Happy three kings!

Today is Epiphany Sunday a.k.a. The Three Kings who also go by other names that we know... the Magi or the Three Wise Men. You will find this story in Matthew 2:1-12. Interestingly, the evangelist Mark and John never had any infancy narrative. Their story of Jesus begins with the preaching of John the Baptizer. Only the evangelist Luke has the story of the birth of Jesus, but strangely he only mentions the visit of the Shepherds and nothing about the Three Kings. So whenever you talk about the Three Kings, this Bible story only comes from one source, Matt: 2:1-12.

"When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage." 3 When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

4 Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: 6 And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel."

7 Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage." 9 After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.

10 They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 11 and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way."

First of all, whenever you are in the presence of God or our Lord Jesus Christ ever present in the Holy Eucharist...what do you do in order to pay him homage? Like the Magi, "they prostrated themselves and did him homage." This is why we must prostrate ourselves when we visit our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. We can also go to the extreme of removing our shoes or sandals as commanded by God himself to Moses on Mt. Horeb, which you can read in Exodus 3:4-6. While these little gestures do not prevent us from salvation or add to the glory of God, however we must do it to show our humility and our nothingness before the mighty one.

As the Bible stated, the Magi or the Three Wise Men came from the East... but where we can only guess? Even the traditional names that we know of the Magi; Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar are not even stated by Matthew. But then all that we know about our Lord Jesus were not all written down, but where handed down from father to son to grandchildren.

If you saw the movie "The Nativity Story" it gave the moviegoers an idea of how long a journey through desert wasteland that the Three Wise Men had to endure in search of the Messiah. They followed a bright star all the way to Judea and their first stop was Jerusalem. Even the Three Wise Men mistakenly thought that the whole Jerusalem would have been in a festive mood on the birth of the newborn Jewish King... only to realize that there was no one from royalty who was recently born there.

Thus the Magi continued on to Bethlehem and then the star stopped over a cave where the babe laid in a manger. Some books say that the Magi were also astrologers or stargazers and followed the star that apparently brought them to the baby Jesus. Modern day scientist with their mumbo- jumbo calculations insists that this star could have been Halley's comet. My own belief on this was... it was a special star that God used as a beacon to guide the Magi to his only begotten Son. As the Angel Gabriel said to Mama Mary during the Annunciation; "For nothing will be impossible for God."

I learned from Msgr. Cris Garcia during my TV interviews with him that the name Bethlehem means..."The House of Bread." So who was born in the house of Bread? Didn't Jesus say in John 6: 32-33, "So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the Bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." In verse 40 our Lord Jesus said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."

I'm sure that everyone has heard of the manger, but does anyone know what it is? A manger is a food box where hay is placed for the cattle to eat. Thus the Bread of Life sent by God through his only Son Jesus Christ was sent to the House of Bread served in a food box. Happy Three Kings!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit's columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com