The Epiphany of the Lord; January 7, 2024

Is 60:1-6.  Ps 72.  Eph 3:2-3a,5-6.  Mt 2:1-12

Deacon Jim McFadden

            The Evangelist Matthew tells us that the Magi, when they came to Bethlehem, “saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him” (Mt 2:11).  This seems very straightforward, but worshiping the Lord is no easy task; it just doesn’t happen automatically like breathing.  It requires  a certain spiritual maturity in which we move from worshiping God as if he was one of the following: a  Santa Claus, a.k.a. a “gimme God, who gives what we want; a policeman, who watches everything we do just making sure we don’t mess up; an accountant or bean counter who’s keeping track of the good and bad things we do; a pharmacist, who dispenses “aspirin” to make our suffering go away; a divine party god who’s only concern is that it doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you’re happy; the mountain deity, the one who sits alone on a top of the mountain, far out of reach, like “a galaxy far, far away.”   Genuine worship is just not possible if we have any of these images of God.

            Genuine worship is also the fruit of a lengthy interior journey: I worship God at lot differently at 80 years of age than when I was 20.  Worshiping God just doesn’t happen spontaneously, but though we are hard-wired to be with God because we’re made in his image, we really have to intentionally work at it.  But, make no mistake: if we don’t worship God, the we will inevitably worship idols, God substitutes—there is no middle way: it’s either God or idols.  So, instead of becoming worshipers like the Magi, we’ll become idolaters.  It really is an either-or choice. 

            Today, let us pay attention to the Magi on Epiphany Sunday because we can learn from them.  Like them, we want to “fall down and worship.”  The Liturgy of the Word offers us three phrases  that help us to understand what genuine worship entails.  They are “to lift up our eyes,” “to set out on a journey,” and “to see.” 

            First, to lift up your eyes comes to us from the prophet Isaiah, who is addressing the community in Jerusalem who had just come back from Babylonian Exile and they were quite understandably very distraught at the challenges and hardships that awaited them; so, the prophet offers them words of encouragement: “Lift up your eyes and look around” (Is 60:4).  He urges them to look beyond their weariness, their immediate problems, their tunnel-vision which keeps them trapped into the prison of their ego. To worship the Lord we have to “lift up our eyes;” in other words, don’t let ourselves be imprisoned by our immediate circumstances, not to let our problems and difficulties  become the center of our lives.  That doesn’t mean we deny reality, deluding ourselves that everything is okay.  On the contrary, it is a matter of viewing our existential reality, our fears and concerns, in a new way, knowing that the Lord is aware of our problems, attentive to our prayers, and is not indifferent to our cries of complaint. 

            This way of seeing things, in which despite the chaos and darkness that may be swirling around us, we continue to trust in the Lord which gives rise to fortitude and courage: we can carry on accompanied and lead by our Lord.  When that happens, our hearts become open to worship. 

            The second helpful phrase is to set out on a journey.  Before the Magi could worship the Child in Bethlehem, they had to undertake a lengthy journey, which means moving from point A to B.   Such a journey always involves transformation, a change: repentance which we heard John the Baptist call us to in the 1^st Sunday of Advent.  After a journey, we’re no longer the same as we’ve learned new insights, we’ve encountered new people who have touched us, we’ve acquired an inner strength as we navigate hardships and risks along the way.  No one worships the Lord without experiencing interior growth that comes from embarking on a journey.

            And, so we come to the third phrase  to see.  Matthew tells us that , “going into the house they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him” (Mt 2:10-11).  The Magi worshiped  the One they knew to be the King of the Jews, the Messiah.  But, what did they actually see?  They saw a vulnerable child wrapped in swaddling clothes and his teenaged mother.  Yet these men from far-off lands we’re able to look beyond these lowly surroundings and recognize that in the Child there was a royal presence.  They were able “to see” beyond appearances and worship the Babe of Bethlehem whom they experienced the divine Presence. 

            To worship the Lord we need to “see” beyond the appearance of things visible on the surface, which are often deceptive.  Herod and the leading dignitaries of Jerusalem they didn’t see the Star; they didn’t come and worship the Child of God.  Why not?  They were trapped in a worldliness that enslaved them to appearances and immediate attractions that would satisfy their egoic needs.  They weren’t able to see? 

            How do we see?  We do so by entering into an intimate relationship with Jesus; being grafted onto him like a branch on the Vine, Jesus is offering us the view of reality from inside the Trinity.  In Him, we truly see what is really Real. We are no longer slave to appearance and seek what is ephemeral and transitory, but we see with the Eye of Soul, which is grounded in the Child Jesus.  That’s why we bow down and worship because we see!

            May Our Lady, the Mother of Jesus, our Mother, help us lift up our eyes, to set off on a journey into the mystery of God, and to see reality just as she does. Amen.