The WORD in other words (2006) by Fr Cornelio Alpuerto SVD – Saint Arnold Janssen Parish – Cebu City
Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
Who were they really, these “wise men”? And how many were they? Three? And were they kings? What were their places of origin?
No clear answers from Sacred Scriptures to our questions.
Clear, however, are: that they came from afar, that they were led by a star, and that they came to do homage to the newborn king of the Jews. Clear also that they offered the newborn Child three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Though we don’t have their bio-data to reveal to us their identities, though these magi were all shrouded in mystery, this was surely the great accomplishment of their life: following the leading of a star, they were the first non-Jews, the first gentiles, to worship the new-born Messiah.
That star was also mysterious, wasn’t it? And that the wise men knew the meaning of the star that they had seen at its rising: namely, that it was the star of the new-born king of the Jews whom they were so willing to worship, deepened the mystery still more both about the star itself and about the magi.
What drawing power the star had on the wise men! And what response it elicited from them! It drew them out of themselves, out of their comfort zones, out into the perils of a long journey and into a daring adventure of faith. It was the most meaningful search of their life and they gave it their all.
Their search ended in a radiant act of worship. With gold, frankincense and myrrh – with gift of self, above all, they worship Him who is the very Light of the world. And in that very moment, it was as if “the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanished before the Light of the Word and the Spirit of Grace”.
But King Herod was too self-centered to come out of the fragile shell of his kingdom to recognize the Light. All this talk about the Star and the newborn King of the Jews made him so insecure as to plunge him into greater darkness yet: he had all the babies in Bethlehem, two years old and below, put to the sword. Indeed, refusal to recognize the Light and follow its guidance could be so bloody.
Wise are they, truly, who have something of the Wisdom of the Wise Men!
