We Saw His Star at its Rising: Reflections on the readings for the Feast of the Epiphany

The gospel of John tells us “... the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.” (John 1:5-7) The feast of the Epiphany is about the representatives of the Gentile world seeing the light, beginning with a star and ending with the light of Christ. The word “epiphany” means “an appearance or manifestation, especially of a deity.” (dictionary.com) Thus, the Epiphany of the King of the Jews to the Magi represents the manifestation of a deity, Jesus, to the entire world.

The first reading from Isaiah talks about the light and the darkness. “Darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples.” And the light of glory, of the manifestation of God to the world, will be such that, “Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.”

Isaiah continues to prophesy that they will come from afar bringing riches. Caravans of camels will “come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.” Think of the number of prophesies we have read about the coming of a Savior since the beginning of Advent. As Bishop Sheen notes, “Yet if one searches out the various Messianic currents in the Old Testament, and compares the resulting picture with the life and work of Christ, can one doubt that the ancient predictions point to Jesus and the kingdom which he established?” (Life of Christ)

The responsorial, taken from Psalm 72, continues with the theme of kings from Arabia and the east bringing gifts to the King. As we see in other parts of Scripture, Jesus represents justice and judgment, among other things (especially salvation). He is especially concerned about the poor: “He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save.” Again the salvation is not just for the Jews for, as the psalmist says, “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.” This refrain is another recurring theme from the readings of Advent and Christmas.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, also states that, through the gospel, the gentiles, too, are coheirs to the salvation manifested by Jesus. He states that this has been made known, not only through the apostles, but also through the prophets by the Spirit, and, lastly through the revelation made to Paul himself (by Jesus Himself on the road to Damascus, Acts 9:4-5).

The reading from the gospel of Matthew tells of the rising of the star which prompted the Magi to make their journey to Jerusalem. They were aware of the prophesy about the king of the Jews and so went to Jerusalem, the center of the Jewish faith, to inquire about Him and do Him homage. This was a surprise to Herod, who then had to consult with his advisors. Herod’s advisors told him what we had read during the Fourth Sunday of Advent, from the prophet Micah (5:1-4), that the Messiah (that is the meaning of the word “Christ”) was to be born in Bethlehem, the “ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.”

And why would scholars or princes from the Gentile world be concerned about a newborn king of the Jews? Recall Jesus’s words to the Samaritan woman at the well, “Salvation is from the Jews.” (Jn 4:22)

It is interesting to note here that once they left Herod for Bethlehem, the star once again appeared, leading them to the place where the child was. Note that they found Jesus in a house. People often get confused because Scripture is not very specific about how long it was after the birth of Jesus that the Magi arrived. Certainly it was not immediately after His birth, since He was now in a house, He had to be circumcised, there is the consecration (presentation in the Temple) 40 days after His birth, and so on.

Several Bible scholars speculate that as Joseph was of the house of David and Bethlehem was David’s city, he probably had relatives there and may have visited often, especially since it was not far from Jerusalem, which they visited for all of the major celebrations. One other clue is that after their visit they were warned not to return to Herod. This angered Herod to the point that he ordered the killing of all male children aged two years and younger from the surrounding area, in an attempt to kill Jesus. If the Magi’s visit was close to the birth of Jesus, two years would have been excessive. Recall in the gospel reading, “Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance.” Therefore he had some indication as to the time of Jesus’s birth, especially if we assume that the star appeared at Jesus’s birth (perhaps as a result of the angelic heralds).

It is appropriate that the theme of light pervades these readings. After all, Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12) as well as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). We need to keep this in mind as even today it seems that a great deal of darkness covers the earth, both in societies around the world and in the conflicts that seem to be everywhere. But the message remains, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.” (Jn 3:19-21)

“Of course, the wise men went home by a different route; no one meets Christ and remains the same.” Fulton J. Sheen