ONE GOD – ONE FAMILY
Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12
Growing up as a “fauji” kid was an amazing experience of a life of communion! Each campus was a mini-India. We hailed from different places and spoke different languages, professed different faiths, and had different customs. Despite our numerous differences, we shared a common bond. In sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, in mourning and in celebration, we were one people: members of one fauji family.
We are members of one family—one human family which the One God has created. This is the thrust of the readings on the Feast of the Epiphany.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes that the manifestation (or epiphany) of God’s glory in Jesus reveals God’s plan to make all people “members of the same body”.
In the first reading, Isaiah invites Jerusalem to “rise up in splendour” because the exile is over. Her sons and daughters return to Jerusalem; and so will the Gentiles bearing “the wealth of nations” to praise God who has done wonders for all his people.
What Isaiah proclaims in verse, Matthew narrates in word! Bethlehem is the destination of the pilgrimage of the Magi bearing gifts to honour the King of the Jews. Jews and Gentiles are one in praising and adoring the one God. And God, in the person of Jesus, is reaching out to one people, to the whole world.
In a world which increasingly emphasizes division based on gender, race, religion, nationality, class… the Feast of the Epiphany is a powerful reminder that for God there are no foreigners, no outsiders; all are his beloved children.
Do I see myself as a member of the one human family? How will I manifest and celebrate my oneness with all people in the week ahead?
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