Fourth Sunday of Year B

Deut 18:15-20; 

1 Cor 7:32-35 and 

Mk 1:21-28

Since the inception of the ordinary time of this liturgical year, we have been reflecting on God’s call. We saw that of Samuel, Jonah, and the fishermen who eventually became apostles. Today we are presented with the fact that prophetic mission goes with prophetic authority.

Today Jesus shocks the Pharisees and everybody in the synagogue of Capernaum, by preaching, healing, and liberating authoritatively on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21ff), against the status quo. For the status quo, the Sabbath was the sacred sign of social settlement. For Christ, the new Moses, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. For Christ, the Sabbath must be a Sabbath for love, a Sabbath for healing, exorcisms, peace and forgiveness.

Jesus’ prophetic ministry is that of freedom from falsehood, deceit, false gods, intimidation, exploitation, immoralities, and deceitful practices. The ministry of Christ, the new Moses, also entails, unity, faith and hope. It requires empathy, sympathy, compassion and justice. Therefore, Christ invites us today, wherever we are located, to participate in his prophetic ministry, beyond the shore of Galilee, in our homes, offices, class rooms, parishes, dioceses, to the ends of the earth, and to our innermost selves.

The Bible readings of today, beginning with the first reading (Deut 18:15-20) remind us that a true prophet is the mouth piece of God and a divine messenger.  A true prophet preaches with divine and moral authority, about God, not about him or herself. A true prophet is the conscience of the people.  A true prophet is not selfish, but sensitive to evil and opts for the poor, the widow, the oppressed and those in the margins of society.   A true prophet cherishes the highest good and lives the truth with love, faith and hope for the divine blessings.

In matters of faith the true prophet is not a coward. He challenges every unjust status quo and seeks for a just and peaceful alternative. True prophets offer symbols and hope that are adequate to confront the horror and massiveness of the experience that evokes indifference. The prophet is the one who brings to public expression those very fears and terrors that have been denied so long and suppressed so deeply that we do know they are there. The prophet speaks metaphorically but concretely the truth of everyday life, that hovers over us. The prophet speaks neither in rage, nor with cheap grace, but with the candor born of anguish, passion, sympathy, empathy and compassion. In doing this the prophet frees people from all types of slaveries, especially modern slaveries, and sins, mentioned by the Holy Father, Pope Francis in his 2015 New Year Message. Authentic prophets bring people, men, women and children to God.

The biblical Moses, of the Exodus, is an example of a true prophet. Though he suffered, he endured.  He challenged Pharaoh, and dismantled the politics of oppression and exploitation, by countering it with a politics of justice, true freedom, compassion and humanitarianism. Let my people go! Moses is a paradigm of all prophets. Speaking today in the first reading, he says, “The Lord will raise a Prophet like me from among your kindred, to him you shall listen” (Deut 18:19-20). This prophet would come to be Christ.

 But, in every nation, land, village, community, time and place, even here in our Nigerian Community, God is always raising prophets to speak to us in his name. Think of our parents, our Church Leaders, Popes, Saints, our teachers, professors, spiritual directors, the staff, spouses, and good friends, students, fellow parishioners around us, and models of Christian virtues. Through these “prophets” we become better people each day, and strive to do the will of God!

In the second reading (1 Cor 7:32-35), Paul was also prophetic to the Corinthian community. Like Moses, Paul challenges the common but wrong practices of his time: factions, rivalries, abuse of marriages and our sexualities. Paul offers an alternative. If you are married, good! If you are unmarried, like him, good, be faithful to your vows of celibacy, for the sake of the kingdom of God. Christ, in the Gospel (Mark 1:21–28), no doubt, is the prophet par excellence! And his prophecy is the norm for our lives. His birth challenges Herod and the powers that be! He introduces a new prophecy. He dismantles the proud and raises the lowly. He reaches to the poor, the Samaritan woman, the “Matthews,” the “tax collectors”, the “Mary Magdalene”, the “Zacchaeus”, the “Lazarus”, the “lepers” and the blinds, forbidden in the past.

