The Epiphany of the Lord, Year C
Theme: A Herod Fantasia 黑落德幻想曲
“Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.” (Matthew 10:26)In context, Jesus was sending His disciples to preach the gospel of reconciliation. Oppositions and even persecutions were to be expected. Thus, Jesus encouraged the disciples not to be afraid of the persecutors. He assured them that no human effort is able to conceal and to cover the gospel. In the end, the gospel will be proclaimed and God’s love and kindness will be known to all. This is a positive and beautiful way to interpret the passage.
In reality, life is cruel. People in power don’t want their position to be threatened. They will do whatever it takes to eliminate the perceived threat which might not actually be any threat! Similarly, when people worry about their interests being infringed, they would take actions. Some might simply complain to higher authority. Others may bribe to get things done. Some take more drastic actions to silence the whistle-blowers. Subsequently, the innocent become collateral damages! Then, how is the passage above relevant to the victims? Or to the oppressors?
Let’s consider from the perspective of the oppressors. Of whom are they afraid? Are they afraid of the common people? Of course not! It is because in most cases, the majority of commoners choose to keep quiet. Nobody wants troubles. Therefore, it is not difficult at all for oppressors to scare the majority or to cheat them. They may pick on a minority and make a show of torturing them to scare the rest. To justify the torture, the oppressors simply label the oppressors may cheat the rest by labelling the scapegoats as terrorists or traitors or what not. To shed less blood and cost less in the short run, the oppressors may cheat the majority by hiding the truth about the situation. For example, the fatality of the pandemic virus is a valuable piece of information lending the oppressors a powerful weapon. In this situation, a lot of economic and political interests are at stake. In short, oppressors are not afraid of the majority. They may easily create divisions among the majority, set up “enemies” to defuse their energies. They are able to keep the majority under control by making a show to torture the whistle-blowers and/or manipulating the flow of information in order to maintain a status quo favourable for them. Therefore, they are not afraid of the commoners. They couldn’t care less their secrets being made known. Actually, their behaviours are quite predictable and the commoners are able to read the oppressors like an open book.
Are the oppressors afraid of their bosses? Very much indeed, in particular their immediate bosses who are able to scrutinize them point blank. For those bosses higher up, they may bribe! What make them so afraid of their bosses? It is because their fortune and their lives depend on the pleasure of the bosses. If they displease their bosses, life shall become like a hell and perhaps death would be a preferred exit! Therefore, in order to keep powerful people from abusing their control, commoners would bypass them and complain directly to the immediate bosses of the powerful. Perhaps this is the background behind Jesus’ parable of ten gold coins (Luke 19:14). Of course, this course of action might not be effective but there were not many options available to the commoners.
First of all, for various reasons, men as a creature always misunderstand God. Perhaps men are not intelligent enough to understand God’s will. Perhaps Satan is jealous of men and tries to pitch God and men against each other. Consequently, God’s salvation plan becomes a secret difficult to comprehend. But Jesus’ verse assures us that God shall reveal His salvation plan and make His secrets known. The Epiphany story shows that God’s plan is not exclusive. It is Catholic and embraces all peoples. Thus, the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1) triggered a cosmic event to reveal God’s salvation to the Gentiles. The mysterious Star of Bethlehem attracted magi from the East to find the new born king. Jesus’ encouragement of the disciples came true in an unexpected way. The Nativity narrative in Matthew shows that evangelization is actually God’s work. God is doing His work. We’re only agents of God’s work and should be proud of being one of them!
Secondly, it was logical for the magi to make Jerusalem the first leg of their journey. Where else would they visit in a foreign land if not the capital? But such a logical move of the wise men turned out to be naïve. Perhaps they were wise in areas others than politics. They couldn’t even dream of a future king NOT being born in the palace! On the other hand, it wasn’t at all clear why Herod the Great was troubled by the news (2:3). After all, by the time the new born king came to claim his rightful throne, say 12 years later, King Herod would have passed away already. Any one of his sons would be capable enough to crash this challenger. Why bothered ordering a massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old or under (2:16), leaving behind a notorious name? Well, we need to understand the mentality of people in power. In order to preserve their power, they would nip any threat/challenge/rebellion at the bud. Notoriety would be the last thing to bother them! But why would all Jerusalem be troubled together with King Herod? It was because all the people in Jerusalem were able to read King Herod like an open book. The massacre was anticipated as a show of terror to scare the people. Their only hope was that it would not take place in Jerusalem! What a relief it was for the residents in Jerusalem to hear that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem! Boys in Bethlehem became collateral damages and theirs spared!
Perhaps it was not fair to say that the magi were naïve. That they departed for home by another way showed otherwise. Indeed, Matthew didn’t need to conjure up angels to give warnings. Those magi were wise politically after all. Perhaps they had picked up Herod’s tone/mood and sensed the jealousy or worry. Otherwise, the fact that the new born king was not born in the palace would be a sign of troubles ahead! King Herod had underestimated those magi. Perhaps he had been too successful in brutalizing his subjects that no capable people had the guts to approach and counsel him. He had never met any person wise enough to enliven his intelligence. He only had himself to blame for “being deceived” by the magi (2:16).
If angels were redundant, I think we don’t need a fulfilment of prophecy to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. Perhaps King Herod had orchestrated it, choosing a less important village for the massacre to take place in order to minimize the costs! The fact that he secretly summoned the magi to instruct them to spy on the new born king (2:7) showed that he did not to shed the blood of innocent infants in the capital. After all, young people are the future of a country and the capital is the head of the country. Bethlehem was a smart choice. It has already produced a David as the leader of Israel. Therefore, killing the boys in Bethlehem was a powerful sign. The so called prophecy might only be an analogy found in a book bearing a prophet’s name. Even if it were truly a prophecy, what indication did people have that it was the time of fulfilment? At last, we come back to the cosmic sign, the Star of Bethlehem!
Brethren! As Christians, each one of us should act like the Star of Bethlehem to lead the non-believers to discover the salvation of God. If the star was a conjunction of planets or a comet flying into the solar system, its brightness is a reflection of a greater light. Then we have to examine ourselves to see if we are good reflections of God’s love for mankind, in particular the sinners. If the star was a supernova, then we should examine if we are genuinely consumed by God’s love so much so that our light may “shine before others that they may see our good deeds and glorify our heavenly Father.” (5:16)
God bless!
Picture Credit: heartofashepherd.com
2019 Reflection
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