God Made Manifest
“And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.”
Matthew 2:9b
Today the Church in the United States celebrates the Epiphany, when we remember the arrival of the Magi or the Wise Men and their presentation of gifts to the Infant Jesus. On a deeper level, the Epiphany is the day when God was made manifest to the people — not just to the Jews, but to all people and all nations, as symbolized by the visit of the Magi from afar.
In that little manger held a most fragile infant. A baby born without the luxury of post-natal care or other medical care. A baby born in a filthy stable and laid in a cold manger wrapped only in scraps of swaddling clothes. This is the way God chose to be made manifest to us: in weakness, in vulnerability, in rejection, in poverty, and in adversity. Our God is a God who stands with us and chooses to be with us in our weakness and trials. Even as the Infant was being born, His life was sought after already by King Herod. From the very moment of the Infant’s life to His final moments, the Lord’s life was at stake and was sought after. God was made manifest in a way that encapsulates the depths of human suffering and the trials one might and must endure in life. In every way, God became man. God became man to tell us that He is truly Emmanuel, “I am with you in every way, every step of the way.”
It was the star that led the Magi to the Infant Jesus. As learned men, they would have seen countless stars, yet this one was different. So different that they were willing to leave their homes, their places of comfort and security, to set off for a long journey to a distant place to see where this star would lead them. They knew at the end of their journey the would find something and someone amazing, Someone to whom they must bear gifts. They also know they would walk away from that encounter changed, where life would never be the same. Brothers and sisters, when we choose to leave behind in comfort what is familiar we will always be led to what is greater, and that to which we are led, we will come to possess: God Himself.
Are we aware of the stars that surround us? What are those stars that we look upon and follow? Do they lead us to Christ or do they lead us away from Christ? Let us identify those stars in our lives — people, places, things — (among them the Church) and allow them to lead us to the Infant Jesus who is God made man, who is God made manifest to us, reminding us that He is with us, in our joys and sorrows, health and sickness, sufferings and trials.
Brothers and sisters, let us look up at the sky and the nature that surrounds us today and may we be reminded of the Creator who created and placed all those things there for our joy, the same Creator who was wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid sleeping, fragile, and vulnerable in the manger. God has made Himself manifest to us. Will we journey to the depths of our hearts, to the spiritual Bethlehem’s in our brothers and sisters to find Him?
