Join us today as we celebrate Holy Communion for the Epiphany of the Lord 2022. To follow along at home, click here and print the Holy Communion Program. Text of today’s homily below.
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Homily for the Epiphany of the Lord – Saturday 1/2/22
Readings: Is 60:1-6, Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13, Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6, Mt 2:1-12
A star rises in the east and the wise men come to worship the King of the Jews. We often speak of three wise men because there are three gifts and because an obscure Greek manuscript lists three by name, but in some faith traditions they are numbered up to twelve. We can’t really be sure about that detail. And in the popular imagination, we picture them riding on horses or camels, literally following a star in the distance until they stumble upon the holy family with the newborn Jesus.
But that can’t be right because, in the story, when the wise men see the star they go to Jerusalem and begin to make inquiries. How do they know to go to Jerusalem? They are magi, and a magi is a Persian astrologer-priest. In those days, astrology (fortune telling by the stars and planets) and astronomy (the study of celestial objects and phenomena) were one and the same. So, when this star rises they consult their astrological charts and past predictions and they point to Bethlehem.
When they arrive, and Herod gets wind of their inquiries, he brings together the chief priests and scribes who quote Micah 5:1. “And thou Bethlehem…of thee shall come forth a… shepherd of my people Israel.” Herod sends the wise men to Bethlehem to investigate. And the Gospel says that the star, “went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” All celestial objects near the elliptic, that is the plane the zodiac, rise in the east and set in the west, take about twelve hours to move from horizon to horizon, and are roughly overhead at midnight. It’s only about five or ten miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, depending which sides of the two cities your journey begins and ends. It’s certainly conceivable that, once it was good and dark, they set out on foot (as many people did in those days), headed toward a star in the eastern distance. That’s a two or three-hour walk. As they walked, the star rose and came toward them; and by the time they found the holy family, the star appeared to be directly above.
Isn’t that something? Isn’t it really fun to see that there’s nothing at all impossible about the story as we read it here? Sure. But how is it significant, and what can we learn from it?
The magi were the most educated class in the pagan world at that time, and their greatest scientists. These were the men kings like Herod relied upon to tell time by the stars, to determine when the earth would process and winter would begin, so that crops could be planted after the first frost and harvested at the right time, and so forth. Entire nations lived and died by the measurements of the magi.
God, by making the movements of a particular star coincide with the birth of his Son, has revealed the birth of Jesus to the greatest scientific minds of the day. He has revealed himself as the Celestial Mover of the heavens. And by drawing Herod into his divine plan, such that Herod brings together the best and brightest of the region – the Jewish priests and scribes as well as the great Persian astrologers and philosophers – God takes his place as King of Heaven and Earth.
Let this be a sign for us. Let’s never claim that science is at odds with religion, because clearly it is not. It doesn’t matter if we are educated or uneducated, Jew or gentile, for as St. Paul said, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). Let all of us, from the humblest shepherd to the most educated scientist, from the richest to the poorest, seek out Bethlehem and pay homage to the King.