Our Lady of Ransom : The Feast of the Epiphany

The Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on 6th January. In Britain its old name is Twelfth Night. It celebrates the time when Jesus was shown to the Gentiles (i.e. everyone), alerting people to the fact that he had come into the world for everyone, not just the Jews.

We do not know much about these Magi (3 kings) that visited Jesus, from the East. What we do know is that they were astrologers and looked to the stars. That was enough to make them bad people in the eyes of the Jewish leaders. The message for this week is that Jesus is good news for bad people. God calls the star gazers to the birth of the Saviour, and shows how the Messiah brings salvation to those considered beyond hope. The birth of Jesus should challenge our expectations about the way God can and does act in our world.

Gospel Reading for the Epiphany (Matthew 2:1-12)

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.