The feast of the three kings, that Epiphany celebrated, post-Christmas has a very different touch to it than the rest of the Biblical history preceding it. In a way it is a foretaste of the Acts of the Apostles, wherein the message of Christ is not restricted to the Jews or the land of Judah but begins to spread across the whole world. (Or is it? There have always been non-Jewish 'interpolations' in the Biblical history, right since the origin of the Jewish race. The story of Ruth, for example.)
Of the many things interesting in the narrative of the three kings the one that caught my attention yesterday was the part where the kings come to know of the birth of the messiah from their knowledge of astronomy. There is no mention of an angel appearing to them and announcing the birth of Jesus, as in the case of Mary, or the shepherds. There is no 'God-telling-them' as such! However, they read the signs of nature and infer and based on this knowledge they come to experience the child Jesus.
This has an important lesson for us all: one's faith journey need not necessarily be strewn with divine revelation! If one is open to the other, and willing to be led by signs other than ones approved by men, there is a great possibility that one encounters the divine along the way.
There is no mention of the kings prior to the event nor after their visit to the child Jesus. Some wish to believe that they went back as different men, just as they took a 'different route' back home - I doubt it! They would not have been very different from what they initially were. They already were good, they only continued working on their goodness.
Of the many things interesting in the narrative of the three kings the one that caught my attention yesterday was the part where the kings come to know of the birth of the messiah from their knowledge of astronomy. There is no mention of an angel appearing to them and announcing the birth of Jesus, as in the case of Mary, or the shepherds. There is no 'God-telling-them' as such! However, they read the signs of nature and infer and based on this knowledge they come to experience the child Jesus.
This has an important lesson for us all: one's faith journey need not necessarily be strewn with divine revelation! If one is open to the other, and willing to be led by signs other than ones approved by men, there is a great possibility that one encounters the divine along the way.
There is no mention of the kings prior to the event nor after their visit to the child Jesus. Some wish to believe that they went back as different men, just as they took a 'different route' back home - I doubt it! They would not have been very different from what they initially were. They already were good, they only continued working on their goodness.
No comments:
Post a Comment