On this feast of Epiphany, I reflect on the kind of people to whom God is made manifest.
Epiphany is about the revelation of Christ beyond the shores of Bethlehem and Jerusalem to the whole world. The Church in the east call it the feast of theophany (manifestation of God). It equally signifies that Christ is the savior of the world, not merely the Jewish race.
For this feast, I would like us to reflect on the kind of people who encounter Christ. In other words, the common traits of those who continue to witness the presence of God among his people.
Reading Scripture and the events surrounding the birth and revelation of the Lord, one would notice there are at least two classes of people to whom the revelation of God is made manifest. The first are the humble, the second are the wise.
The Humble
Observe the first group of people to whom the angel broke the news of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were shepherds in the field (see Lk 2:8-14), those regarded as insignificant and whose lifestyle was comparably humble. They became the first human heralds of the nativity. “God exalts the humble” (Jas 4:10).
Using the imagery of a child, Scripture speaks of humility as a necessary step to a divine encounter (Lk 9:48). The Blessed Virgin Mary’s classic Magnificat (song of praise to God) in Luke 1:46-55, expresses a similar idea.
The Wise
The second group of people to whom God reveals Godself are the wise. Speaking about the wise, I will borrow from the classical description of Socrates, the ancient philosopher. In his attempt to define who the wise, or the so-called philosopher, is, he claimed it is the one who knows that he does not know. Because he knows that he does not know, he is wise. Knowing that we do not know opens our mind to a wealth of knowledge.
The wise are known for asking a lot of questions because they want to know. Those who know that they do not know are open to new information. They are humble. It’s a sign of humility to realize we do not know. It is the kind of humility that one could say is a sign of wisdom, hardly found in the arrogant and the proud.
Isn’t it true that all forms of knowledge begin with a sense of wonder, curiosity, wanting to know? To a person open to be filled, God doesn’t deny.
Let’s use the three wise men, popularly called the magi from the east, recorded in Matthew 2:1-12, as our case study. They saw and followed the star. When the star hid from them, they went to the house of the king, asking where the newborn king is? They wanted to see. The wise are always searching.
The Three Wise Men
Herod and his entourage, on the other hand, having found the answers in Scripture, chose not to hold on to what they discovered. The discovery didn’t fit their preconceived notion about the Messiah. Bethlehem, the little “house of bread,” wasn’t what they wanted for the Messiah. Besides, the child wasn’t born in the king’s palace. No way!
As Scripture noted, Herod “was greatly troubled and all Jerusalem with him” (Mt 2:3). Herod, in particular, lacked the humility to accept what he didn’t know. From the house of Herod to the birthplace of Jesus is about six miles. The Magi went to worship the child and presented gifts to him. Their gifts and gestures were all acts of holy reverence, a pointer to the obedience of faith. Herod and his prideful, unwise entourage, on the other hand, never went. They never worshipped.
In every generation and every country, God finds friends. God sees hearts in whom his grace is revealed, and his mysteries are known. They are the humble who realize, “I am a creature; God is the creator.” They are the wise, who know they know very little of the great mysteries we have been born into, the world, and the complexity of nature.
We pray with the writer of the Book of Wisdom, and we connect with the three magi’s story: Lord, let your wisdom be with us, always, to help us and to work with us. Amen.
[The Epiphany of the Lord: Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12]
