SERMON/HOMILY ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD YEAR B 7TH JANUARY 2024

HOMILY ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD, YEAR B

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ps.72; Eph.3:2-3a, 5-6; Matt.2:1-12

 _“Arise, shine; for your light has come_ …” (Isa.60:1)

Our obligation to beam the Light of Christ!

Today, we celebrate the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the world. This celebration is called Epiphany, from the greek word _Epiphanes_ . Unlike the feast of Christ’s presentation in the temple, the Epiphany was not a Jewish rite for Children. What the wise men from the East did for Jesus was not something that was usually done for every child. The act of the wise men was uniquely for Christ and was singly motivated and directed by God himself. In the action of the wise men, God himself showed that Jesus was not merely a child but the expected messiah.

It is important that this manifestation was made at the birth of Christ, to show that Jesus did not become the Messiah at some point in his earthly life or after some extraordinary event in his life; Jesus was born as the Messiah. Whatever one is born with can be said to be natural – an act of God. So, just like the incarnation itself, the salvific identity and mission of Jesus is no action of any man. Jesus has come to show us the way to the Father. He has come to move us from darkness into light; he has come to save drowning humanity from the clutches of sin; he has come to undo the effects of sin through reconciliation with the Father. Interestingly too, he has come to enable us to bring this light in the lives of many others.

In the first reading, Isaiah tells us that light has come to us and we in-turn have been made light. The light comes to bring us out of darkness; so that we become enabled to bring others out of darkness too. We often times forget this principle in life. It remains true that you cannot give what you do not have (nemo dat quod non habet). Whatever you reject, you automatically lack the capacity to give it to others. Today, we find parents with bad characters, hoping to give good nurturing to their children. People who have not been good followers are promising all good things if elected leaders in various capacities. Someone is a hardened sinner today; tomorrow, he/she claims to have experienced Christ and now has the capacity to lead as a pastor (not minding that conversion is always procedural). People who have not been able to manage their private businesses are craving to be entrusted with what is public. No matter how we sugarcoat it, life does not work that way. We can only give what we truly have, not by nomenclature but by real capacity.

Isaiah went on to mention the density of the light we have become. It is no small light; for he says: “and nations shall walk by your light, and kings in the brightness of your rising”. God has made us for greatness! There is so much we can accomplish if we remain in Christ, the light of the world. Likewise, there is so much we put at stake when we fail to walk in the light. Life is such that what we do necessarily affects others, whether good or bad. Often times, our actions and inactions have far reaching effects than we can ever imagine. When these actions are good, we would have unknowingly caused goodness for some persons somewhere. Little wonder in Matt. 25:31-40 those at the left answered: when did we see you hungry and fed you….? But when our actions are bad, we become like those at the right hand who are surprised by the very wrong we have done.

Beloved, let us not consciously refuse to do good for anyone, irrespective of the situation and who the person is. St. Paul tells us in the second reading that God has revealed that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel”. God never rejects anyone, and so we shouldn’t. But what does it mean to be good?  Good acts are acts that essentially speaks Christ to others. Goodness is not always something pleasurable or fascinating; but it must have the capacity to better the lives of others. So, a good act could be in form of disciplinary or corrective measures. Thus, it will not also be good to give mercy when justice is denied.

To move from darkness into light is not always a pleasurable experience. The clutches of sin can blindfold us so that we see nothing good in the light Christ beams on us. Today, we have more persons who are refuse the gospel than persons who have not heard the gospel. Many persons are still in habitual sins because they are not ready to embrace the discipline that comes with repentance. For example, a man with two wives does not want to regularize his marriage in the Church with one of the wives, for fear that the children of the other woman will stop contributing to his upkeep. Or, a couple refusing to solemnize their union in the Church for fear that they may have to go their separate ways tomorrow (even when they already have children together). The point here is that, these persons are ready to hold on to their selfishness at the cost of their full communion with the Church. There can be no conversion without discipline!

The gospel reading narrates how the wise men followed the star judiciously until it brought them to the baby Jesus. We do not know exactly how long the journey was but from their stopover and experience in Herod’s palace, we can see the difficulty and confusion they encountered on this journey. Herod tried to discard the news that a new king has been born; when he could not, he tried deceiving the wise men.

Beloved, if you must remain on track in the journey of salvation, you must always be prayerful. The challenges that comes with consistency in following Christ is not something you can face without Christ. If there is one thing you should be known for this New Year, let it be that you don’t joke with your prayer life. The star did not lead the wise men to Herod’s house; their speculation did. But as soon as they left the house, they saw the star again. If you are prayerful, you will not go far in the wrong direction before help with come to you. The wise men believed Herod that he too wants to honour the new born king; but God told them the truth in a dream. If you are prayerful, many things may happen to you but in all, you will always be victorious.

Know it today that the Lord has given each of us the responsibility of manifesting the light of Christ is this darkened world. If we are not beaming this light or even constituting the darkness ourselves, we can be very sure to fail in every other thing; for nothing progressive happens in the dark.