EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
I am going to India tomorrow for a month and three of my friends called and they said, “we have two words for you as you are going to India” Since I know them all well for many, many years, I know exactly what they were going to say, two words, “Miss you”. So, I said, you are going to say, “Miss you”. They said, “No, not at all. All we want to say is, ‘Thank God”.
Today the Holy Catholic Church celebrates ‘Epiphany’ of the Lord. Epiphany can be divided into two words, Epi and Phania: Epi means above and Phania means reveal or manifestation. It is a manifestation from above or the revelation of Christ as our Savior and Lord.
In today’s gospel, we meet with three different groups. The groups of king Herod, the groups of the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Magi’s group.
- The political group of Herod and his officials and others: The great philosopher Aristotle says that man is by very nature a political animal. Since he reasons and communicates, he can alter his situations. Even where there are two people, there will be a certain amount of politics which cannot be avoided in any way. Non-ethical and power- based politics will destroy the very core of society and Herod played power politics and thus he killed all his family members and others. When he heard about the new born king, the bible says, “He was frightened and all Jerusalem with him”.
- The religious group of the Pharisees and the Scribes: The most dangerous groups of all. Only the religious people killed Christ on the Cross. Even after the long interrogation, Pilate announced to the religious leaders saying, “I don’t find anything wrong with this man”. So, the religious fanatics screamed at loud voice saying, ‘Crucify Him, Crucify Him”. When religion, our faith and spirituality should help us to find the way, the life and the truth.
- Then comes the final group the Magi group and anyone who is constantly searching for the truth and looking for God belongs to this group, like the shepherds, the ordinary, everyday and the wise people. What they were looking for, they found it. They were constantly looking for God the Messiah and when the Messiah came, it was revealed to them. The Manifestation of the Lord filled their hearts, minds with the love and kindness of God.
They say, “What you are looking for, is already looking for you”. The one amazing thing with this group is “Intensity”. They had that intensity of finding God and they found it. What is the use of finding God after death or tomorrow? It’s all about today, now. If we don’t find God, now. Then it’s always too late.
Christ our Lord says that those who search will find it. With intensity and clarity as we look for God, we will find him. All we need is that great intensity.
Once the man who went to a spiritual guru said, ‘You know what I have been looking for God all my life and I never found him. I go church to church and service to service and nothing happens, and I begin to suspect that there is no God. The Guru felt bad for him and took him to a river and then that unexpected event happened. He pushed his head in the water and was holding it for a minute or two and then as he let him out, looked at him and said, ‘I have only one question for you. When you were in the water, what were you thinking? The man said, ‘I wasn’t thinking about anything. All I was trying is just to breath. Yes, breathing was my only thing that I had in my mind”.
Then the guru said, ‘If you have that same intensity to find God, you will find him not tomorrow or today but right now”. It's all depends on your intensity. The Buddhist story concludes saying, “The man was instantly enlightened’
In the book of Revelation, Jesus says, “Behold, I am standing at the door knocking and if anyone opens it, I will come in and thus I will dine with him and he with me”. Let us open the door and let the Master come in. Then everyday will be Epiphany for us. God bless.
