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Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 71 Ephesians 3:2-6 Matthew 2: 1-12
Isaiah's vision in the first reading is of God's light shining out over Jerusalem in the world's darkness, drawing towards itself the nations of the world with their kings. Then all people will come to praise God bringing gifts from East and West. The psalmist repeats the same message identifying God's king as the one to whom the nations will pay homage and serve.
Matthew is the only evangelist to relate the story of the wise men coming to pay homage to Jesus and bring him the gifts proclaimed by Isaiah. In later tradition gold came to symbolise the kingship of Christ, incense his divinity and myrrh his redemptive suffering. The men had come from the East and represented, for Matthew, the Gentile world. Jesus is the one to whom all the nations of the earth will come and worship as the "king of the Jews", the royal messiah. And so Paul can say with confidence that it has been revealed to him that all people can inherit the promises made by God to the people of Israel.
The feast of the Epiphany is a celebration of the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the world, symbolised by the visit of the wise men. We may not experience a deep revelation of Christ's presence but let us pray, this week, that we may recognise Christ in our everyday lives and in the people we meet.