In the First Reading (Deut. 18:15-20) we discover Moses assuring the people of God’s provision of a prophet like him who will speak the word of which he would be given. He also instructed the people to listen to him as the words he would be speaking belongs to God. On another hand the prophet is expected to speak only in the name of God and not in the name of other gods which will bring about damnation.

It will be very convenient for us to say that the prophet referred to in the First Reading is Joshua since he took over from Moses and God also assured him that as He was with Moses his servant He shall also be with him (Joshua 1:5).  This may not be a very wrong guess much as it is not exact. The prophet referred to in First Reading goes beyond Joshua. In fact, it accurately points to our Lord Jesus Christ who came as the greatest prophet and spoke in the name of God with authority as the Gospel Reading (Mark 1:21b-28) made us to know.

To make the assertion above more lucid we shall attempt to show some similarities between Moses and our Lord Jesus Christ:

They were Mediators: Moses was a mediator between the people of Israel and God from the moment God called him through the burning bush (Ex.3: 4ff). Our Lord Jesus Christ himself is fittingly called the mediator between God and men (1 Tim.2:5).

Great miracle workers: God performed great and marvellous works through Moses from the Ten Plagues (Ex.7:14-11:10), through the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex.14); the miracle of manna and quails (Ex.16), the water from the rock (Ex.17:6ff) and the healing from the snake on a stake (Numbers 21:9ff). In fact the book of Deuteronomy ended with a confirmation that there is no prophet like Moses who saw God face to face and God used to perform great works (Deut. 34:10-12). Our Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest of the prophets, performed innumerable miracles and works. St. John confirmed that if they were all written the whole world will not contain them (John 21:25). Like Moses also our Lord was always encountering God the father face to face like during the transfiguration (Matt 17)

Great Leaders: Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. Our Lord Jesus Christ on the other hand led humanity out of darkness of sin and death into God’s marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).

There is every need for us to reckon with the fact that every prophetic mission goes with a corresponding prophetic authority. This authority comes from God through His words. There is a big difference between the word of God and the word of man. Today we hear so many people declaring their own word as opposed to the word of God.

There are many people who are today commercializing Christianity as people are made to pay money in exchange for prayers and miracles. The word of God we are told is something alive and active (Heb.4:12). When the word of God is genuinely preached it leads people primarily to repentance, love of God and neighbour and ultimately to salvation not just assurances of prosperity and victory over enemies. Someone could ask: “what is next when we have all the prosperity in this world and all our enemies are defeated? It is for this reason that our Lord Jesus Christ advised us to seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all other things will be added unto us (Matt.6:33). Those who speak their own word other than the word of God will be punished by God.

Another important point we must acknowledge today is drawn from the healing of the man with unclean spirit as we read from the Gospel today. We are told that the unclean spirits recognized our Lord Jesus Christ and not only called him Jesus of Nazareth but also the Holy One of God. On our part as those who hear the prophetic utterances do we recognize the Lord in the message and the people are required by Him to accept the words of the prophet as they are His words.

As we launch into a new week let us be conscious of the call from God through St. Paul in the Second Reading (1 Cor.7:32-35) that we should have undivided devotion to the Lord. This is applicable to all of us whether as preachers of the word or as receivers of the word of God.

3RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)

Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 

1 Cor 7:29-31; 

Mark 1:14-20

When we read our Scriptures, especially the Four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we learn so much about God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, whom we are daily called to imitate. He is holy, generous, merciful, slow to anger and kind. We learn so much about Christ who once changed water into wine, healed the blind, dialogued with the Samaritan woman, raised Lazarus from the tomb, ate with tax collectors, and encouraged Zacchaeus to come down from the tree, whom he later went to dine with. He loved on the road to Calvary and forgave sinners on the Cross. He is selfless, humble and reaches out to everyone. He is persistent in calling us to himself, regardless of our "narrow nationalism," gender, language and culture, or which part of the continent, we may come from. Today’s readings seem to point towards the same direction.

In today’s Gospel, the selfless Christ knew that a time would come when he would be “handed-over”, so He quickly initiated the calls of his disciples, beginning with Peter, Andrew, James and John, who were originally fishermen. Thank God, they left everything to follow Jesus, including their nets, boats, parents, family and workers. They became fishers of men. What does this mean? It simply means that they became champions of God’s love, preachers and promoters of justice, unity, sources of divine mercy, and agents  of true evangelization, viceroys and conduits of the inclusive  of the message of God’s love.

