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| The word ‘epiphany’ itself means manifestation or revelation. In the Christian tradition, it is the story of the revelation of God and of God’s love in the child born in Bethlehem. The revelation is meant for all people, as symbolized by the arrival of the visitors from far, far away. |
The journey of the wise men from the East is
just the beginning of a great procession that continues throughout history.
With the Magi, humanity’s pilgrimage to Jesus Christ begins – to the God who
was born in a stable, who died on the Cross and who, having risen from the
dead, remains with us always, until the consummation of the world (cf. Mt 28:20).
The wise men from the East lead the way.
They open up the path of the Gentiles to Christ. What kind of people were they?
The experts tell us that they belonged to the great astronomical tradition that
had developed in Mesopotamia over the centuries and continued to flourish. But
this information of itself is not enough. No doubt there were many astronomers
in ancient Babylon, but only these few set off to follow the star that they
recognized as the star of the promise, pointing them along the path towards the
true King and Saviour. They were, as we might say, men of science, but not
simply in the sense that they were searching for a wide range of knowledge:
they wanted something more. They wanted to understand what being human is all
about.
They were men with restless hearts, not
satisfied with the superficial and the ordinary. They were men in search of the
promise, in search of God. And they were watchful men, capable of reading God’s
signs, his soft and penetrating language. But they were also courageous, yet
humble: we can imagine them having to endure a certain amount of mockery for
setting off to find the King of the Jews, at the cost of so much effort. For
them it mattered little what this or that person, what even influential and
clever people thought and said about them. For them it was a question of truth
itself, not human opinion. Hence they took upon themselves the sacrifices and
the effort of a long and uncertain journey. Their humble courage was what
enabled them to bend down before the child of poor people and to recognize in
him the promised King, the one they had set out, on both their outward and
inward journey, to seek and to know.
gPope Benedict XVI
