Is 60:1-6 | Ps 72 | Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6 | Mt 2:1-12
The magi interpreted the new star as representing a new king of the Jews. It is quite outstanding that these Babylonian scholars would have wanted to place themselves at the service of a Jewish king. While within the Babylon of their day (an empire centered in modern-day Iran) there was a significant and influential Jewish community, and that community was simply one people, one faith, or one philosophy among many others. The lights of South Asia, the Vedas and Buddhist teachings, would have been known to them. So would the Persian religion, which spoke of the Lord of Wisdom as the sole god. The mystery religions of Egypt would have been present, offering their practitioners hope after death. And the philosophy of the Greeks was known among the Babylonians and Parthians of the day. The writings of Plato and the great Greek dramas were being read among them as well.
With all these other lights to follow, why did the magi choose the star that represented a new king of the Jews? This is a great mystery. Matthew’s gospel doesn’t provide us with an answer. However, isn’t our being here a bit of a mystery? We all have been given the gift of faith, whether the gift was passed on to us through family or we were drawn to it ourselves. Something within us seeks Christ. We ourselves made a journey to attend this Mass, albeit much shorter. Here, too, we encounter Christ, though not as a newborn but through the words of Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist. What brings us here is what brought the magi to Christ.
There are thousands of stars and lights for us to follow. We can go online and learn about countless Christian ecclesial communities, hundreds of different religions, and endless ideas and systems of thought. And yet we come here to commit ourselves to the one Light that will never fade or fail. We seek Christ and place our hope in him.
On this Solemnity of the Epiphany, we come to find Christ. He comes to us in humble forms: the form of a defenseless infant in the time of the magi, and in the form of word and sacrament today. As we are sent from this celebration, which we hold at the same time to be both a duty and privilege, we go out and continue to seek Christ in all the humble ways he appears. May we find him in the people we encounter and in every aspect of our lives.