This was something that was lacking in the Corinthian community that Paul was preaching to, in the 2nd reading. Selfishness, rivalries, abuse of marriages, sexualities, and overt worldliness perverted this community. Some of them forgot that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Many could not realize on time that everything is this world, our talents, our homes, money, power, wealth, our physical bodies are temporary and transitory and that we are expected to make good and timely use of them, for the common good; for the glory of God, for the service of the community, and the entire church.

Jonah, in the first reading, also fell into the same trap of selfishness about God’s love, mercy and blessings. He is called by God to bring God’s message of love and forgiveness to enemy- folks in Nineveh, in Assyria, but unlike Peter, Andrew, James and John, in the Gospel, Jonah resisted, and sailed in the opposite direction, as far West as he could, to Tarshish. He, as it were, refused to pick God’s call or if you like he switched off his phone and took off when God sent him on a mission to Nineveh.

Now, Nineveh of that time was the capital city of Assyria and also the capital of the known world at the time. As the meeting point of the high and mighty and a commercial crossroad, it brought together many people from various nationalities and cultures. On account of the busyness of the city and the cultural hybridization, it also became an irreligious and morally porous ground; more like a “Sin City”.

God was sending Jonah to Nineveh to preach to them about repentance or to face destruction. But Jonah saw the idea of going to preach to them as preposterous and unnecessary. He knew that God could be merciful to them after all and his words of imminent destruction of the city would be faulted. On the strength of this he decided to escape to Tarshish through the seaport at Joppa all in an effort to run away from God. One wonders if anyone could run away from God or hide from Him. David was aware of this when he confessed that no one could possibly hide or run away from God as He is everywhere (Psalm 139:7-12).

While on the way to Tarshish, the ship Jonah boarded started experiencing turbulence with a fierce wind from God tossing the vessel around. Jonah was sure he was the cause and went to have an emergency sleep in some hidden compartment of the ship. When he was discovered he did not deny that he was the cause of the turbulence and after some deliberations, he asked the other members of the ship to throw him into the troubled water and instantly everything became normal. However, God CALLED upon a big fish (whale) to go and swallow Jonah and keep him for three days and thereafter to spit him out by the shore of the sea facing the city of Nineveh.

Jonah’s story offers us a spiritual mirror to see ourselves as God’s instruments. God has called us to various missions which we must do selflessly, with all our talents, energies and enthusiasms. This story also offers us a mirror to see ourselves, how we still are, sometimes today in this 21st century: petty, intolerant to others, selfish and jealous to our neighbors, in many ways. And sometimes unwilling to let go, unwilling to admit that God’s love and mercy extend to all persons of every land and nations, Jews and Gentiles, gender and culture. Granted that Jonah had problems on the way: shipped wrecked, swallowed by a big fish, tormented by nasty weather, he would eventually, by the grace of God, carry out God’s mission  of preaching repentance to the Assyrians, non-Jews and the Gentiles, as Paul did in Corinth. 

From the narrative we gathered that in spite of the size and wealth of the city, it was filled with evil and wickedness. Sometimes we assume that when something is big, mighty and beautiful it will be free from evil. Nineveh remains an example for us to learn from. Next, we are told that it could take three days for Jonah to walk round the city to preach to them. However when he started God completed the walk for him. This tells us that when we walk with God, the road becomes shorter and easier. We only need to start and God will perfect what he has started in us (Phil. 1:6).

Finally, when the people of Nineveh heard the message of God from Jonah they accepted it and also repented. One cannot but admire their prompt and speedy reaction to the message of the prophet. They did not wait for the next day, the next month, the next year as some of us keep postponing even our reconciliation with God in the sacrament of confession. When was your last good confession? God on His part accepted them immediately and forgave them their sins and the punishment due to them. Do we, like God, reconsider and reconcile with those who offend us?

In the Gospel Reading (Mk.1:14-20) we read about the call of four of the apostles namely: Simon, Andrew, James and John. They had one thing in common and that is that they were fishermen. When our Lord called them, they left everything; their boats, nets (and for James and John) their father. They followed our Lord Jesus Christ without asking questions like: “how can we become fishers of men?” Every single answer could be found in the one who called them. These men whom He called were completely unprepared and they did not even belong to any religious groups at that time.

