This Sunday we celebrate the manifestation of the Christ-Child to the world. We are told that wise men from the East came to offer this Child with gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh. They have heard that a King was to be born in Bethlehem and so they seek to find Him. When they were given the sign of a star, they traveled to Bethlehem.
These wise men from the East accepted the Christ-Child and gave homage to the One who would be both King and Martyr. The gospel says: "To His own He came, and yet His own did not accept Him". By the mere instance of great difficulty by which Joseph and Mary looked for a place to stay so that Mary can give birth to Jesus, is a point of fact to the future rejection of the King-Messiah. God-made-man needed a place to be born and yet even at the Inn where Joseph and Mary knocked, they were not given hospitality. But when finally one owner of an inn gave his stable as a place for them to stay, it was a very humble setting - for it is a place where animals stay and feed. Such is His lowly estate that the Word made flesh will reveal Himself to humanity.
Though Christ lived humility to perfection, He had power to save all humanity. In the Gospel, we read: "Any who did accept Him He empowered to become children of God." The power all Christians received from Christ is a life-giving strength. No power on earth can destroy the Spirit of life in Jesus and in all who follow Him. Christ is the Source of our life and our strength. Though death tried to overcome Him, the Father sent the Holy Spirit to vindicate Him from the power of sin and death. In this feast of the Epiphany, we already foresee through our knowledge of the faith, how God would empower Christ to defeat sin and death, and also share the victory with us if only we continue to have faith in Him.
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