Monday January 8, 2024

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany. I said after the three wise men left, the three wise women arrived quietly with gifts of diapers, baby formula and spaghetti.

.You know in antiquity this feast celebrated three miracles; The visit of the magi, the baptism of the Lord and the wedding at Cana. The theme in all these events is the great realization that God has actively intervened in human history. There is a shock factor in these events. A factor we do not pay much attention to but one that we have to keep in mind. YAHWEH was a tribal God. Owned, possessed and controlled by the people of Israel. This God had no problem destroying (through the hands of his subjects) other peoples and their Gods. In fact the idea of monotheism (one God) was not known in the early pages of the Bible.

The big shock is when the people of Israel came to realize that God has other children as well. Ones whose practices are not so Jewish. In the Hebrew Scriptures he says “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Why has this been such a hard lesson for us? The foreigners (magi) searched for God as pagans, they found Christ as pagans, payed homage as pagans and left as pagans. It’s all good.

So this feast that celebrates the revelation of God to the nations invites us to stop trying to own God. This God respects other cultures and reveals himself to them. God does find a way. So whoever you are, wherever you are the divine presence will let you find her.