According to William Barclay in his commentary on the gospel of St. Mark (1985, p.28) all of these men he called were simple folks. They did not study in some known schools or colleges; they were not drawn from the ecclesiastics or the aristocracy; they were neither learned nor wealthy. They were simply fishermen. That is to say, they were ordinary people. No one ever believed in the ordinary people as Jesus did. As once George Bernard Shaw said: “I have never had any feeling for the working classes, except a desire to abolish them, and replace them by sensible people.” A man should never think so much of what he is but of what Jesus Christ can make of him. As of the twelve, they were challenged by Jesus’ words to become ‘fishers of men’, and so they followed Jesus and wanted to know Him better and preached Him to other people. Later on, they continued His work of salvation whether the people like them or not, much like the dejected and rejected parish priest in the story.

Their prompt and unquestioning response to the call of our Lord Jesus Christ is reflective of St. Paul’s admonition in the Second Reading (1 Cor. 7:29-31) where he enjoined the Corinthians not to place so much premium on material concerns as time is passing. In another place St. Paul further said:

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24). The best disposition is thus to leave EVERYTHING and answer the call of the Lord. It is obvious that we are often hindered by various things in our effort to answer God’s call. There are indeed many who are holding on to their nets, boats and their fathers. These represent those things that contend for the attention we are supposed to give to God’s call and mission.

Like Jonah finally did, one of the best ways we can serve God is to assist in making Him known to the world around us. We may not be required to travel to any Nineveh. In fact, there are many Ninevehs around us. Nineveh here represents those around us who are in need of God. We could attend to them not by condemning them as sinners but by making honest effort to share the word of God by our helpful and soothing words and actions. In fact, every baptized Christian is a potential Jonah and fisherman. It will be proper for us to examine how far we have gone into the Ninevehs around us and also how many fish we have been able to catch.

As we launch into the third week in ordinary time of the year let us try to be continually aware of the fact that we are in one way or the other called by God. And as the Psalmist would say: “Oh that today you

would listen to His voice harden not your hearts.”(Psalm 95:8).

Even today God seeks men and women to send on the mission to Nineveh. Where is our Nineveh today? Our Nineveh today is found in the back-streets and alleys of our cities festering with prostitution, drug and crime. It is found in the ivory tower of the corporate establishment where the destinies of half of the world are decided without any attention to their interests and welfare. Jonah was not sent to the people of Israel who were believers already, neither are we called to cater for the interest of good churchgoers alone. God invites us to bring the Good News to unimaginable places and “impossible” situations. The good news for us is that these “hopeless” cases are not too hopeless after all. For if even Nineveh could turn back to God so can they.

My brothers and sisters, in our Second Reading, Saint Paul tell us that time is running out.  This life does not last forever.  Some day it will end.  Saint Paul told the first Christians that they should leave behind the trifles that the world offers to them.  And that is what we should also do.  Let us change our lives and place them at God’s service because, in the long run, that is the only way that we will be able to enjoy some day eternal life with Christ, Our Lord.

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B

1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19; 

1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20 and 

John 1:35-42

In the readings, especially in the first reading (1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19), and in the Gospel (John 1:35-42), the familiar call stories of Samuel and that of the Disciples of Christ: Andrew, Peter, etc., are presented, respectively. Each of these stories though delights of many preachers, is meant to remind us, among other things, that even though God initiates calling us to different stages of life, he expects us to respond with love and devotion. But, we cannot respond to what we have not heard. And how can we hear unless we listen, unless we remain focus, and resist those distractions!

In the first reading, Samuel is called to do what many of Israel’s judges and the sons of Eli had failed to do: to carry the banner of love and keep the torch of the covenant-promise which the Lord had established with the house Israel. As a prophet Samuel would anoint the initial Kings of Israel. In hearing God’s voice he not only took counsel from Eli, but carefully and obediently responded, on the third instance, as instructed, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” This might have well reminded us of Deuteronomy 4 , where Israel as a whole is called to listen, "Shema Yisrael", but Samuel’s response, with a participle expression “listening” adds to the force of his readiness and docility, also found in the voice of today’s psalmist, “here I am Lord I come to do your will” (Ps 40), and of our mother Mary, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me as you will” ( Luke 1:38), heard during Christmas!

