At the turn of the 21st century, five planets (i.e. Mercury, Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter) aligned themselves more or less within a quadrant (actually 50 degrees) of the night sky. I remember bringing out our telescopes at the Manila Observatory to show people the unusual sight. One common reaction to this planetary “alignment” was alarm. It came from those who couldn’t get Y2K out of their system, fearing erroneously that the concerted gravitational pull of these planets would zap us out of orbit. The other reaction came from the optimists who associated the alignment of these celestial “wanderers” with good fortune. Well, the world did not end in 2000, which was good. But the dot-com (or internet) bubble burst spectacularly in 2000, bad.
There are epiphanies and there are epiphanies. Some choose to divine their fate and future from forces outside themselves, such as stars or tea leaves that they endow with power to predict and even change the course of their lives. The solemnity of the Epiphany today recalls how wise men from the East came to learn about the birth of the Christ-child not by direct angelic announcement but through the more hushed calculation of the constellations (i.e. the Christmas star over Bethlehem, or was it a comet or some form of planetary or stellar alignment).
The point of the magi story however has nothing to do with how the epiphany happens. It has everything to do with what (or who) is revealed, the Mystery of the divinity that is unveiled and that continues to unveil itself in our lives today.
That the star was the guide to the learned men’s calculated approach to God only meant that the event was of universal and cosmic significance. Starlight after all is not local or limited or exclusive. Gaze at the universe long enough and you just might discover God or this quite ineffable longing for God.
If the anomalous arrangement of the heavens prompts these learned outsiders to seek God, it is the anomaly in the gifts they bring that breaks the near-universal expectations and notions of God that have long been held by insiders or believers. That third and outlier gift is myrrh. It is not the usual item in your gift registry. Gold and incense are prophesied in Isaiah, the first reading today. But not myrrh.
In the story of the magi, three gifts are given to the Christ-child: gold for a king who presides over his realm, incense for a priest who mediates between God and man, and myrrh for someone destined to die. These are gifts that are meant to reveal and recognize the recipient in the manger.
They are radical markers of the identity of the Redeemer-child as much as they are signs of who we are as giver of these gifts. In effect, these gifts are three powers that are offered back to us who bear the image and likeness of the Christ-child. The three powers, which the Child returns to us to give to one another, are the power to lead, to mediate, and to suffer.
We are given the power to lead and shepherd the flock entrusted to us. This is the gift of true leadership, which is in such short supply in our society. False shepherds are easily ensnared by power and wealth. Herods abound who are motivated by greed and envy and fear. We are asked to lead our lives and others the way Christ leads us selflessly, courageously, out of love.
We are given the power to mediate between God and his people. This is the gift of our shared priesthood, the gift of our ordained mission at baptism to mirror God to each other and to mirror each other to God. We are called to bridge the human and the divine, to mediate mercy and the goodness of God to one another out of love.
We are given the power to suffer, the power to proclaim truth and serve justice, the power to keep faith, bring hope, and make peace, the power to bear compassion for those who suffer. This is the gift of the cross, which is hardly a gift if not borne out of love. We are invited to suffer love, to be bearers of love amid the ruins, a love that is self-emptying and enduring and redeeming.
In the Epiphany, planetary or stellar alignment is not material to the mystery. The only alignment worth heeding happens when heaven’s gifts are seen to constellate with those of ours. It is this gracious alignment of gifts and powers, the convergence of heaven and earth in our lives that is the epiphany we celebrate today. As we surrender gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh to God, to us he surrenders the power to lead and mediate and suffer love.
H