Homily: The Epiphany of the Lord, SUnday January 2, 2022

 ‘Epiphany’ comes from the Greek word Epiphaneia , which means ‘great revelation’, ‘appearance’ or ‘manifestation’.

On this feast of the Epiphany, what revelation, what appearance or what manifestation are we celebrating?

In the first reading, Isaiah prophesied that “upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory”. Thus, we are celebrating the great appearance of God’s glory. Why, how and what else?

Shall I ask you a question? At the very beginning, what was the first thing God created?

While you think, let me share an experience. When I was at Sacred Heart parish, on certain days of the week, the school would bring their students for Mass. One day, it was the kindergarten kids. During my homily, I asked them the same question, “what was the very first thing God created?”

Wow, they gave me so many answers, listed out everything under the sun… except the right answer. After they have tried almost everything, they were silent and thinking hard. Then one little girl from the back shouted out excitedly, “The United States of America”!

Haha! Well, she was not entirely wrong, if she was referring to Lady Liberty’s torch, which symbolizes enlightenment.

In Genesis 1:2, it is written, “the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss”, then in the next verse, “God said, let there be light and there was light”. Light was the first thing God created, to ensure that the rest of His creation will not live in darkness.

From then on, all of creation lived in the light. But many do not know the giver of this light.

Planet Earth on its own does not produce light. It needs the sun to light it up physically. Similarly, our soul on its own does not have light, we need the Son, S-O-N, to shine through us and light us up spiritually.

Thus, God chose to reveal His glory to the world, other than the Jews, by inviting the wisemen to worship His Son, the true King. This is the revelation we celebrate on this feast of the Epiphany.

I depend on the GPS a lot to move around in Iowa. But when I moved to SAC, I tried to minimise its use. Whenever I had to drive back to the parish after having visited a family or attended a meeting in another part of town, I would always search for a view of the tallest building in Iowa, the Principal Building. Using this building as my reference, I navigate the roads to get back to St. Ambrose.

Yes, it is easy when there is a good reliable reference point to follow. What is your reference point in life?

In the first reading, we heard “nations shall walk by your light.” Yes, when we are in the dark, we need light to help us walk in the right direction, physically and spiritually.

The wisemen followed the brightest star to find the true king. They were not Jews. They were from lands far away from Jerusalem. They were convinced that the newborn baby was someone of great importance, greater than the usual king. If not, they would not embark on such a long and unusual journey to seek Him. They had the wisdom of God. The special brightness of the star was their reference point. That star told them a lot about this King.

When they found him, in spite of the poverty of his condition, they recognised Him as the true king. “They prostrated themselves and did him homage.”

In contrast, Herod and the rest of Jerusalem, who had the benefit of history and scripture, did not recognise the Lord’s coming. They had the wrong reference point. They were concerned with political power, personal profit, worldly satisfaction. They defended themselves and did Him harm.

God’s glory has been made manifest in the person of Jesus. He has shown Himself to the wisemen, thus His appearance, His revelation, His manifestation is for the whole world. We are such a blessed generation, as written in the second reading, “it was not revealed to people in other generations as it has now been revealed”.

You and I, living in this generation are blessed because we have the witness, the words, the conviction of the disciples who have seen, understood and written all these truths for us. These are our reference point. We have received the light.

Hundreds of generations before Jesus, lived and died without seeing the true light of God. What about us? Do we see the light? Does it guide us in our life? Or are we still attracted to the material and temporal things of this world?

Be careful, the good life now could lead to a condemned life after. God came as a poor baby and died a poor man. Mary lived simply despite being the mother of God’s Son. That tells us a lot about how we should live, doesn’t it?

This feast of the Epiphany of the Lord reminds us that we are blessed, simply because we have been given this faith. God has revealed His glory to all of us. Let us learn to adore and worship Jesus with the best of ourselves.

A 6-year-old girl asked, “Why did the kings give frankincense to baby Jesus? Why would a baby need perfume?” Her slightly older brother answered, “Baby Jesus was born in a dirty stable with smelly animals. His mother would need something nice to freshen the air.”

What can we give to Jesus? To Him, there is nothing more valuable than our heart, our mind, our soul. To accept Him into our life and love Him truly and fully. This is the best gift of gifts, for the King of kings. 

Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria