1st Epiphany
Matthew 2:1-12
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| Basilica of St. Mary Major |
When
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea—during the time of King Herod—behold: wise
priest-kings from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
“Where is the one born here King of the Jews? We
have seen his star rise in the east and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this, he was deeply
disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. And he assembled all the high priests
and scribes of the people and inquired of them in what place the Christ was to
be born.
And they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for
thus it was written by the prophet:
And you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come forth the ruler
Who will be shepherd over my people, the true Israel.”
Then Herod, secretly calling the Magi together
again, inquired from them the exact time when the star had appeared. He
directed them to Bethlehem and said, “Go there and search carefully for the
child, and when you find him, report to me, that I too may go and bow down
before him.”
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| Gentile da Fabriano |
After they had heard the king, they went on their
way, and behold, the star that they had seen rising went before them, and led
them in its course over the cities until it stood over the place where the
child was.
Seeing the star, they were filled with [there
awakened in them] an exceedingly great and holy joy.
Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary,
his mother; they fell down before him and worshipped him. Then they opened
their treasures and offered him their gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to
Herod, they departed to their country by another way.
Epiphany
January 12, 2020
Matthew 2:1–12
The wise priest-kings from the east, as they come closer to
the child, stop in the royal city of Jerusalem
It would seem that this child is, from the beginning,
connected with death. A poem by T.S. Eliot hints at this; in it, one of the wise
men says,
…were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth,
certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had
seen birth and death,
But had thought they were
different…*
The arrival of the Life that is the Light calls forth the
shadowy oppositional
forces of death. Herod is threatened by the real heir to
the throne that he occupies. He is even willing to kill innocent children to
keep possession of it. Yet the destructive power of evil also activates the
angels. They will come to Joseph in a dream. They will urge him to take the
Child to the city of the sun in Egypt
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| Nikolej Koshelev |
Evil finds its match. And the death force that rises up at
the Child’s birth will finally be overcome, even in its ‘proper place’ at the
end of His life. For in Him, death itself will become the birth of something
new, a new human form.
…were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth,
certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had
seen birth and death,
But had thought they were
different…*
