First Sunday in 2016: Epiphany of the Lord

Nativity Scene, East Malaysia, 2006.  I cannot remember where I took this.

One hymn that is a favourite at Mass on this feast is We Three Kings.  Whilst we know today that the wise men who visited the Holy Family were probably not kings, we still sing the hymn.  Furthermore, we assume that there were three because of the three gifts.  However, the scriptures do not mention a number.  It is not the number that is significant but that they were from the East and outside Israel.  They were not Jews.  Let us consider John 1:11-12 :

He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name,

he gave power to become children of God; 

Herod, who was a Jew, was not only not receptive to Jesus, he was positively hostile.  Is it not what the passage above is saying?  The Jewish Herod did not accept Jesus but the non-Jewish wise men did.  Like Joseph, God communicated to them in dreams.  They were given the power to become “children of God”.

Like the Jews, we, who have accepted Jesus, have a special relationship with God.  Yet, we could be like Herod, when we take that relationship for granted.  Herod was not one who had abandoned his faith.  He knew his scriptures and made sure to ask the experts where the new king was to be born.  He probably still professed the Jewish faith and fulfilled all the requirements for sacrifices and other rituals but his life was not really one with God.  When we take our relationship with God for granted, assuming that our ritual practices are enough, we are in danger of becoming like Herod.  We come to Church to fulfil the obligation for Sunday worship but that is not enough.  We have to live our lives as Catholics.  Are we actually convinced of the values that Christ has given through the Church?

The wise men, instead, had probably not come to know God in the same way the Jews knew Him.  However, their hearts were open to him and they obeyed him when he communicated with them.  Perhaps we do not receive dreams everyday from the Lord.  However, we do have the Scriptures and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Do we refer to them for our own personal formation as Catholics?  Do we try to understand the values that God wants us, who believe in his Son, to have?

So, the question for reflection for today and maybe the week ahead is: Am I living the values of the Lord I say I believe in?