The Epiphany of the Lord, Year B

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12.

We all know the story of the Magi. We hear it each and every year on the Feast of the Epiphany, and while we hear different versions from year to year, the basics never change. We hear about the travels of the Three Wise Men, these strangers from the east, who, having been alerted to the possible arrival of the Messiah by a star, travel a great distance to seek him out. We know a lot about what happens during that journey, about how they present their credentials to Herod, about how they continue to follow the star to Bethlehem, to the stable, and about how when they come into the presence of the Word Made Flesh they joyously recognise his presence, and fall down on their knees and do homage.

Yes, we know a lot about the Magi and their journey. We even know their names, don’t we? (Editor’s note: Not everyone to whom this question was posed could recall that the names of the Magi are Gaspar, Balthazar, and Melchior.)

These Magi, these searchers from the east, having met the Christ-child and recognised the presence of the Divine, and having paid homage to the new-born ‘King of the Jews’, then proceed to honour the custom of visitors bearing gifts, presenting the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Which really begs the question.

If the Magi presents gifts to the Christ-child after coming into his presence and offering homage, what are we – who gather here each and every Sunday in the presence of Christ to honour and worship God in Eucharist – what are we prepared to present as a gift?

Will we simply go down to Big W – or David Jones if you’re a bit upmarket – and try to find the ‘just right’ gift from the shelves and hand it over? It would certainly be the safe option. Such a gift would require much from us, and it certainly wouldn’t cost us much…apart from paying the credit card bill at the end of the month. Giving such a gift would acquit our obligation, and there would be no further demand on us. We could simply return to our lives, going about the day to day stuff.

Or will we, as faith-filled Christians, be prepared to lay everything before our God? Are we prepared to give all our gifts, which we have already received from God, all our skills and talents, our strengths and capabilities, and give them all over to be used by God as God wills and for God’s purpose? Such a choice of gift is certainly not an easy one, and it would continue to make demands on us, today, tomorrow, next week, and next year. It is, quite literally, a gift that keeps on giving, constantly making further demands on us, but surely that is the call of Christianity – to be completely open to being part of God’s mission of proclaiming the Good News of our salvation made possible through the Incarnation of the Word in the person of Jesus.

On this great solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, when we celebrate the revelation of Jesus as the promised Messiah to the nations, it is timely to be reminded that our response to that revelation must be not only simple homage and worship, but the gifting of our entire lives, all that we are, to God for God to use as God wills.