Scripture Study for
The Epiphany of the Lord
Isaiah 60:1–6 / Psalm 72:11 / Ephesians 3: 2–3a, 5–6 / Matthew 2: 1–12
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Understanding the Word
By Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.
The reading from Isaiah opens with a twofold summons addressed to the city of Jerusalem: Arise! Shine! Although it had been downtrodden and enshrouded in darkness, it is now called out of this desperate state. The illumination into which it emerges is not merely the light of a new day, a new era of peace and prosperity. It is the very light of God. Its dispersed inhabitants return; its destroyed reputation is restored; and its despoiled prosperity is reconstituted. This is not a promise to be fulfilled in the future; Jerusalem’s salvation is an accomplished fact. It is happening before its very eyes.
The primary message to the Ephesians, that in Christ the Gentiles are co-heirs, co-members, and co-partners with the Jews, had been revealed to Paul by God. Since what qualifies one as an heir is life in the Spirit of Christ and not natural generation into a particular national group, there is no obstacle in the path of Gentile incorporation. The body to which all belong is the body of Christ, not the bloodline of Abraham. The promise at the heart of gospel preaching is the promise of universal salvation through Christ.
As we near the end of the Christmas season we read another popular Christmas story: the Three Kings or Three Wise Men. Actually, they were astrologers, men who studied the heavenly bodies and sought to discover the meaning of human life on earth. These anonymous men come out of obscurity and they return to obscurity. All we know about them is that they were not Israelite, and this is the whole point of the story. It illustrates that people of good will, regardless of their ethnic or religious background, are responsive to the revelation of God. The openness of these astrologers brought them to the child, and they did not go away disappointed. This child draws Jew and Gentile alike.