Thursday, January 6, 2002 (today’s lectionary)
The Twelfth Day of Christmas
The Epiphany of the Lord (actual)
Warm and well-fed
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
On January 6, men and women in eastern Europe dive into freezing water to retrieve a crucifix, one traditional part of celebrating the day of Epiphany. In Italy and Spain children wake up to gifts and candy. And across the world, this is the twelfth and final day of Christmas.
Of course last year there were remarkable events in Washington D.C., but they had to do with politics and disappointment, not the visit of the magi to Jesus in Bethlehem. What will happen today – here and there and everywhere?
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Pope Francis visited children at Palidoro Bambino Gesu Hospital outside Rome. In his homily at Mass he spoke both of the magi and all of us, “If we want to find Jesus, we have to overcome our fear of taking risks, our self-satisfaction and our indolent refusal to ask anything more of life. We need to take risks simply to meet a child. Those risks are immensely worth the effort, since in finding that child, in discovering his tenderness and love, we rediscover ourselves.”
Jesus said to his listeners in the synagogue, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
Marc and I had dinner at Seven Saints in Champaign last night, and our server, Laura, seemed beyond risk-taking. She simply assumed the best of her customers, and seemed to assume they would think the same of her. Her positive energy was infectious.
Pope Francis told his listeners to “resist inclinations toward arrogance, thirst for power and for riches.” But resist also, on the other hand, “making do with health, a little money and a bit of entertainment.” Neither way leads us through the minefield of our egos into love. For that we must take physical and emotional risks, and trust God’s guidance even when we are blind.
Our lectionary passage ends with a fragile bubble of acceptance and praise lingering over the people in the synagogue at Nazareth. All did not “speak highly of him” for much longer. After Jesus’ next words the people tried to stone him and throw him over a cliff.
Whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.
In Bethlehem when he was only two, Herod sought to kill Jesus. Now, nearly thirty years later he was almost killed after preaching in a synagogue. And a few years after this he would be confronted, arrested, questioned, whipped and tortured, and finally crucified before his family and friends.
Jesus took risks. He resisted arrogance and power, and he refused to settle for the simple warm blanket of a peasant’s life. Jesus WAS the child the pope spoke of, but Jesus also sought out children wherever he went, insisting that the adults around him appreciate them as closer to the Kingdom of heaven than the adults were.
This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God will also love his brother.
Marc and I drove home through the winter night, full of the threat of snow, wind chill of 5 below zero, and I remembered my friend Michael Powers, who struggled through more than a few nights like this to deliver papers for the News Gazette. We thought of newspaper carriers (Marc was one once), and men and women who had nowhere to call their own. The willingness of Jesus to identify with people in trouble, the “least of these,” as he called them, fills me with awe, and a desire to do likewise.
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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