returning to that road of sorrow, weeping and disconnect with God. So that we become both seekers, beacons of light and stars shinning out and leading others to Jesus. Every encounter with Jesus should leave us better, and not to be like Herold who died a bitter death where he was not mourned. Friends, on this first Sunday of the new year, we must rise and shine. We must set out with enthusiasm determination and vigour to explore the gifts of God, working hard to reach the purpose and destination God has for us.
Let us not be afraid or discouraged to embark on that project, or journey of self-discovery and self-improvement, that task or business venture. The Lord is leading you to a great future, he is opening new frontiers and opportunities for you. All the amen to the prayers said, declarations and resolutions we made at new year will only make sense and bear fruits if we allow ourselves to go on this journey and make the best of these new opportunities God is offering us. May the Lord keep us safe on our journey of faith and protect us from all those who seek to destroy us and our God-given destiny. Amen Peace be with you!
