In Father Efren’s homily last week, he mentioned something that, quite frankly, touched me so deeply that I found it hard to focus on the rest of his homily. In the course of his reflection, he talked about our need to stretch our minds and hearts and learn to love again.
To stretch our minds and hearts and learn to love again – I think the reason it touched me so deeply was that it put into words a feeling that over time, I, we, the community and the world we live in has forgotten what unconditional Love is all about. Forgotten what the love of God is all about.
Today is the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. Now I could ramble on about the three wise men, or the gifts they brought to Jesus, or the gifts you and I bring to Jesus. It would be a hopefully interesting and maybe helpful homily. But I think it would miss the point. Miss a deeper meaning behind this feast. And miss the elephant in the room.
Prior to the coming of Jesus, and especially in Judaism, religion and ethnicity were closely connected. Conversions were rare, occurred mainly because of marriage and involved changing your culture as well as your faith. The Jews were “a people God chose especially to be his own”. They felt that if God wanted other people to be Jews, he would have chosen them too. Because God is in control. For first-century Judaism, holiness involved exclusion: separating oneself from everything that is unclean, including unclean people: pagans and Samaritans and gentiles and sinners.
However, far from separating himself from unclean people, Jesus purposely went out to those who had been excluded and made them his own. He discussed theology with a much divorced Samaritan woman who was now living with yet another loser. He cured the child of a Roman centurion. He healed a Samaritan leper and ate in the homes of undesirables.
As for the early Church, Jesus’ Jewish-Christian followers reached out to Samaritans and pagans, and invited them to become Christians without in any way sacrificing their culture or changing their ethnic identity.
This openness to all the nations is prefigured in today’s visit of the wise men from the East. And that visit prefigured one of the profound truths that Jesus came to witness to …. That all the peoples of the world would be included in God’s great promise to the Jews. That all people would be co-heirs in Jesus Christ.
Isaiah said in today’s first reading that all nations would walk in the light of Jerusalem. That Kings would come bearing gifts of gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord. And Kings did indeed come. Magi from the East appeared with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They prostrated themselves before Jesus, and did him homage, and fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy.
Today’s Gospel is from Matthew, the gospel written to show that in Jesus we find the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies. And lets be clear …. this was not about the worthiness of the gentiles to be included. It was about God’s plan being revealed. God’s unconditional love for all humankind. A love that was inclusive.
Perhaps the mystery of inclusion eludes many of us. We speak about our oneness in Christ, but we still have a temptation to consider some people as lesser members of His Body. For example, we are inclined to see those with cultures different than ours as less Christian than us.
This was the huge mistake of the past centuries when missionaries tried to turn the people of Asia, Africa and North and South America into European Christians. It is one we feel particularly close to in Canada because of the roles that Residential Schools had in violating the rights of our Indigenous communities.
But we don’t have to go to the past or to other lands to find people who might feel excluded from the Church, or at least feel that they are being seen as “lesser”…..
Who are those people who might feel excluded from the Church? Excluded from our community? Be seen as somehow ..lesser?
Perhaps, people in second or third marriages. They need to know that they are loved and that they belong here.
Perhaps people who have suffered the trauma of an abortion. They too need to know that they are loved and that they belong here.
Perhaps there are some who feel excluded due to their sexual orientation. They need to know that they are loved and that they belong here.
Perhaps people who are working through their sense of Gender Identity feel excluded. For many of us, it is not a phenomenon that we are aware of, and it seems all rather new and strange. But it is a real part of the journey of many in today’s world. Perhaps you and I need to know more about it, because it’s harder to hurt someone if you know their story. It’s harder to judge someone if you know their story. They too need to know that they are loved and that they belong here.
Perhaps we see those who live on the streets, who frequent our food banks and soup kitchens, who are addicted to alcohol, or drugs, or sex, as somehow being ‘lesser’ than us. They too need to know that they are loved and that they belong here.
The list can go on and on.
When we make judgements on other peoples lives, we are excluding them from the heart of the Church. And that troubles me. Perhaps I am tired of seeing people using religion as an excuse to look down on other people. And perhaps I am frustrated at the times that I may have done this myself.
The Church cannot be the Body of Christ unless it is open to all people. Each person is unique. Each person adds to the strength of the Body. And most importantly, each person is loved by God.
The Solemnity of the Epiphany teaches you and I that there is no us and them in Jesus Christ. There is only one big us, an us that includes all people, everywhere. As followers of Jesus Christ, you and I are called to show unconditional love to everyone – whatever their economic status, social status, gender, mental health, physical ability, sensory challenge, race, gender identity or sexuality.
And I know that for many of us, that will be difficult.
Because we will have to let go of our prejudices and our desire to exclude people. Because we will need to stretch our minds and hearts and learn to love again