EPIPHANY SUNDAY HOMILY – YEAR B

EPIPHANY SUNDAY HOMILY – YEAR B

THEME: MESSIAH BEYOND BORDERS

BY: Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, 

1. Border Joke. It is January 2024 and fearing another military mobilization to continue Putin’s unjust war and illegal occupation of Ukraine, a Russian citizen crosses the border into Latvia and hands his passport to the customs officer. The customs officer asks: “Name?” The Russian replies: “Vladimir Krylov”. The customs officer continues: “Occupation?” The Russian replies shaking his head: “No, no, not at all, I’m not here to occupy, just visiting.” Sisters and brothers, across and within many national borders today, there are wars and violence. Across Israel and Gaza. Within Mexico and Myanmar. And so on. Yet, our common humanity has not lost the moral epiphany that continues to shine forth in humanitarian organizations such as “Doctors Without Borders” (Médecins Sans Frontières) who mobilize doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to provide medical care to people in parts of the world where it is most lacking. Thanks be to God, the divine spark in us, has led to over 100 of such organizations without borders. Yes, we now have Engineers Without Borders; Professors Without Borders, Teachers Without Borders; Bankers Without Borders; Techies Without Borders, Lawyers Without Borders, Action Without Borders; Love Without Borders and even Clowns Without Borders! Today, we celebrate God’s guidance of Magi from the East, across many borders, to Bethlehem, manifesting that the newborn Messiah, transcends all borders and is Messiah of All.

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2. Messiah Beyond Borders. Dear sisters and brothers, by taking up human nature in order to save mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ has become part of every human culture such that following Christ can never be alien to any human culture. Precisely because every human being is already created in God’s image, every human being is ready to receive salvation from Christ. Today we celebrate how God used human beings from different nations and places to prepare salvation in Christ Jesus. “Epiphany” has two Greek roots: “epi”, upon, and “phainein”, to bring to light or to manifest. Epiphany of the Lord is the manifestation of the Messiah to non-Jewish nations or gentiles, through the visit of the Magi to the Infant Messiah as recounted in today’s Gospel reading (Mt 2:1-12). Today we celebrate God’s revelation of the Infant Savior to the whole world through the Magi from the East. The event was a fulfilment of prophecies already made. Centuries before, Isaiah prophesied as we heard in today’s 1st Reading (Is 60:1-6), itemizing even the gifts that the Magi would bring, “…all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord”. Today’s Psalm echoes the prophecy: “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.” (Ps 72:11). St Paul in the 2nd reading (Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6) reminds us that God offers salvation in Christ Jesus to every human being, Jews, and Gentiles alike: “it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

3. Journey to Christ. The journey of the Magi to the Infant of Bethlehem represents the journey of each individual and each nation in the world, the journey that entails our search for meaning, our search for purpose, our search for truth and lasting happiness in life, our search for salvation. While alive, we are all at various stages in the search. The search happens because we are “imago Dei” and “capax Dei”: created in God’s image and capable of receiving God. The search starts from every person’s conscience as we try to do good and avoid evil. The search ends when, after our death, we receive eternal salvation which Christ, the Savior beyond borders, earned for all humanity. In between, God gives guidance through apparition of angels as for Mary, through creation including stars as for the Magi, through dreams as for Joseph and the Magi, through prophecies in Scripture as for Mary, Joseph, the Magi, and the rest of us, in every time and place. Yes, all 8.1 billion humans from about 200 different nations at this time, like all human beings who have ever existed, are at various stages in this journey to the truth that saves. We face many Herods even in 2024, but the good news remains that God provides and uses all of us to share resources for the journey. I believe that even the gold offered by the Magi to the Infant of Bethlehem, was of great help to Joseph and Mary when they fled Judea to Egypt, to avoid Herod. As we share our gold with others, to help nurture every life from conception to natural death, to combat insecurity, ill-health, etc, like the Magi, may we have the strength and perseverance to follow God’s guidance to the Truth that enlightens and saves us. (Jn 14:6). Amen.

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