[A reflection on the Gospel for the Mass of the Second Sunday after Christmas, found here as the third choice for the day.]
It was bound to happen. A long-standing word whose uses had pretty much solidified and did not get used outside its usual contexts suddenly had the dust blown off by popular culture and given new currency. No, I am not referring to demure (although that does fit the bill, and I am quite over its (mis)use in social media), but to manifest. As verbs go it is fairly open to multiple applications. The original Latin is somewhat belligerent, meaning to grasp in the hand, which upon introduction into English means to make evident, clear, or comprehensible. As such, today it is being (mis)used by people to mean to make real by acting under the assumption that it is so, which at best is positive actualization and at worst serious delusion. One could try to manifest the skill of flying and still have a very bad encounter with the ground, for example.
Today however, as we close the Christmas season with the Feast of the Epiphany beginning at sundown tonight, we consider the meaning of the Epiphany. The feast is presented as the Manifestation of Christ to the Nations. Here, manifest takes on its original English meaning of making clear, evident, comprehensible. Latin and Greek use the term Epiphania, which has mostly the same meaning. Here is not a claiming of a fact by acting as if it were indeed so, but a Divine revelation to those outside the pale of Israel that God indeed has come among us. In the West, it is mostly connected to the visit of the Magi (likely from Parthia/Persia and most definitely not Jewish), but in the East the manifesting is done to both Gentile and Jew alike, combining the visit of the Magi, the Baptism in the Jordan and the events surrounding that act, and the first miracle of turning wine into water in Cana.
However one wishes to employ the word, let us turn to the visit of the Magi. To them God Incarnate, the "New King of Israel" as they put it to all who would listen, was revealed to them by an astronomical event. In our modern scientific worldview we would not take such a motive with a grain of salt but dismiss it altogether, but at that time great importance was attached to astronomical events using astrological tools by highly intelligent and well educated people. There is no reason why God would not use the understanding of the day to make a revelation, no reason to become pedantic about the facts and lose the audience in unfamiliar concepts. God meets us where we are, and God has chosen to reveal His love at any given time to those who seek Him out. The magi clearly were seeking Him out. They were looking high and low, and God chose to use their common parlance to reveal to them the Hope of Israel and the Desire of Nations. They fastened upon an astronomical event, and that event did not steer them wrong, whether it was by Divine purpose or Divine providence is left for us to wrestle, but it was indeed a sign from God. So when they followed the trail, they found the one they were looking for, Jesus of Nazareth, in a house in Bethlehem, and they presented both their offerings and their worship.
Likewise, if we truly search for God, He will reach out and manifest to the seeker in a way the seeker will understand. Then like the Magi we too can bring our offerings to the Manifested Lord, Jesus of Nazareth, and offer Him our worship.
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