Happy three kings & the epiphany!

Today is Epiphany Sunday, a.k.a. The Three Kings, which to young kids is actually a continuation of Christmas. So let’s read the story of the Three kings, which you can read it in Matt. 2:1-12.

“When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 Assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet; 6 “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”. 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.”

9 After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.”

Who doesn’t know the Three Kings? But the surprise is; the names of the Magi are not found in any Bible. We know their names from Catholic Church tradition, after all; the Bible and tradition are repositories of the truth that the Catholic Church teaches. The Three Kings are Gaspar of Mesopotamia, Balthasar of Parthia, and Melchior of Media and they supposedly ruled over those lands which are now part of Iran and Iraq. Melchior was the oldest, Balthasar had a dark brown complexion (meaning he could be from Far Eastern Asia) and Gaspar was the youngest among the three.

The commonality among the Magi was that, they were also great scholars and were already friends who shared their knowledge. So when Christ was born, the three assembled themselves for their month-long journey from the deserts and the rivers of Chaldea and Syria. Their caravan of camels and horses included their own relatives, friends and a large retinue of servants. Clearly the Magi sensed that the Messiah was to be born by December, which is why even before Mary and Joseph set out for Bethlehem, the Magi’s already started their journey from their land.

This could only mean that the “rising star” that pointed them to Judea was already visible. So we ask, why did the Magi stop in Jerusalem to look for the new born Messiah? Were they asking for directions? Why ask for directions if they had a special star that shone bright to lead them to the Messiah? Tradition has it that when the Magi crossed the Jordan River and went to Jerusalem where the Holy Temple was located, they knew they had already arrived at this Holy City and thought that the King of the Jews would be born in this Holy city. But to their dismay, there was no rejoicing in Jerusalem for a newly-born Messiah as no one knew about this event!

When King Herod asked the Magi to talk to him they feared that King Herod must be keeping the Child King away from them. After that meeting, it was then that they realized that even King Herod knew nothing about the birth of the Messiah and that God’s only begotten Son was not to be born in a Royal Palace or the Holy Temple. As they left Jerusalem to resume their search, the rising star appeared once more and guided them to Bethlehem. There they found the Holy Child with his mother and father staying inside a cave placed in a manger living in humble poverty.

In Raphael Brown’s book entitled, “The Life of Mary: As Seen by the Mystics” he describes this moment, “seeing the divine Babe of Bethlehem thus, the Three Kings fell on their knees before Him and again adored and worshipped Him. Their hearts became inflamed with a burning mystical devotion for Him. And in fervent silent prayer they offered to the Christ Child their kingdoms, their peoples, their families, all their possessions, and their own selves. They humbly begged him to rule over their souls and thoughts and all their actions, to enlighten them and so give happiness, peace and charity to the World.”  Then the whole caravan entourage also did the child homage.

For us in Cebu, Three Kings ushers in our great feast of the Sinulog, the Cebuanos great devotion to the Holy Child the Sto. Niño. It is because we hold our feast on the first month of the year that Cebu is so blessed by God. As Jesus said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.” Happy Three Kings to one and all!