Gospel & Reflection for the Feast of the Epiphany.
Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east. ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ they asked. ‘We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’ When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea,’ they told him ‘for this is what the prophet wrote:
And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah,
for out of you will come a leader
who will shepherd my people Israel.’
Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared, and sent them on to Bethlehem. ‘Go and find out all about the child,’ he said ‘and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.’ Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward, and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.
Reflection
T.S. Elliot authored a poem titled ‘The Journey of the Magi.’ He wrote it one year after converting to Catholicism. The poem speaks on behalf of one of the Magi and describes not only their tough journey but also their distress living in a changing world. But then it speaks of the joy of finding meaning and truth within that world. It begins:
‘A cold coming, we had of it, just the worse time of the year for a journey and such a long journey. A hard time we had of it. At the end, we preferred to travel all night, sleeping in snatches, with the voices ringing in our ears saying that this was all folly.’
It sounds as if this wise man is grumbling, unhappy with what he is doing. But spiritual writers often refer to these grumpy outbursts as ‘Holy Discontent.’ Holy Discontent is not godly grumbling or cursing but the deep feeling within a person that things are not as they should be. It is the knowledge that a person’s life is lacking something life-giving and profoundly important. St. Augustine described it in these terms when he said: “You have made us for yourself O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” ‘Holy Discontent’ describes the restless heart.
Just who the Magi were, we do not know. Were they wise men, royalty, astrologers, no one can agree about them. What we do know is that they were people of importance, education and means. No one else could have supported themselves on such a journey and no one else would have been received, listened to, and taken seriously by Herod, as they were. The Gospel refers to them as wise men, but the same gospel passage has many other wise men in it too. In remembering the Magi today, we remember that these people would not have set out on such a journey if they were truly content in life.
If they were satisfied with their lives, with the world in which they lived, with the wealth that they had and the knowledge that they possessed, they would have never set out on a quest not knowing where it would take them or what they might find? But set out they do, even with misgivings singing in their ears that ‘this was all folly.’ It takes courage to be attentive to the stirrings of the heart, and courage is what the Magi had.
This courage and action of the Magi is contrasted in our Gospel to that other group of wise men, those belonging to Herod – the priests and the Scribes. Herod asks of them, “Where is the Christ to be born?” and they tell him proudly, like children answering their teacher, “Bethlehem in Judea.” Now the distance from Jerusalem, where Herod and his so called ‘wise men’ were, to Bethlehem is about ten kilometres. A small journey. But what do Herod’s wise men do after saying something about Christ being so close to them? They do nothing! They do not bother themselves to travel even a short journey to see if Christ has been born. There was nothing stirring in their soul, their hearts were not restless because they were not seeking God or His Messiah. They were seeking only the favour and ear of Herod. They had lost sight of God, as they enjoyed the hospitality of Herod, thinking they had all that they needed in life.
But the Magi knew that there was much, much more to have, and they set out to find it, no matter how uncomfortable or long the distance. Without even knowing it, their lives were set on God, and they would not stop until they found Him.
As the poet wrote: ‘All this was a long time ago, I remember, and I would do it again…we returned to our places, these kingdoms, but no longer at ease here in the old dispensation, with an alien people clutching their gods.’
Friends, we are asked always to journey like the Magi; to be holy discontented, until our hearts rest in knowing and feeling the presence of God in our lives and serving Him.
Fr. Richard