Epiphany, Baptism, Cana, Transfiguration

The Solemnity of the Epiphany, a word which means manifestation, the manifestation of Christ’s divinity to the Gentiles. It is by way of the Magi, the three kings who travelled to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, drawn by light of the star. They came from the East. They said: “We saw His star and its rising.” Also the divinity of Christ will be manifested at the start of his public ministry, at his baptism which we celebrate on Monday, at his first miracle at the wedding Feast of Cana in the changing of water into wine and toward the end on the Mount of the Transfiguration with the disciples Peter, James and John where the voice from the cloud was heard to say, as was heard also at Jesus’ baptism, “Thou art my Beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.” “Listen to him.”

Emphasis must be placed on the divinity of Jesus, the Scriptures tell us that, “The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” And that He took his human nature from his Virgin Mother and that He was like us in all things, save sin, “In all of that He was a divine person,” He who sees me sees the Father.” “For I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” Life is Christ.

Jesus knew from the beginning what His Father’s will was. It is revealed in the gifts brought by the Magi, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold signifies Christ’s kingship over heaven and earth. In Mt. 28:18 Jesus says, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me”. Frankincense for a priest who will give sacrifice, and that sacrifice will be Himself. Man cannot make amends for the offences against the goodness of God. Only God could do that and so Christ will be our eternal priest. But He will make recompense as one of us. Christ became like us so that through sanctifying grace we could become like Him. If we are to see the Father we must become like Him. Sanctifying grace in us is a sharing in the life of Christ without which we do not have life in us. “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” “You are to become perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Remembering that we are in the image of God. The image is restored through Christ’s sacrifice in our place. The third gift is myrrh which is for the embalming of a body, for someone who has died and so is it the Father’s will that His only Son the Divine and second Person of the Holy Trinity should die in our flesh so that sins might be forgiven. If we are to be like Him in holiness then, as He did so must we. If we die with Him so will we be raised with Him on the last day. It is in baptism that this dying takes place – in the first instance.

The Baptism of Jesus by John is the second Epiphany for by it we see that Christ is the second person of the Holy Trinity. When He rose from the waters of the Jordon the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and the voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” The second part of Mt. 28:18 is “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

In Baptism we die to the world and to our concupiscence through the grace given. We are given spiritual life and made part of Christ’s body. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us in #2015, “The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.”

This premise is refitted today in the claim that all people will be saved and see the beatific vision. But that is not what the church teaches, Jesus reminds us many times that without living the commandments and the precepts of the church and moral law one cannot be saved. “Many will say to me Lord, Lord, after the door has been closes and I will say depart from me for I never knew you.”

Listen to what St. Paul says in 2Cor. about the treasure that God has given us in Christ who is the light. “Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodily frame. For we the living are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifested in our mortal flesh. Is this not a glimpse of the spiritual life? “There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle” that passes by way of the Cross.

The last two Epiphanies are the changing of water into wine at the wedding of Cana and the Transfiguration.

At Cana Jesus, at the request of his mother, performed His first miracle. It prefigures the establishment of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper which would be empowered the last day of the Lords’ death on the Cross. Wine was changed into blood and spilled forth from His Body. “Taking bread He said This is my body.” The wedding of Cana is reenacted from the Cross when Jesus’ side is opened by the solder’s lance and from that wound came forth blood and water the signs of Eucharist and Baptism prefiguring the birth of the church. The bride of Christ, the bride groom Christ died for his bride the Church. His relationship to her is indissoluble. The valid and sacramental marriage of a man and a woman is a reflection of Christ and his Church, in Gen. we read “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and join himself to his wife. The two shall become one flesh. What God has joined no man shall put asunder - Indissolubility.

On the Mount of the Transfiguration where he had gone with Peter, James and John, He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes were as white as snow. The Father’s voice was heard from the cloud and they were visited by Moses and Elijah the prophet. The end of his public life was near. The culmination of Jesus’ mission was at hand. The Old Testament figures came to comfort Him and God the Father was well pleased with His Divine Son and said, “Listen to Him.”

These four happenings are major events that tell of Jesus divinity and His mission. He was not only opposed by Satan at every turn but by his countrymen, disciples and His own received Him not.

The Magi told Herod, “We saw His star at its rising” that star of Bethlehem was Jesus’ star. In Rev. he says: “I am the morning star.” All heavenly bodies in our solar system, all stars take their light from the sun. It’s reflected light. But Jesus star reflected His light. “Light from Light, true God from true God. Begotten not made.” “In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness grasped it not.”

Jesus, Son of God, is a divine person. Come in our nature to pay the price for our ransom. So that through baptism, renunciation of our own desires, seeking to become holy as He is Holy and obedience to God’s will for us we may have life abundantly.

Like the Magi let us return to our own country by the light and way of Christ and not to Herod who wants to destroy us.