Often what happened in your childhood ends up leaving a lasting impression on you. That’s how I remember certain practical details of my childhood, especially discipline around the home. The first thing you learn as a child growing up in the household of Martin and Priscilla is the names of our ancestors, a kind of genealogy—tracing from our oldest sibling, Uba, to the first man, Dara (or Adam), made from the soil. It’s impossible to forget these names. Again, my siblings and I hardly understood the meaning of some of the words written on the walls of my dad’s living-room, but we memorized them anyway because we saw them everyday. As you enter our parlor or living room, your eyes cannot miss the 24 by 36 framed artwork hanging on the wall in which were inscribed these words: “Christ is the Head of this House, the Unseen Guest at Every Meal, the Silent Listener to Every Conversation.” My dad drilled it inside us as kids that Jesus hears every word we utter, so we should make them kind. On the north side of the living-room hangs another saying: “The Family that Prays Together Stays Together.” I have said many times that there is compulsory morning prayer for all at 5:00 am every day in our living room. But the third sign on the east side of the living-room was the one that none of us kids understood until a particular event. It reads: “Wise Men Still Seek Jesus.” My oldest brother had gone to college, and returning for Christmas, he skipped the compulsory morning prayer. My father gave orders to wake him. When he staggered into the living room, he was directed to read the sign on the east side of the room, to which he muttered, “Wise Men Still Seek Jesus.” He was made to repeat that three times before my dad said: “If you think you’ve gone to college and become wiser than everyone, not in this house, because wise people still seek Jesus.” Try that with your child today and you may never see him or her again.
Many years later, today’s feast would remind me of those same words on the east wall of our living-room, which says: “Wise Men Still Seek Jesus.” I have written them on the walls of my heart and invite you to do the same. The feast we celebrate today is called Epiphany, which derives from the Greek word for “manifestation or appearing.” Today we celebrate Christ’s manifestation to the world (gentiles) through the visit of the astrologers from the east, whom we call the Magi or the Wise Men. We call them the Three Wise Men not because we know their number but because of the three significant gifts they brought. Today is Christmas for the Eastern Churches; and it makes sense, because Epiphany is the great appearance or manifestation of Christ to humanity.
The Magi observed His Star at its rising and came to pay Him homage with gifts worthy of a king—Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh—representing His triple role as King, Priest, and Redeemer. Men and women of every age, race and tongue by the millions have continued to do the same, offering their homage to Jesus who has become the universal king of many with His name and deeds spreading to every corner of the earth. That is what we do when we come to Mass. Faith leads us like the Magi in search of the mystery; the Word of God gives us clues about where to find this mystery; we bring our gifts but do not see a king. We see common bread and wine as the Wise Men saw an infant laid in a trough. Faith still makes us believe what is incomprehensible to the senses. We’re filled with His presence as we leave to tell the world about it.
Christians have the challenge to proclaim to the world that in Christ is true wisdom. They, like Herod, are truly misled who feel that Christ stands in their way. And any learning that makes one think she/he is above Christ, the Wisdom of God, is utter foolishness. Searching for and knowing Christ is the sure way to temper the the pride of life, of power and possession, the ambition of personal respect, and the current dominant logic of self-centeredness.
Fr. Chukwudi Jo Okonkwo