Epiphany

Today’s feast of Epiphany celebrates the visit of the wise men to the Christ-child. In reality, it is possible this event could have taken place up to two years after the birth of Jesus. Whatever about that, my homily for today is based on the text Matthew 2:1-12.

One of the stories to come out of September 11 was of an old lady who heard that one of the rescue wrokers at Ground Zero had injured her ankle. The old lady hobbled her way down to St Paul’s Episcopal Church where a rescue centre had been established and there she left her walking stick, the one thing that made walking easier for her. Having done this, she made her way as best she could back to Upper Manhattan.

Last Wednesday when we celebrated the feast of Mary as the Mother of God, New Year’s Day, and World Day of Prayer for Peace, we heard the story of the shepherds who, after being directed by the angel, made their way to where the Christ-child lay. There their lives were so irrevocably changed by the encounter with Jesus that the only course of action open to them was to return to their own community and announce what they had seen.

Today we hear proclaimed the experience of the wise men who travelled from the East (what we now know as Iraq) to see this same Messiah-King. Their lives were also utterly changed by their encounter with Christ that they too returned from whence they came to share their experience.

Something must have compelled an old woman to give away her one means of support, just as the angel compelled the shepherds to find the manger and the star guided the wise men to follow the star. And in their journey they were changed. They went home different people, and in the wise men’s case, by a different road.

Our Advent preparations and our celebration of Christmas should also have totally changed our lives. We should be different people today than we were on 1st December when we celebrated the First Sunday of Advent. If we’re no different, it wasn’t Christ that we met. Our encounter with the baby Jesus should have had such an impact on our lives that we are no longer who we were.

Each day God provides us with many encounters where we are called to change the lives of others because, through us, others have encountered Christ. Each day God gives us a number of walking sticks to give to others to make their lives brighter, even if in the giving we are left diminished and impoverished for a time.

When we end the Christmas season next Sunday with the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, we will recall our own baptism. In so doing, can we really celebrate that we’re living out our baptismal promises if we’re no different today than on December 1st?

So, who will you give your next walking stick to?