The conclusion: Inclusion

Introduction

Epiphany: East and West

Since you were here last something new has been added: three kings from the East arrived last night just in time for the Saturday Mass of anticipation. Today is the feast of Epiphany. The word comes from the Greek, and in theology it refers to a heavenly manifestation or a benevolent appearance of God.  In the Eastern Church Epiphany focuses especially upon the baptism of the Lord. That, indeed, was an epiphany--a heavenly manifestation. Scripture says, “After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water, and the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending upon him like a dove. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, `This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased’” (Mt 3:17). On Epiphany the Eastern Churches bless water and baptize their little ones.

 

In the Western Church, the feast focuses on the adoration of the magi.  That too was a heavenly manifestation. A star rose in the east to lead the magi, and it came to rest over the stable where the infant lay (Mt 2:1-12). In the course of time tradition dressed up the feast with a lot of glitz. It assumed that the magi were kings, and that they were three in number.  It put crowns on their heads and loaded their arms with wonderful gifts from the East. The church quoted the prophet Isaiah of the first reading,”The wealth of the Gentiles shall be brought to you. They will bring their riches from across the sea. Great caravan of camels will come from Midian and Ephah. They will come from Sheba, bearing gold and frankincense” (Is 60:5-6).

 

By the middle of the 3rd century Western tradition even gave the magi names: Melchior of Nubia, Caspar of Tarshish, and Baltazar of Chaldea. In the church of San Apollinare in Ravenna there is an ancient mosaic dating back to 550 AD which depicts Baltasar as middle-aged with a black beard, and Gaspar as an old man with a white beard and Melchior as a beardless young dude. By the 9th century tradition claimed that the three magi represented three races: Baltasar was Asian, Gaspar a white European and Melchior was African and therefore black. That’s what the cover of the current missalette in your pews depicts.

 

The focus

The Medieval focus on the magi as three glitzy kings from the East isn’t very profound. Cute it is, and a great delight to all the kids but not very profound. And there are some who work hard at debunking this charming story of the three magi.[1]  More profound than the glitz, however, is focus upon the religious meaning of the story. It sees Epiphany as the manifestation of Jesus, a Jew, to the Gentiles, for the magi were Gentiles. That focus goes way back to St. Augustine in the early four hundreds.

 

That’s the obvious focus of our Epiphany Mass today. The opening prayer reads, “You revealed your Son to the Gentiles by the guidance of a star.” The first reading foretells that, “The Gentiles shall walk by your light,” and that, “The wealth of the Gentiles shall be brought to you” (Is 60:3, 5).[2] In  the second reading from Ephesians Paul writes, “I reveal to you a mystery hidden from former generations but now revealed to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles  are co-heirs with us Jews. They are members of the same body and co-partners in God’s promises given by Christ Jesus” (Eph 3:5-6). Listen to this simpler and perhaps more enlightening translation from the Living Bible, “I reveal to you a mystery which God revealed to me: namely God’s secret plan to include the Gentiles in His kindness” (Living Bible, Eph 3:5-6). With the star of Epiphany the conclusion of the Christmas drama is the  good news of inclusion.

The last act

Up until now everything in the Christmas drama has been overwhelmingly Jewish.  The great prophet of Advent, Isaiah, is a Jew.  All the main characters of the Christmas drama are Jews: Joseph and Mary, Zachary and Elizabeth, old Anna and Simeon in the temple, they’re all Jews. Though unwashed and unkempt the shepherds, too, are Jews. Even the angels with their Hebrew shouts of joy “Alleluia! Alleluia!” seem to be Jews. And of course, the lead actor, the Messiah himself, is a Jew. He is "a descendant of David, according to the flesh" (I Rom: 3).

 

Up until now something’s been missing. The Gentiles are missing. The drama of universal salvation waits for the last act, and it comes with the star of Epiphany. That star leads three Gentiles to the stable. That star reveals to the Jews a mystery hidden from them down through the ages that “the Gentiles are included in the kindness of God.” That star now invites the Jews to move over and make room in God’s inn for the Gentiles. When the curtain went up on the Christmas drama there was no room in the inn. As it goes down there is now room for everyone.

