A Love for All Peoples

Scripture Reflection FOR THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD (January 4, 2015)

Scripture Readings:
Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Matthew 2:1-12

Christmas is a time to gather with the family. Our family can be a place where we feel loved and welcomed and where we enjoy spending time together with our parents, siblings and relatives. But many times it can also be a place of tension, jealousies and misunderstanding. To a certain extent this is normal, because it helps us to grow and learn important lessons for our lives - about compassion, forgiveness and love. I’m very thankful that in my family I had the chance to learn and practice a healthy way of dealing with conflicts. There was a great openness for criticism, and my siblings and I felt very free to say out loud what we thought of each other. But we would never say good night before apologizing and reconciling with each other. I could always be sure of the love of my parents and my siblings. The issue that many times caused tension between my sister and me was the amount of housekeeping work that each of us had to do. I would always make sure that I didn’t have to work more than my younger sister but that we both had an equal number of tasks to accomplish. On the other side I thought that we should also have the same share of recognition and appreciation for our work and receive the same amount of love. I didn’t quite understand that the love that my parents gave to my siblings didn’t take away anything of the love they had for me.

The story of the magi giving homage to the baby Jesus centers on the same issues of exclusivity and jealousy. First of all, King Herod was afraid of the announcement of the newborn “King of the Jews.” He was afraid of losing his position and his exclusivity as ruler over the Jewish people. His jealousy made him blind to the prophecy and Jesus’ mission to bring about not another human kingdom, but the kingdom of God.

The other tension in this story is that the people of Israel has had a long history of a special relationship with God through the covenant. We find an example for the election of the people of Israel in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah: “Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. … Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.” Israel is the chosen people; it has a special position among other nations who will look up to them.

But he story of the Epiphany shows that Jesus came for all peoples – even for lowly shepherds and foreigners like the magi. The fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy through the magi makes Israel great in the eyes of God. God fulfills his promises and sends his son, a little child, born by a Jewish woman, part of the Jewish people, descendent of the great king David. God’s love for Israel is great, but not restricted to them. Shepherds and foreigners come and worship Jesus first. The magi fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy of “caravans and camels shall come bearing gold and frankincense.”

God opens the covenant made with the people of Israel to a “new covenant” in Jesus Christ. That is the reason why Paul can feel special, too. He feels special, because the mystery of God’s love and salvation was made known to the apostles of Jesus and because the Gentiles are now “coheirs, members of the same body and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” God’s plan of salvation is revealed to all, without discrimination. But like my parents, who loved all of their children with a special love, God’s love for all people doesn’t take anything away from the love God has for the people of Israel in the first covenant.

Nowadays we have problems with exclusivity, too. We ask: Who has the right faith? Who belongs to the right Church? Who are the right Catholics? We are jealous and want to be the only ones who are loved by God and worthy of God's salvation. But believe it or not: God’s love is still directed at all of humanity! Jesus still came to earth to save all of us! Jealousy and fear caused the assassination of the innocent children in Herod’s time, and are still the cause of wars and violence in our times.

We like to be special and become easily jealous if we have to share someone’s love with others. But God’s love is always greater. God’s special love for us doesn’t diminish because God shares it with others. God doesn’t follow our limited reasoning. We can’t tell God who and how to love. In prostrating themselves before Jesus, the magi surrender to God’s word in Christ Jesus and so become part of salvation history. The magi open the way for the Gentiles to become coheirs of God’s kingdom. They come to understand the truth about Jesus’ mission, they are transformed and return to their country “by another way.”

We too are invited to lay down our reason in front of such a mystery. Like the magi, we are invited to give our human riches as gifts to the Lord and give up our jealousies and fears. As we come to the Eucharist this Sunday, let us ask the Lord to open our hearts to all of humanity and show them the way to the Son of God who became human like us and for all of us. Let us ask for the grace to be truly transformed by Jesus present in the Eucharist and return home “by another way” – the way of Jesus.

Image: Inauguration of ETAP (Universal Brotherhood Site) at Genfest 2012 (www.genfest.org). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.