In the Second Reading (I Cor. 6:13c-15a.17-20) St. Paul presents us with another type of call, this time around: ‘THE CALL TO HOLINESS”. This suggests also the call out of sinfulness. Here the body is presented as the centre of moral and spiritual encounter. St. Paul here explains to us that we don’t own our body though it is with us. In fact, he calls it "member of Christ" as well as the "temple of the Holy Spirit". On the strength of these designations, St. Paul instructs that all forms of immorality are destructive to the body. The call to holiness here therefore entails keeping the body free from defilement that comes from immorality.

             

It is easy to assume that St. Paul was referring only to sexual immorality in the Second Reading but that is not exact. Apart from sexual immorality which has taken a very destructive dimension in our world today, there are other forms of immorality that affect the body. It could rightly be said that anything we do with our bodies that does not glorify God is immoral. There are many people who feel that God should have given them fairer skins instead of darker skins and they consciously change the colour of their skins. Some other people feel that they should be like people from another race hence they consciously fix various outrageous things to look like them. Our body belong to God and anything that we do with the body must be respectful to its creator.

                 

The call to “HOLINESS” is at the same time a call to “WHOLENESS”. To be Holy one needs to be WHOLE; that means nothing should be lacking in any area of one’s life.  We all are called to be holy as Peter pointed out when he enjoined his audience to be holy as He who called us is holy (1 Pet. 1:15). The call to be holy is therefore not optional. Just as Samuel had to answer God we all are required and obligated to answer the call to holiness. There are indeed grave consequences involved if we fail to respond to the call. Furthermore, the call to holiness does not just mean kneeling before the altar every day and night and going without food. Holiness does not mean spending a night in the church, it rather entails spending our time with God; loving Him and our neighbour which is the greatest instruction given to us (Luke 10:27).

               

In the Gospel Reading (John 1:35-42) we encounter another form of call; the call to service. John the Baptist facilitated this as he pointed out the Lamb of God to two of his disciples and immediately they followed the Lord. It was from this encounter that Peter was also called to become a follower of Christ the messiah. From this episode we discover that God can call us through people and events surrounding us. It must not necessarily take the shape of the call of Samuel in the temple. There is what we can call chain-of-call. From the call of John the Baptist through his birth emanating from his father’s encounter at the temple, he had disciples whom he introduced to Jesus Christ and they also introduced others. Ultimately, they were all called to service.

             

Our Christian vocation is ultimately based on service to God and humanity. When Andrew and the other disciple followed our Lord they were not going for an endless funfair or just to see where he lives. They rather entered into a life-time mission to serve. Our baptism is the first and most significant call by God to us. It calls us from death into life, from darkness into light. By virtue of our baptism our Christian life is inaugurated as well as our membership as Christians and children of God.

           

As we launch into the ordinary time of the year, let us do so with the firm attention to the fact that we are called by God first as his creatures. We are also called to know Him, to love and to serve Him. We are further called to live the life of Holiness which entails wholeness in all ramifications. Finally we are called to be finally with God at the expiration of our lives on earth. May God give us the grace to continue to answer whenever He calls us.

Recognizing Jesus in the Gospel account, John the Baptist said, “Behold the lamb of God” (John 1, 29, 35-42), as we do at every Mass. Interestingly, “the two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.” As Disciples of Christ, God has called each of us in different ways, vocations and states of life: priests, religious, laity, celibate and in marriage. Many are also blessed in various areas of industries, socio-political and economic powers. In these callings, they are equally called to love, share their blessings with others, especially with the poor, the sick, the aged, the voiceless, immigrants, and the marginalized of the society.

Not being indifferent to the plight of the poor is a form of listening to what God expects of us today, which Pope Francis has also expressed in his recent teachings, particularly in his New Year message of Peace, “that we are no longer slaves, but brothers and sisters. ” Our calling and how we respond to Christ must be inviting to others, women, men, children, the poor and the needy.

