The Epiphany of the Logos

Gospel Reflection for January 5, 2025, Epiphany - Matthew 2:1-12

When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.

Saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to adore him.

And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born.

But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Juda. For so it is written by the prophet:

And thou Bethlehem the land of Juda art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel.

Then Herod, privately calling the wise men, learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them;

And sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come to adore him.

Who having heard the king, went their way; and behold the star which they had seen in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was.

And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him; and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country. (Matthew 2:1-12 DRA)

Today is the great Solemnity of Epiphany, one of the holiest feast days of the year; it continues the Christmas season into Epiphanytide which ends on Candlemas. In fact, the East holds Epiphany (or Theophany) in greater esteem than Christmas, and Epiphany was more popular than Christmas for much of Christian history. But why? One reason is that, while Christmas celebrates the Incarnation and thus points back to the Annunciation, Epiphany celebrates what the Church Fathers considered to be one of Christ’s greatest miracles: the conversion of the Gentiles. (Mal 1:11) While this historically-inexplicable event was prefigured in the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, few if any Jews at the time of Christ expected it, but in the Magi, God revealed the true universality of His divine lordship and the universality of His salvific mission. The Fathers witnessed this conversion in their time with the submission of Rome, their great persecutor, to Christ within the span of a few centuries, and since then the whole world has come to know Christ, a task for which we are still called to aid in missionary evangelization, both to the ignorant and to the misinformed.

The Magi are truly one of the most fascinating mysteries in Scripture, generating questions as to their number, identity, profession and origin for two millennia. But the Fathers agreed in connecting them directly to the prophecy of the Gentile Balaam:

It should be known, that opinions vary respecting the Magi. Some say they were Chaldæans, who are known to have worshipped a star as God; thus their fictitious Deity shewed them the way to the true God. Others think that they were Persians; others again, that they came from the utmost ends of the earth. Another and more probable opinion is, that they were descendants of Balaam, who having his prophecy, There shall rise a Star out of Jacob, (Numb. 24:17.) as soon as they saw the star, would know that a King was born. (Remigius, Catena Aurea)

Whether they were descendants of Balaam or, what is more likely, simply knew of his prophecy, is debatable. However, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that, following patristic tradition which incorporated Balaam’s prophecy and those included in the first reading from Isaias and the Psalm for today, the Magi were themselves universal, coming from Africa, Asia and Europe (Tarshish being taken for Tartessos in Spain). In this way, Christ’s new Kingdom knows no distinction of race or nationality beyond the beautiful diversity of God’s Creation: all peoples are able to be adopted into Christ’s sonship through baptismal incorporation into the Body of Christ which is the Church, adding their unique human contributions to build up the Church in its Catholic wholeness.

The Holy Father also notes that the Magi could have been members of the Persian priestly caste, which was both religious and philosophical in nature and for the latter erudition was admired by the likes of Aristotle. This would also fit with their awareness of the prophecy of Balaam and the messianic expectations of the Jews, who lived for some time under a largely favorable Persian rule and shared their wisdom with them. The Magi are thus one of the clearest indications in Scripture of a unique attribute of Judeo-Christianity, one not shared by any other religion: God is supremely rational, the Logos who in His divine perfection is infinitely consistent with Himself and in all His works. Therefore, the Magi were able to use reason to investigate Creation and come to a belief, even if unformed by revelation, in the one true God, fulfilling St. Paul’s statement of natural theology: “For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.” (Rom 1:20)

Likewise, both Judaism and Christianity (in its full Catholic subsistence) have always been fundamentally rational, and the Church, following Christ the Logos, has never failed to support philosophy and the sciences, guiding them into the fullness of the truth contained in revealed Tradition. Today, the reasonableness of the Faith remains one of its most powerful attractions, especially to draw in those who love knowledge and to correct those who place ideology above reality, including heretics within the Church. This desire for knowledge can also be distorted into the sin of curiosity, which pursues knowledge for its own sake apart from God; an example of this in Scripture is another Magi, Simon Magus, whom St. Peter contended against and finally defeated through the superior power of the Cross. (Acts 8:9-24)

The adoration of the Magi also highlights one of the most important and surprising elements of Christ: the scandalous humility of His Incarnation and self-sacrifice on the Cross. Kings who were likely some of the wealthiest and most powerful in the world at the time ventured hundreds of miles through the desert – to worship a baby who at His birth had been laid in a feed trough in a cave stable. An utterly helpless infant, born to a poor and unknown Jewish family with no fanfare or popular adulation, was paid homage by great and wise kings of the world and given tokens worthy of Herod or Caesar.

Herod could not fathom this and was filled with jealousy, hence his murderous intentions; similarly, the rulers of the world today and throughout history believe themselves to be powerful, wealthy and wise, far better than God in His humility and obscurity, but it was precisely by this abject condition that God showed His true omnipotence and unimaginable love, showing the true standard by which worldly rulers will be judged: “If His birth as an infant makes proud kings tremble, what will His tribunal as a Judge do? Let princes fear Him sitting at the right hand of His Father, whom this impious king feared while He hanged yet on His mother’s breast.” (St. Augustine, Catena Aurea)

Through compassion, Christ became one with the poor, the afflicted, the forgotten and the oppressed, wholly upending worldly standards and showing what is of eternal value: goodness, truth and beauty. This is why the Magi gave not only gold but also frankincense and myrrh, the latter having been used to consecrate Levitical priests and anoint the Temple; it is also why He chose Bethlehem rather than the royal city of Jerusalem for His coming: “Rightly is He born in Bethlehem, which signifies the house of bread, who said, am the living bread, who came down from heaven.” (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Catena Aurea) Hence the Psalmist said, “For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.” St. Augustine also expressed it in these profound words:

After the miraculous Virgin-birth, a God-man having by Divine power proceeded from a virgin womb; in the obscure shelter of such a cradle, a narrow stall, wherein lay Infinite Majesty in a body more narrow, a God was suckled and suffered the wrapping of vile rags—amidst all this, on a sudden a new star shone in the sky upon the earth, and driving away the darkness of the world, changed night into day; that the day-star should not be hidden by the night. (Catena Aurea)

On this blessed day of Epiphany, may we imitate the Magi, trusting in the reasonableness of God and the surety of His promises, fleeing from the slavery to sin and Satan offered by the glamor of the world just as they wisely obeyed the voice of God in their dream and fled from Herod’s deceits, offering all of our gifts and talents back to God from whom they derive for His greater glory and working tirelessly to proclaim the Kingdom of God, whose otherworldly permanence and spiritual majesty are shown by the Magi not seeking to make Christ a worldly king but adoring Him as God and trusting in His messianic mission. Tradition thus tells us that the heirs of the Magi would one day become Christians themselves:

Had the Magi sought Christ as an earthly King, they would have remained with Him when they had found Him; but they only worship, and go their way. After their return, they continued in the worship of God more stedfast than before, and taught many by their preaching. And when afterwards Thomas reached their country, they joined themselves to him, and were baptized, and did according to his preaching. (Pseudo-Chrysostom, Catena Aurea)