Scripture Scribbles: January 5, 2025 - The Epiphany of the Lord
the Gospel
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod,
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage.”
When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled,
and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people,
he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea,
for thus it has been written through the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod called the magi secretly
and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said,
“Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word,
that I too may go and do him homage.”
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them,
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star,
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed for their country by another way.
the scribble
Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow
Those words from the first reading leapt off the page of the missal and they actually hurt as they landed in my heart.
They felt like a promise that was for me somehow, but also so impossibly inaccessible from where I sat alone in the pew on that cold day in January at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.
I didn’t know what was true during that time of my life, or even whether something could be True. I felt tethered to the faith but also suspicious of it and I actively rejected much of it.
A few years later in another pew across the country, on another Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, those words again painfully pierced my heart, as they had every year since that first time. I was pregnant (very pregnant) with my first child and I would go into labor for her birth that very night. I again felt sure that these words were somehow for me and I ached to know that radiance, that heart-throbbing joy. But when I searched for it in my heart, I only found pain and darkness.
But then, I gave birth.
Labor was a transcendent, spiritual experience that brought miraculous healing to very broken parts of my heart and identity. My relationship with my own femininity was restored. It would take much more time for me to understand the beauty and depth of what happened to me during labor and birth, but in those first moments, I knew my life was changed.
And as I brought my daughter into my arms and looked at her and felt her and smelled her and heard her, those words echoed in my heart: you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow.
My bursting heart knew a promise had been fulfilled. I was radiant and my heart throbbed and overflowed.
But friends, that was just the very beginning of my conversion story.
God is so good. He is pursuing you and me actively in every little detail of our lives and in the gorgeous arc of salvation unfolding over millennia, as we see in today’s scriptures.
In the darkness and numbness of my broken heart, he planted these words. Even though they hurt, he laid them there year after year so that he could bring them forth in this incredible moment of fulfillment and capture my heart and attention.
He is doing the same today for you. Whether you are in a season of joy or one of aching, know he keeps his promises. Know he is faithful. Know he is gentle. Know he is patient. Know nothing is impossible for him.
Let him capture your heart and attention.
Like the magi from the east.
Let yourself be drawn to him.
Let yourself be healed by him.
He will make you radiant.
He will make your heart throb and overflow.
Blessed be the Lord.
Today’s devotion was written by Lucia Parker
