Well, there’s no
mistaking it. Christmas is coming to a close, but just when we thought it was
over, along comes Epiphany. Just when we thought it was time to get on with our
lives and face the cold hard reality of winter…along come the magi, strangers
from the East, with the question that hangs over this last Christmas moment, a
question suspended in its own way like the silver star over our manger: Where is the newborn king of the Jews? If
our answer is “Wrapped in tissue paper in a box in the atic”…well, wrong answer[1].
Where is the
newborn king of the Jews? Where have we put Jesus Christ since Christmas?
In the popular
imagination, the Christmas season is a time for sentiment, and family, and
sudden bursts of generosity. We feel the urge to slip on an apron and bake – or
maybe even give gifts to strangers, or volunteer at a soup kitchen, or send an
extra check to a favorite charity… But so often, when the decorations come
down, so does our good will. Christmas
is over. The holiday is done. Vacation is finished. It’s back to the daily
grind.
Maybe this is
why the magi appears on the scene here and now.
We need to be
asked, now more than ever: where is the newborn king of the Jews? Where is
Jesus Christ in our world? In our
hearts? In our lives? Have we forgotten
the deeper meaning of this season? Have
we lost track of Jesus?
The magi, the
gospel tells us, had to search for him. The newborn king wasn’t where they
expected him to be. They didn’t find him in a palace, among royalty. They had
to go outside the city, and travel further, guided by the light of a star. And
there they found him, in a humble setting, with only his mother. Scripture
tells us he came into a world that had no room for him, and that his first bed
wasn’t a bed at all, but a manger. He
came into a world that didn’t plan for him, or welcome him, and lived his first
days among strangers.
Sometimes, Jesus
isn’t where we expect him to be. Which leads us to ask, in a more personal way:
with the holidays ending, and the sentiment of the season fading, what is left?
Where is Jesus in our lives?
This is a time to put away the ornaments and the
lights. It’s not a time to put away
Christ. This
is a time to remember what his coming meant to our world – and to hold on to
the sense of charity, and generosity, and wonder, and joy that are all the
hallmarks of the Christmas season. How many times last month did we hear the
phrase, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” Well, that’s just the beginning. We need to keep him in every day, in every
season.
So this
weekend…remember.
Remember what we
felt over the last two weeks.
Remember why
Christ came into the world.
Remember that
what began in a manger ended on a cross.
Remember the One
who is at the center of it all.
And remember:
God’s intervention in human history — the event we celebrated two Sundays ago —
changed everything.
Two thousand
years ago, Jesus was marginalized in his birth—pushed aside into a stable. He
shouldn’t be marginalized in our lives today. Now that the celebration of his
birth has ended, Christ’s presence in our lives shouldn’t be discarded or
forgotten about, like a Christmas tree left at the curb.
The question of
the magi is the question all of us have to answer – and answer for. Not just this Sunday, Epiphany, but every
day.
Where is the
newborn king of the Jews? Where have we put Jesus in our world? ■
[1] Sunday 6th January, 2013,
Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you
- Ps 71(72):1-2, 7-8, 10-13. Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6. Matthew 2:1-12.
Ilustration: Adoration of the magi, Psalter of Robert de Lisle (circa
1310), British library.
