Last year when I heard a homily on Epiphany, I was a bit sad.

The priest asked, “There were two groups who visited Christ as a small child. Who were they?” He waited. He answered, “Poor people and those who were rich or learned.”

If we’re only going to mention two groups, I have to say, these are not the two groups I would hope for. And I felt a bit sad.

I was not sad because I disagree with the fact that Christ came for both the poor and the rich. Of course I don’t disagree with this.

But I was sad because the Epiphany is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. It means, Gentiles are grafted onto the original and still existing root of Israel, the Hebrew people called out by YHWH. It means, the Jews came to Jesus first. The Gentiles came second:

A light of revelation to the Gentiles
And glory to your people Israel. (Lk 2:32)

Why anyone would not think of this at the Epiphany, I don’t know. This is so central to the whole of what makes the Church catholic, that is, according to the totality (of Jews and Gentiles). Epiphany is the first clear moment of this in the life of Christ. It is a moment that shows that the Church will be katholon, “according to the totality” (of Jews and Gentiles).

For Jews, grace is totally gratuitous in itself; it is also totally gratuitous in history, because the Jewish people was called first by God. When the plant was created, it was a gift.

For Gentiles, grace is totally gratuitous in itself; it is also totally gratuitous in history, because those of us Christians who are Gentiles have been grafted onto the original and still existing Jewish root (via the Baptism of Jesus and the Pascha of Jesus, which were historically rooted in definitely Jewish rites and extended by sacramentality to Gentiles). When branches were grafted onto the plant, it was a gift.

For Gentile Christians, the faith in Epiphany means that everything we do must be worthy of the faith of Israel. As far as I can tell, that means the first thing we need to do is always keep in mind that our faith is the faith of Israel and that Epiphany means the Gentiles came to visit little Jesus second. I can’t conceive of giving a different emphasis to this great feast. This feast is a great opportunity to root our lives once more in the word “catholic”.