Sermon 374

SERMO 374

ON THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

The magi were led to Christ by the star and the revelation of the angels.

The annual celebration of this day demands an annual sermon from us, due to your ears and hearts. Today our Savior brought the Magi to Himself from such a distant nation. They came to worship the infant, the Word of God. Why did they come? Because they saw an unusual star. And how did they know it was of Christ? For they could see the star; could it speak to them and say: I am the star of Christ? Without a doubt, it was indicated differently, through some revelation. Nevertheless, an unusual king was born, who was to be worshipped even by strangers. Were not kings born before in Judea, or throughout the earth in different nations? Why was this one to be worshipped, and by foreigners, not with a terrifying army, but in the poverty of the flesh, with the majesty of power hidden? When He was born, He was worshipped by shepherds of Israel, to whom the Angels announced Him: but the Magi were not from the people of Israel. They worshipped the gods of the Gentiles, that is, demons; they were deceived by their false power. Therefore, they saw a certain unusual star, they marveled: undoubtedly they inquired whose sign it was, which they saw so new and strange. And without a doubt, they heard, surely from the Angels, from some admonition of revelation. You might ask: From good Angels, or bad ones? Even the evil angels, that is, demons, confessed that Christ was the Son of God. But why not also hear from the good ones, when in worshipping Christ, their salvation was now sought, not iniquity domination? Therefore, the Angels could say to them: The star you saw is of Christ, go and worship Him where He is born, and at the same time indicate how and how great He was born. When they heard this, they came and worshipped Him. They offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh, according to their custom. For they were accustomed to offering such things to their gods.

Christ demonstrated to the Gentiles by the Jews.

What indeed before they acted, before they found him in the city where he was born, they came seeking: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Could they not also have known this by revelation, just as they had known that star to be the star of the king of the Jews? Could not the same star have led them to that city, just as later it led them to the place where Christ was with his mother as an infant? It surely could have, but it was not done so; so that they might inquire this from the Jews. Why did God want this to be inquired from the Jews? So that while they show the one in whom they do not believe, by their own demonstration they might be condemned. Notice, too, that now the wise men, the first fruits of the Gentiles, being delivered from greater impiety, give greater glory to the one who delivered them. They ask: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Herod, hearing the name of the king, trembles as a rival. He calls the experts in the Law, asks them according to the Scriptures to indicate where Christ was to be born. They reply: In Bethlehem of Judea. The wise men went and worshiped; the Jews remained, who had pointed them out. O great mystery! Today we convict through the books of the Jews: they become faithful through their books. We show the pagans what they do not want to believe. For sometimes pagans pose such a question to us, when they see things written so fulfilled that they absolutely cannot deny that they are presented in all nations through the name of Christ, which are recited as predicted in the holy books, in the faith of kings, in the overthrow of idols, in the change of human affairs: and sometimes they dare to say: You saw these things happening, and as if they were foretold, you wrote them down. Some of their poets did this: those who have read know. He narrated that someone descended to the underworld and came to the region of the blessed, and the rulers of the Romans to be born were shown to him, whom he who was writing this already knew to have been born. For he narrated past events; but as if they had been predicted in the future, he wrote them down. Thus, they say to us pagans, you saw all these things happening and wrote for yourselves books in which these are read as if foretold. O glory of our king! Rightly the Jews were conquered by the Romans, but not exterminated. All nations subdued by the Romans passed into the laws of the Romans: this nation was both conquered and remained in its own law, as far as the worship of God is concerned, preserving ancestral customs and rites. Even with their temple overthrown, their former priesthood extinguished, as said by the Prophets; yet they keep circumcision and a certain custom by which they are distinguished from other nations. Why, except for the testimony of the truth? Jews are scattered everywhere, carrying the books in which Christ is foretold and presented as predicted, so that now it can be shown to the pagans. I bring forth the book, I read the prophet: I show the prophecy fulfilled. The pagan doubts, lest perhaps I have made this up. My enemy has this book, handed down to him from antiquity by his ancestors. From this, I convict both: the Jew, because I have known that prophecy and its fulfillment; the pagan, because I did not invent this.

The sacrifice owed to the one God.

Therefore, let not demons, by the appearance of divination, seduce the unwary and those with an ill curiosity for temporal matters; nor, with proud arrogance deceiving the impious, demand for themselves the honor of sacrifices. Truly divine men, disciples of the one, have foretold divine things. The true sacrifice is owed to the one true God. The figures of this, before grace, were prefigured by victims. What was to happen in one manner, divine providence foretold in many ways, to show how great it was. He is the doctor, He is the medicine: the doctor, because the Word; the medicine, because the Word was made flesh. He is the priest, He is the sacrifice. He is the one who changed the way of the Magi: He also now changes the lives of the wicked. The manifestation of Him in the flesh, which in Greek is called Epiphany, the nations justified in the spirit celebrate with today's solemnity: so that the solemnity may renew the memory, devotion may flourish with piety, charity may glow with the congregation, and truth may shine for the envious.