Solemnity of the Epiphany – Cycle B
Reflecting on Matthew 2:1-12
Andrea Mantegna c. 1497
And so we come back to the beautiful story of those wise men from the East. And our questions arise as surely as the Star.
How is it that they observed the Star at its rising? Why did they, Gentiles who knew nothing of the promised Messiah, leave everything to seek a newborn King of Judea? And, the harder question: if the Star hovered over the house where the Holy Family stayed in Bethlehem, with none of the Jews in the City of David noticing it, how did the Gentiles see it clearly from afar and find the Messiah through its Light?
St. Matthew (the only one of the four Gospel writers who knows this Epiphany story) is telling his Jewish/Christian community something beautiful: those who seek Jesus will surely find Him, whether born into the right bloodlines or not.
And there’s something else here too: are we ready to follow the Stars that arise in our lives, to be utterly open to the Surprising Love of the One who meets us in our comings and goings, our dreaming and our rising, our instinctive drawing near to him who drew so near to us? In this new year let’s resolve again to keep our eyes wide open for the Christ who comes to us in a thousand different ways, bidden and unbidden, searching for us as earnestly as we are searching for him.
Many thanks to young Kathleen Sullivan, who encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and seek broader and wider for the true meaning of the Epiphany. Just like the Wise Men.
In what ways do you sense that God is seeking you?
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I have come to light a fire on the earth; how I wish it were already burning (Lk.12:49).