Epiphany Sunday

www.ctgotan.org

Is 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-6; Matthew 2:1-12

Today is the Feast of the Lord’s Epiphany when we remember the Magi who came from faraway lands to worship the baby Jesus. The feast which is popularly called the Feast of the Three Kings brings the Christmas season to an end.  If we listened carefully the gospel of today, we would notice that there is no mention at all about the Three Kings after whom the feast is called even if we know that the names of these three kings are Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar. Rather, the gospel refers to them as Magi. “When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea…behold, magi, came from the east to Jerusalem and asked:  'where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews?’” (vv. 1-2).

The gospel calls them magi and not kings. Who are the magi? The magi are astrologers, people who studied astrology which is about the stars and other heavenly bodies especially its movements and meaning, just like the horoscope of today. By common belief, they were known before as Three Kings because of the misinterpretation of the messianic prophecy in Psalm 72:10-11 which says: “The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute. All kings shall pay him homage and all nations shall serve him. They thought that they were the ones already, so they call them the Three kings because of the three places mentioned in this chapter of the Psalm.

Sometimes they are also called ‘wise men’ because of their ability to recognize the Star and their readiness to follow it. They decided to take the risk of finding the new born Jesus. Can we really look for God the way these men did. May be, this time not by leaving for an unknown land but by following “The Star” faithfully and meticulously. The Star was a blinking particle of light not so bright but it led them to the abode of the Light of the world. This Star could mean for us, our faith commitment, our Bible, our fellowship and everything that will lead us to Christ. Can we take the risk involved in finding Christ because the road is not easy but full of thorns?

The word ‘Epiphany’ on the other hand comes from the Greek term “epiphanein” which means “manifestation.” In other words, Epiphany is first and foremost the Feast of God’s revelation of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, to the world. Today, God is revealing and manifesting Himself this time not to the Jews but to Gentiles whom He guided to the birthplace of Christ through a star. Jesus is Savior not only of Israelites, the chosen people, but also to everybody. And in this sense, I am sure that the Magi represent all the other peoples of the world. As you listened to our gospel, it is a very nice story, taken from the gospel of St. Matthew (2:1-12), about how God guided the three wise men to the Baby Jesus by means of a special star. How nice it would be for each of us to have a star to follow in the right direction. While someone has actually said that all of us have stars to follow, our stars today are not moving across the heavens but are right down here on earth with us.

They came guided by a star. Being nature worshippers who had no Scriptures, God revealed Himself to them through the means available to them in their own religion. Through the stars they were able to learn of the birth of Jesus and find their way to him. They came as pagans, they worshipped Jesus as pagans, and they went back home as pagans. They did not convert either to Judaism or to Christianity. Their worship was acceptable to God and God directed them in their journey home through a dream. This shows that God does have a relationship with people of other religions who are neither Jews nor Christians.

Epiphany can therefore be understood to be the feast of all nations. It celebrates the manifestation of Christ, the true light to all nations. The Epiphany therefore, tore down the barrier between Jews and Gentiles. Even though the mission of Jesus, at first, was apparently directed to the Jews, nevertheless He reached out to all peoples – Jews, Gentiles, sinners, tax collectors, etc. 

He was born in a manger with no walls, no windows and no doors; and so, anybody, shepherd or king, Gentiles or Jews, cows or angels, and all people from the East to the West can just walk in to worship the new born king. Christian love must be universal and must not be exclusive, thus, every Christian house must be open to all the peoples who are in need.  Not only for those who are in need of material help but also for those who are sad and lonely and those who have no one to listen to them. If Christ is really in our hearts, let the “kings from the East” who are looking for the God of Peace, “come in” and find peace in our love.

The Lord reveals Himself to us in so many ways even during this our day and time. The Lord is not wanting in letting us know His message and His presence. It is we who are lacking in docility and obedience to His will. We know what is right and what is wrong, but often we follow our - and not His - will, and this often leads to misery, and even disaster. Today’s gospel tells us that the Magi from the East followed the star until it came and stopped over the place where the Child Jesus and His mother were. They entered the house and upon seeing the Child, they prostrated themselves and did Him homage. They offered Him gifts: Gold (for a king); frankincense (for God) and myrrh (used for embalming someone who has died). 

