Saturday, January 5, 2019

Epiphany, Year C, 06.01.2019

Isaiah 60:1-6 / Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 / Matthew 2:1-12

We are already 6 days into the new year. And if we had made those New Year resolutions, then I hope that they are coming along well.

But what really is a New Year’s resolution?
Some say that it is a “To Do” list for the first week of January. After that we can forget about it.
Some say New Year’s resolutions are the same as last year’s because nothing will ever change.

I made a New Year’s resolution, and that is to simply remember to write 2019 instead of 2018 on the date. The success rate is so far 95%.

So actually, making resolutions, whether New Year or otherwise is a good thing, as long as we keep it simple and achievable, we will hit our targets.

But maybe the problem comes from the understanding of the word “resolution”. Its original meaning is “a breaking into parts” and “a process of reducing things into simpler forms”.

When we understand resolution as such, then we can see that we actually have the solution to our problem. But if the solution doesn’t seem to work, then we may need to “re-solution” – meaning that we need to relook at the solution and simplify it further.

But of course, it may not be as easy as it sounds. The question is how to simplify the solution further in order to make it work.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany means a revelation or a manifestation. It means that the newborn Saviour was revealed to the whole world through the wise men.

But it was not as simple as it sounds. The wise men saw the star and they knew it was a special star – it was the star of the infant king of the Jews.

So where is this infant King of the Jews? Well, just follow the star. The solution is as simple as that. But not really that easy!

Because obviously at times, they couldn’t see the star and that is why they ended up in Jerusalem because they supposed that the infant King would be born in a big city.

Well, at least the wise men were wise enough to ask for direction. Their question of where is the infant King of the Jews had its answer with the help of the star. Now they just need a bit of help from the Jewish scripture scholars.

The search of the wise men began with a question “where?” – the answer was to follow the star. But that answer also needed to be reduced to a simpler and relevant form – the prophesies of the Jewish scriptures.

In this whole Epiphany event, the wise men are the real heroes. Because without them, there will be no Epiphany. Without them, Jesus would not be revealed as Saviour of the whole world.

In the Nativity scene, the three of them look so royal, so finely dressed, so elegant and dignified, compared with Mary and Joseph and the shepherd, and not to mention the cow and the donkey.

But in reality, they would be worn out as well as stressed out. Having made the journey of a thousand miles over desert sands, they were foreigners in a foreign land, and they were taken advantage of by King Herod to be his agents and informants of the whereabouts of the Infant King of the Jews.

As we come to think of it, the wise men can be called our ancestors-in-faith. Because they, like us, were non-Jews, but they embarked on a search for the king who will give meaning to everything.

They had a resolution when they started off on their search, and that is to find this king.

This feast of the Epiphany celebrates who they have finally found and what was revealed through them. Indeed, the wise men are the essential characters in this feast of the Epiphany.

But the Epiphany continues, and like the wise men, we are now the essential characters in this on-going Epiphany.

But the question for us goes further back. Have we found Jesus? Or are we even searching for Him? Do we even believe that Jesus is the King who would give meaning to everything?

And even if we are searching and finding for this king, would we give up because of the obstacles and difficulties?

On this feast of the Epiphany, it would be a good faith practice to incense the home since one of the gifts offered to Jesus is frankincense.

Just as the scent of the incense permeates into all corners of the house, the scent of incense also permeates into the corners of our faith.

The scent of incense will also make us recall the journey and the quest of the wise men.

Their resolution was to follow the star and find the king. May we too, like them, find the king we are searching for. And then we will find meaning to everything.