Jesus has extended an invitation to ‘come and see’ to all who have ever lived. The incarnate Son of God, born to redeem his creation, is eager for us to recognize his presence in our lives. He is eager to show us the way to his Father. He is eager for us to share his love with others while explaining the words that will lead to everlasting life. During our lifetime, Jesus will extend many invitations. All of them will be gracious and all of them will come with a promise. But don’t believe in Jesus or his promises simply on my say-so or even the church’s say-so. The point of today’s Gospel is that if you want to be a disciple of Jesus, you must accept his invitation to walk with him. You must set aside some time to reflect on the words that lead to everlasting life, and with a leap of faith, you must accept those words as your very own. God favor rests on those who understand that “who we are today is not as important as who we are willing to become tomorrow.” That’s why we are here – to find out for ourselves, with the aide of our brothers and sisters, who Jesus is and what he’s expecting of us. We must find out how lovely his dwelling place really is. We need to realize that as we walk with Jesus, the splendor of his glorious light dispels all darkness. We need to be aware that as we emerge from our darkness that the Lamb of God was walking with us, guiding our every step. Good things happen when we draw close to Jesus and when we proclaim his splendor to all who are willing to listen.
The Epiphany journey of the magi is a beautiful description of the spiritual journey of each one of us. I invite for your prayerful reflection to consider several components of the Epiphany account which can easily mirror the spiritual journey of each one of us. Like the magi, we are seekers for an encounter with the Lord, a deeper relationship with Jesus. The magi followed the star discovered in the dark of night to assist them in their journey to Jesus. Who or what are the stars in your life that assist in your journey to Jesus? The stars of life are not just to be found in the sky. Often, it is the soul friends of your life that are the stars for you that lead you to Jesus. The role of King Herod in the Epiphany story symbolizes for us is that we need to expect opposition in the spiritual journey at times. We see the hostility of King Herod to the notion that he would have a rival to his kingship. Before we simply reject the treachery of Herod, we need to acknowledge that there is a Herod within each of us that keeps from following Christ more fully. What are the demons within us that make more self-centered than Christ-centered? The magi presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ child. What gifts do we offer to the Christ child? Our gifts are not gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Rather, our gifts are our time, talent, and treasure that we offer as good stewards of the giftedness that God has blessed us with. Notice well, the magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they departed for their country by another way. Of course, they would return by another route. Their lives have been changed by their encounter with Jesus. May we too with God’s grace have our lives changed by our encounter with Jesus. We cannot go back to our old way of living -- with our fears, our anxieties, our addictions, our grudges, our pettiness. We are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.