Homily   Feast of Epiphany 2004

 

Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, in his book Being Peace tells us this:

 

The Buddha told a story. A young widower, who loved his five-year-old son very much, was away on business, and bandits came, burned down his whole village, and took his son away.  When the man returned, he saw the ruins, and panicked.  He took the charred corpse of an infant to be his own child, and he began to pull his hair and beat his chest, crying uncontrollably.  He organized a cremation ceremony, collected the ashes and put them in a very beautiful velvet bag.  Working, sleeping, eating, he always carried the bag of ashes with him.

One day his real son escaped from the robbers and found his way home.  He arrived at his father’s new cottage at midnight, and knocked at the door.  You can imagine at that time, the young father was still carrying the bag of ashes, and crying.  He asked, “Who is there?” And the child answered, “It’s me Papa.  Open the door, it’s your son.”  In his agitated state of mind the father thought that some mischievous boy was making fun of him, and he shouted at the child to go away, and he continued to cry.  The boy knocked again and again, but the father refused to let him in.  Some time passed, and finally the child left.  From that time on, father and son never saw one another...  After telling this story, the Buddha said, “Sometimes, somewhere you take something to be the truth.  If you cling to it so much, when the truth comes in person and knocks at your door, you will not open it.”

 

We celebrate the feast of Epiphany. God breaks through.  God is revealed. Truth happens.

 

In our first reading from the prophet Isaiah the holy prophet speaks to a people who are in darkness. But Isaiah encourages his people to see beyond appearances, beyond the familiar and to glimpse the glory of God’s action in their midst.  There are indeed difficulties that could blind them to God’s action but Isaiah above all reminds the people that God is faithful – God fulfills promises. They are to look with trust for God’s presence.

 

Paul in the second reading tells the Ephesians that the Christ who has been made manifest to them has made everything look different. They are challenged to recognize that. From the very beginning this was the challenge – to realize the expansiveness of God – the inclusiveness – the pervasive presence of this God. And so Paul announces that indeed it is not only the chosen ones - those who felt they were the special ones – but indeed those Gentiles too were coheirs, copartners in this journey toward salvation.  Of course those chosen ones had to this time looked at the gentiles as unclean and unfavorable. And so now they were told to look with new eyes at this brothers and sisters of there – no easy task.

 

And finally in the Gospel – the familiar story of the magi – we the prototype of what we would be. These wise men are wise because they are searchers.  They are wise because they can see the signs.  They are wise because of their ability to understand what Isaiah has said – to know they were being called and to understand that risk of the journey is what brings salvation.

 

As we celebrate this feast of Epiphany we complete our celebration of Jesus’ birth. We have heard the prophet’s promise – we have contemplated the simple birth – we have reveled in the joy the discovery of the God who sanctifies us – redeems us – makes all things new and sacred.

 

And now we begin the journey – as the magi did- to discover what this God-Man calls us to. As the Gospels unfold for us in the holy year ahead we would pray to be open to His truth. We would pray to be able to understand the expansiveness of this event.

 

We look again to these magi and see in them the image of what we should be – what distinguishes them?  Why do these three stand out in history?  What was it that caused them to journey, to risk, to see the light?  Why do they stand in contradistinction from the Herod type?

 

It is perhaps the simple truth that the Herod type is the one who holds on only to their own truth – their velvet bag of what is safe for them. It is the Herod type who does not know how to move beyond the boundaries and walls that contain them.

 

As we live this 2004 we would hope not be Herod –but to be those magi – those bizarre and magical ones who find the truth.  But we know that that will not be easy.

 

If we would journey with them we would need to break down those walls which create our safety zones.  We would need to embrace some things and maybe some people who might unnerve us – or at least challenge us.  We would need to think outside our limited boxes and realize that the truth that we have held on to might be need to be expanded to allow for someone else’s truth.

 

Maybe the disabled person who has made us remain distant is going to be where we find the truth who is born to us.

Maybe the person whose lifestyle is challenging to us because of their sexual preference or their faith preference or their dress preference is going to be where we find the star which illuminates us.

Maybe child that unnerves us or the elderly who encumber us are going to be the ones who give us the direction for our journey.

Maybe even the addict or the homeless person or the dirty person or the obnoxious person is going to be place where we find the reason for rejoicing.

 

Paul tells us these are the coheirs, the copartners. These are our fellow travelers to salvation. These and many more are the places where we see the star that leads us to the Christ.

 

Let’s take the risk in 2004 to find the truth – to find salvation – to find the Messiah.