One
of my father’s favorite sayings, “Y’all boys be good; cause, Christmas is
coming.”
Y’all
be good; cause, Epiphany is still Christmas. We tend to
forget.
In
our busy world, it’s become anticlimactic. Probably, in the past two weeks
we’ve forgotten some of the gifts from Christmas. We’ve moved on to the next
thing: the New Year, getting back to work, and every body’s favorite tax
season. We’ve put gifts up and unless we bring them out every day; we
accidentally forget about them. They lose their luster.
But
for people of faith, the true gift of Christmas --- the babe of Bethlehem, the
word made flesh, the precious Son of the Father --- will never lose its
luster.
Today's
readings are about that gift which Isaiah sees in the one to come, the servant
who is the “light to the nations.” A gift the scriptures describe by these
words, “Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by
your shining radiance.” And “… every nation on
earth will adore you.”
These
scriptures perplex the world. Too many of us have put this greatest gift of all
up on a shelf, seldom bring it out, and maybe even have forgotten about it. It
has lost its luster in the everyday of human life. It’s the story of the
Epiphany.
This
is a story of great contrast. It is a story of how people receive the greatest
gift of all in Jesus’ birth. It is an examination of the difference in the
reaction of the Magi, the wise men that bring their gifts and place them at the
feet of messiah to worship him, and King Herod, who tries to kill him.
Herrod
knew this child was special. But,to the world, Herrod was King not this Child.
His own chief priests and scribes affirmed the prophesies spoken by the words
of the Magi. What was Herrod’s Epiphany? Herrod’s realization of the divine was
to destroy it.
We
have that same problem today and we call ourselves Christians. If we have not
had an Epiphany of who Jesus is and what he means, then we have probably
forgotten about the gift of Jesus.
In
the world we live in, we call ourselves Christians; but, we deny and destroy
the idea of the divine. We look at Jesus as an exclusive gift for just a few
lucky people. The ones we think are included. Jesus is not for only a few to
worship. He is all inclusive. He is God and we are all joined to him. Jesus is
not a gift for the few but a reward for the many.
Last
week, I got a new follower on Twitter. The twitter follow was by
Brian Gill who authors the blog “A Catholic Citizen in America”. This is a very
eclectic blog written from a Catholic Christian perspective. Brian Gill is a
convert to Catholicism.
Brian
writes this about himself.
“My values are somewhat counter-cultural. That's because I'm a practicing Catholic who is also an American citizen: not an American whose name shows up in a Catholic parish directory. ”
He
hit on the problem of faith today. We put everything before being followers of
Jesus Christ. We destroy the divine when we put our country, our politics, the
color of our skin, and our self before our Messiah. These are all the things
that Herrod did.
Maybe
we need to be counter-cultural, following the example of the Magi. We need to
forget how we identify, forget our selfish motives, forget the world around us
and “prostrated ourselves and do him homage. Open our
treasures and offered him our gifts.”
The
world is still searching for Jesus. Each of us searches for God. Those who find
Jesus find the divine. In our Epiphany do we worship the divinity of Jesus
or destroy it. As Catholics, we find him in the Eucharist and open
themselves to a true Epiphany.
I
believe that Brian Gill found Jesus in the Eucharist. I found Jesus Christ in
the Eucharist. . If someone asked, I
believe we’d agree this is how our story goes. Jesus was
born in our hearts; we came to the place he was and found the Lord. We fell
down and worshiped him, offered him our gifts, and we do him homage. We didn’t
go back the same way, we had changed.
This
is how we learn to walk in his light. This is how nations will adore him by the
Epiphany in each one of us.
Epiphany
is still Christmas. For those of us who have experienced a
personal Epiphany in the babe of Bethlehem, the word made flesh, the precious
Son of the Father, this is the most precious gift that will never lose its
luster.
Brian
Gill thanks for following me.
I'll
close by paraphrasing the words of his father-in-law, Deacon Lawrence Kaas (age
81) of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Sauk Centre, Mn. (I
think I’m going to adopt this; it reminds me of my father
and brothers.)
“Y’all
be Good, be Holy, and always preach the Gospel in Words and Holy
Actions.”
Amen.
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