Sometimes we read newspapers, listen to the news on the radio, watch current events on television and we wonder where God is, in this world of ours. In the long daily litany of pain, sorrow, suffering, dishonesty, death, greed…where is God? The celebration of Epiphany which reveals, shows, and makes known, should teach us the enduring insight, from the earliest days of Israel to our own modern Christianity, that God is not remote from us; God is actively involved…God cares…God is concerned. So where’s God?

God is present in the epiphanies of our life each day.  Perhaps we often think of these epiphanies only in way one – the good and nice events of our day. I stand on a beach and watch a perfect sunset and say to myself “yes, there is God”. I receive a gift of forgiveness from a friend and say to myself “yes, there is God”.  However, as believers we know that God comes to us, the essence of God is revealed, also in the mystery of the crib and the cross. The depth of God’s being is made visible in the vulnerability of a child and in the perfect weakness of a man on a cross.  We find God in the sacrament of everyday life. We encounter God in trials, sufferings, joys, triumphs, hopes, fears, defeats and successes that come to us each day.....when our best efforts at work go unappreciated, God is present when we make an “A” in a difficult class at school; God is present when our child is born; God is present when a parent dies; God is present when we reach into our pocket and give to the poor; God is present when we hug our child; when we work to correct an injustice; when we pray with a friend in the hospital, God is present. On those mornings when we wake up, sit on the edge of the bed, rub our eyes, think of the problems we face, worry whether our life has any real meaning, and wonder if there is even really a God…God is present. 

The epiphanies of life are not just about us.  God is present in the way we serve our neighbor. God is forever the beggar outside our gate, the victim left on the side of the road and the voice of those who have no one to plead for their needs. We are not just called to be sensitive to God’s presence within our own lives but also to extend God’s presence through our care for others. Each of us is called to be a living epiphany and a sacrament of God’s love to the world around us.

Our stars are people and places and things that show us the way, that inspire us, that attract us. And we have sometimes made people our stars. Nowadays we call famous singers or sports people or actors, stars. Young people make heroes out of these stars. They imitate their speech, their dress and their ideas. In the same way we follow the religious heroes we call saints. We take their names and we try to follow their examples. They are our stars that guide us to Jesus and God.

Sometimes a good example can be a star. It pulls us and draws us. A good idea can be a star. Perhaps we get it from something we hear or read. Sometimes even sickness and pain can be a star: it makes us useless for awhile and gives us time to think. The Bible is also a star. Even King Herod brought the three wise men into contact with the Bible. The Bible is an excellent guide for people looking for Jesus even if the Bible is not enough, and we need people who will explain it. This is where many of us make a mistake: We go around with the Bible which, it is sad to say, so many use not to lead us to the meaning of Jesus’ words, but to convince us of their own interpretation. We should never forget that Jesus did not give us the New Testament. It was the Christian community that accepted his word and transmitted part of it to us through the Bible. Without the Christian community, we would have no gospels today and we still need the church’s help to understand them.

But, of course, Jesus Christ is our guiding star to God. He is our way, our truth and our life.  Of course, there is also such thing as following the wrong star. We do that when we look down and not up. Perhaps we can explain that with a little example. On a clear night, we can see stars reflected in ponds of water. No matter how dirty the water is, we see the stars down there. Since it is usually easier to reach down than to reach up, many people reach down into muddy water for their stars and then they find out that those were no real stars down there. People who reach down and not up for their stars are people whose star in life is: money, sex, drink, power, popularity, personality, bad company or patronage association. They follow these and perhaps end up in a swamp where there are also reflections of stars – but not real stars.

If we look at the stories of Jesus’ birth, two special groups of people came to visit the new-born babe: the shepherds and the magi. The church seems to have no special feast to commemorate the visit of the shepherds but we have this special feast of Epiphany today to celebrate the visit of the magi. Why is that? It is because the visit of the magi is an eye-opener. The shepherds learnt of the birth of Jesus through a direct revelation from angels appearing in the midnight sky. This is direct and supernatural revelation. Many of us have no problem with that. The magi, on the other hand, learnt of the birth of Jesus by observing a star. The star did not say anything to them. They had to interpret this natural sign of the star to know what it meant and where it led. If we remember that the magi or the three wise men were nature worshippers, people who divined God’s will by reading the movements of the stars and other heavenly bodies, then we can see how the visit of the magi challenges some of our popular beliefs.

