For the past 12 days we have heard the stories of the birth of Jesus Christ as God incarnate indeed good news of great joy all people. So, on this Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord we celebrate Jesus revealed as the Christ Child to the magi, who arrive by the light of the star. Every year we listen to this well-known Gospel story of the journey of the magi who pay homage to the Christ Child. But today I invite you to just focus on two lines that appear in the Gospel. What are they? Check it out because…as you will you see, any interaction with this Jesus the Christ, no matter where or how it happens, will change your own journey.

1. 1 Deacon Jim Knipper
07 January 2024 Feast of the Epiphany Princeton, NJ
For the past 12 days we have heard the stories of the birth of Jesus Christ as God incarnate – fully
human and fully divine…the Word made Flesh - indeed good news of great joy all people. And so, on
this Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord we celebrate Jesus revealed as the Christ Child to the magi, who
arrive by the light of the star.
Epiphany means a showing forth or manifestation…and so during our Christmas liturgy we heard how
Christ was made known to the shepherds who were in that region living in the fields. Shepherds, at that
time, were among the lowest in society, thus reminding us that Christ came to preach the Good News to
the poor. Today we hear the story of the magi from the east – also translated – from the ends of the
earth… reminding us that this God is a God for all people – not just a select few.
So, every year we listen to this well-known Gospel story of the journey of the magi who pay homage to
the Christ Child. But this morning I would like to just focus on two lines that appear in the Gospel…and
invite you to ponder them during the New Year.
The first is the question the magi asked…which is actually the same question Herod was asking, which
is: “Where is this newborn King of the Jews?”
In the Gospel we hear that the infant child is found with Mary his mother. But what about today? Where
do you find this King of the Jews – where do you encounter Christ? Perhaps it may be easy to find
Christ in the joys of our own lives…but what about finding Christ in our losses and sorrows? Or maybe
he is easier to find when coming to Church…but how about within your family, workplace or community?
Where do you find Christ?
The second line I invite you to ponder is: “the Magi departed for their country by another way.” The
reason being is that any Christ encounter will change the direction of your journey – it happens all the
time – if we allow it. Just look at those encountering Christ in the Gospels and how they move off in a
different direction…beginning with Jesus selecting the disciples, who dropped their nets and left their
families to follow him.
Or those who were journeying to Emmaus and upon encountering the risen Christ, changed their
direction of travel…
Or the disciples locked in the upper room, who after their seeing the risen Christ, after touching his
wounds, moved outward…
Or the Prodigal Son who changed his course to journey back to the father who welcomed him with open
arms. A brother who was dead came to life again, a son who was lost and was now found.
For you see, any interaction with this Jesus the Christ, no matter where or how it happens, will change
your journey.
Here are two examples outside the Gospels…

2. 2 Deacon Jim Knipper
Jorge was born in 1936, the eldest of five. His dad was an accountant, and his mom was home caring for
the kids. A decent student, Jorge attended technical secondary school and graduated with a chemical
technician diploma and spent several years working in a laboratory. To earn extra money, he was also a
bouncer and a janitor. At the age of 21 he almost died of pneumonia. One day, enroute to celebrate
Spring Day, he passed by a church and popped in and went to confession – and that changed his life.
On March 11, 1958, he entered the Society of Jesus as a novice.
During his early years as a seminarian he had a crush on a girl he met and briefly doubted his future
religious career. But on March 12, 1960 he made his profession of his initial vows and in 1969 was
ordained a priest. In 1973 he took his final vows in the Jesuits. Then, some forty years later on March 13,
2013 he was elected Pope and took the name Francis.
For you see, any interaction with this Jesus the Christ, no matter where or how it happens, will change
your journey.
Greg Boyle during his novitiate with the Jesuits spent a year in Bolivia. In his book Tattoos on the Heart
he writes, “I can’t explain how the poor in Bolivia evangelized me during the year I spent with them, but
they turned me inside out, and from that moment forward I only wanted to walk with them. For I knew that
the poor had some privileged delivery system for giving me access to the gospel.”
By the time he returned from his experience in Bolivia in 1986, his understanding of what ministry was
about had been reshaped entirely. His first parish assignment was the Dolores Mission Church in East
LA, which had within its borders the most intense level of gang activity in the world.
“I knew I needed to change our mindset that some lives matter less than others,” he writes and thus went
on to form Homeboy Industries which today is the largest provider of training, employment, counseling,
and hope to gang members.
For you see, any interaction with this Jesus the Christ, no matter where or how it happens, will change
your journey.
But the challenge many of us have is that we fall in love with the journeys we have constructed and hold
onto with dear life. Then we construct our own version of the Gospel in order to support and defend of
our journey, thus blinding us to Christ’s presence.
So, especially when there is so much fear, so much uncertainty, so much unrest in our world and in our
lives, it is easy to ask, “Where is this epiphany, this manifestation of the Lord?” Thus, the reason I invite
you to carry these two Gospel lines with you this new year is because this Epiphany - this manifestation
of Christ is not a one-time historical event we celebrate the beginning of each year, rather it continues
every minute of every day. Christ is always revealing himself to us if we only allow our ears to hear and
eyes to see.
So, on this Feast of the Epiphany – of God being made present to all of us…let us begin to be present to
Christ in our daily lives and allow these encounters to change our courses, to modify our journeys, to
soften our hearts and nourish our souls, knowing that the child, once visited by Magi from the East, will
be the one to always sustain us, to walk with us, to embrace us and lead us all to a life everlasting.
For you see, any interaction with this Jesus the Christ, no matter where or how it happens, will change
your journey.