Arise and shine

Across the limits of time, the prophet Isaiah calls out to us today: Arise, shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! (Is 60:1).  Throughout the Christmas season, we have been remembering and celebrating the great gift that our God sent to us.  The light of God's presence came to us in the form of a child and the glory of God has risen upon us.

Today, we hear some more of the story: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem ... wise men from the East came to Jerusalem in search of the child.  They had observed his star at its rising and had come to pay him homage (Mt 2:1-2).  Those visitors from the East were astrologers, people whose function was to look for signs in the stars; once they had discovered the sign of the star, they needed to follow it, to find the Messiah.  Arriving in Jerusalem, they went first to Herod - the Magi expected that the star would lead them to the new king and therefore they went in search of the king within Herod's palace, but when King Herod heard the news, he was frightened (Mt 1:3) for he saw this new king as a threat to his own power.

In the child Jesus, the visitors from the East recognized the fulfillment of God's promise; they were filled with love and showered Jesus with signs of that love in the form of the precious gifts they had brought with them (cf Mt 1:11), yet the greatest gift was the one that God shared with us: the child, his own son, the promised Messiah, the light that rose upon us, the light that has been guiding us all out of darkness.

This light dispels the darkness that results from the misguided words of those who seek only their own desires.  The Magi were able to lift up their eyes and look around (Is 60:4) in order to see beyond the cunning but short-sighted demands that Herod placed upon them.  Like those visitors, the love of our god helps us to face our own fears, to move beyond our own temptations to become confused by the voices of this world and to discover instead the light of His love that will never deceive us.

The encounter of the visitors from the East shows us that God sent his Son not only for the sake of a few, but so that all people might be enlightened by his presence.  As Saint Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians, we have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise of Christ Jesus (Eph 3:6).  The light of God's love shines upon all the world.  He came among us so that we could all come to know that each one of us is precious to Him, for every one of us is a child of God.  This is the good news that we have come to know.  This is the good news that we must share with those we meet every day.