According to Matthew, the wise men searched for the new-born Child. Searching requires courage and perseverance. I see a challenge here from the friends of the wise men. They must have mocked and laughed at them: “Following a star? What on earth for? We’re too busy with making a living to care about a star.” Nonetheless, the magi pursued their goal.

Applying this to practical life, it takes courage to be faithful to one’s religious conviction and moral integrity. The story is told of a taxi driver from a domestic airport, who found a clutch bag left behind by a foreigner-passenger at the back seat of his cab some time ago. The bag contained N25,000 in cash, some dollar bills, visa, and other important documents. The honest driver surrendered the bag to the lost-and-found counter at the  airport its content intact.  Although this man was needy and could have thought that this was an opportunity to make a living, he decided to return what didn’t belong to him. Indeed, it takes courage to be an upright Christian when the temptation to make a fast buck is strong. In married life, it takes heroic courage, too, to remain a faithful husband or wife in a milieu where infidelity and broken marriages abound.

Another lesson we can learn from the magi is that they did not only worship and present gifts to Christ but also obeyed the directive of the angel who warned them in a dream never to return to Herod. Herod for us symbolizes everything against the Spirit of Christ, especially sin. As the Magi never went back to Herod who asked them to return, we must also, never go back to those sins asking us to return. As we enter a new year, turn a new leaf and let men know that you really encountered Christ at Christmas.

How do we react to the Mercy of God and to his generosities! How did the angels react? They worship God and sang, the hymn, “glory to God in the highest.” How did the shepherds react? With joy, they left everything; travelled to the manger in Bethlehem to visit with the holy family. How did Simeon and Anna react? Simeon sang the Nunc dimitis. Anna spoke about the uniqueness of Christ's blessings to everyone (Luke 2). How did Herod and his cronies react? They sought to kill Christ, rather than worship him. How did the magi, the astrologers, in today’s Gospel react (Matt 2:1-12). They saw the star, and came all the way from the East, amidst challenges on the way- outside Bethlehem,--- to do him homage, to worship Christ, to praise him, to adore him, “Lord let every nation adore.” The magi adored Christ, submitted themselves to Christ, worshiped Christ, and knelt before Christ, along with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh!

So, how we, you and I, react to this available love and saving mercy of God, when we gather at worship, when we are at home, in schools, in our various places of work, offices and positions of authority, is crucial! Like the Magi, it does not matter where you are, what you do. God can speak to us. He speaks to you. He manifests Himself to us in and through various events, professions and occupations. All that he requires of us- put differently, are (the gifts of) disposition, the fear of the Lord, the willingness, love and mercy for one another, our openness and readiness to embrace Christ. You can be an attorney, a priests, a religious,  a nurse, a doctor, a secretary, a receptionist, a broker, a plumber, a factory worker, a church volunteer, a student, employed or unemployed, a bank teller, a football coach, a husband, housewife, a Jew or Gentile with deep faith.

Epiphany means that we have to manifest Christ to people, to evangelize by our own good example and live the Christian values even to a hostile environment. It means that as we receive this faith, this love of God, we share with our neighbors divine mercies, adore the Lord,- like the three magi, who saw the star, and came to do him homage! Guided by the light of those around us, we ourselves become lights to others. We give our minds to God when we affirm the value of life, proclaim the worth of humanity and distinguish correctly right from wrong. We give our hearts to God when we love with patience, depth and consistency. We give our souls to God when we pray with intensity, act with charity, stand up for justice, rejoice in good times and in bad. We give our bodies to God when we respect the bodies of others, bind up the wounds of hurting, feed the hungry, clothed the naked, give shelter to the homeless and lay down our lives for the sake of others.

May we all see and hear and feel the epiphanies of God in our lives this day and in each day to come.  Let us pray that we too may become stars to other people because the best stars we can give are ourselves through our words and examples. In that way, we may become light to them and lamp in their path.