Today’s gospel is about the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ. Epiphany means “Manifestation.” The Epiphany celebrates the arrival of the promised Messiah, which was first announced by Holy Angels to the shepherds near the cave where Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Church tradition also celebrates today the visit of the magi or the three kings who came from the East. Their significance is of major importance because while God promised the children of Israel a redeemer through our Lord Jesus Christ, his first visitors were Gentiles from the East represented by the Magi. You can read today’s gospel in Matt.2: 1-12.
“When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea during the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We saw the rising of his star in the east and have come to honor him.” When Herod heard this, he was greatly disturbed and with him all Jerusalem. He immediately called a meeting of all high-ranking priests and the teachers of the law, and asked them where the Messiah was to be born.
“In the town of Bethlehem in Judea,” they told him, “for this is what the prophet wrote: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the clans of Judah, for from you will come a leader, the one who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod secretly called the wise men and asked them the precise time the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem with instructions, “Go and get these accurate information about the child. As soon as you have found him, report to me, so that I too may go and honor him.” After meeting with the King, they set out.
The Star that they had seen in the East went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. The wise men were overjoyed on seeing Mary his mother, they knelt and worshipped him. They opened their bags and offered him gifts of gold, incense and myrrh. In a dream they were warned not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their home country by another way.”
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From this reading you will note that the coming of the Messiah was very well prophesied in the Torah, notably from the book of the prophet Isaiah where he wrote, “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the clans of Judah, for from you will come a leader, the one who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
The coming of the Messiah was also foretold in Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign, “The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Unfortunately despite what was written in the Law, the Jews never believed until this day that the Messiah had already come in our Lord Jesus Christ. Incidentally when we visited Israel two years ago, I learned that there are now Messianic Jews… or Jews who believe that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah.
But then God already knew what lurked inside the hearts of the Jews. This is why he sent the star of Bethlehem to shine on the wise men, who were also astrologers who most probably read the sacred writings in the Torah even though they were not Jews. Yet the Holy Spirit of God led them to Jerusalem where the star faded as they entered the walled city. But after they left King Herod, the star appeared once more and led them to the child Jesus.
So who were the three wise men? Of the four evangelists, only Matthew wrote about them, yet never mentioned any of their names. From Christian tradition, we know them as Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior. There are many names that were attributed to the three kings. There are even records that say that there were twelve kings that came to visit the infant Jesus. Perhaps it was a way of recognizing the twelve tribes of Israel.
From my readings, I learned from an Armenian tradition that the magi were Balthasar of Arabia, Gaspar of India, and Melchior of Persia. There is no doubt that the three wise men were of noble birth and were rulers in their own right. They were clearly educated and read the Hebrew Scriptures or the Jewish Torah, even though they were not Jews. But the wise men were clearly seeking what God had promised to Israel as written in many prophesies, which is why when the star shone upon them, they immediately went to the west and found the child in Bethlehem.
The gifts given by the three wise men have plenty of symbolism. Gold represents the richness of an earthly King. Frankincense is incense that symbolizes our worship of God, and Myrrh is used for the anointing of the dead and symbolizes the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ who was sent by God to be one of us and to die for our sins. So today we worship our Lord Jesus Christ in this Feast of the Epiphany, which as church tradition tells us, is the official end of the Christmas season.