 

Sacralizing exclusion

What disturbing news that must have been was for the chosen Jews of old to be told to move over and make room for the Gentiles, who are now included in the kindness of God. Exclusion of Gentiles permeated their lives all day long. It was woven into the very fabric of their religion. It  was built into their very temple where they constructed a stone wall five feet high to divide the outer court of the Gentiles from the inner court of the Jews. That wall separated the chosen Jew from the un-chosen Gentile. On that wall were attached xenophobic signs prohibiting any Gentile under the pain of death from going beyond the prescribed line.[3]

 

Whenever you have an exclusion which you favor very highly, you give it legitimacy by sacralizing it. You make it holy. You build it right into the very construction of your temple. And then you point to it and exclaim, “See, if God excludes Gentiles, then so may we.” That, of course, quickly deteriorates into, “See, if God hates Gentiles, then so may we.”  What human animosity and contempt of others built into the very construction of the temple that  Jesus torn down. Of that “holy” wall Paul writes in Ephesians, “Christ has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one family, breaking down the wall of contempt that used to separate us” (Eph 2:14).  Jesus, the pontiff (builder of bridges) tears down “holy” walls and in their place builds bridges.

 

Hiding inclusion

Paul calls the inclusion of Gentiles in the kindness of God a mystery—"a secret plan hidden through the ages” (Eph 3:3).  We snicker at bit that . We wonder who hid this good news that  Gentiles are included in the kindness of God? Did God hide that good news from the Jews of old, or did they hide that good news from themselves? Why in the world would God want to hide such good news in the first place?

 

It’s strange how history can turn the tables.  After the Holocaust we now ask who hid the good news from the Nazi that not only German Gentiles but also German Jews are included in the kindness of God?   Did God hide that good news from the Nazis or did the Nazis hide it from themselves? Today we ask who hides the good news that women in the church are also included in the kindness of God? Does God hide that good news from the church or does the church hide that good news from herself? Today we ask who hides the good news that gays are included in the kindness of God? Does God hide that good news from the religious right or from homophobes or do they hide that good news from themselves? Who hides the good news that we Western Infidels are included in the kindness of Allah?  Does Allah hide that good news from Islamics or do they hide that good news from themselves?  If there’s mystery here it is this: why would God or Allah or anyone else would ever want to hide good news in the first place?

 

The star still shining

The star of Epiphany bearing the good news of inclusion keeps shining and beckoning in the night sky down through the ages.  It shone upon the Second Vatican Council. To a hierarchy of 3000 bishops assembled in the great nave of St. Peter’s Basilica that shining Star of Epiphany proclaimed that the laity are also included in the kindness of God (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church--Lumen Gentium).  To a self-proclaimed  “one true Church” assembled in Vatican II that shining Star of Epiphany proclaimed that the  Orthodox Churches of the East and the Protestant Churches of the West are also included in the kindness of God (Decree on Ecumenism—Unitatis Redintegratio).  To a Church which was forever at odds with the world that shining Star of Epiphany proclaimed that even the very world itself is included in the kindness of God (The Church in the Modern World--Gaudium et Spes). To a Church with a long history of persecution of Jews [4] that shining Star of Epiphany which first proclaimed that  Gentiles were included in the kindness of God now proclaimed that  Jews are included in the kindness of God (Declaration on the Church’s Relationship to Non-Christian Religions -- Nostra Aetate).

 

Much of that spirit of inclusion of Vatican II is still mostly on paper, but it’s a good start. The Star of Epiphany keeps shining and beckoning in the night sky. It still has a lot of work to do. A male dominated church and society has still to proclaim in a meaningful way that women are included in the kindness of God.

 

The tsunami and the kindness of God

This homily and its direction was begun before the apocalyptic tsunami burst upon south eastern Asia the day after Christmas this past week. We now have a problem that agonizes the world’s human spirit. Gentiles are included in the kindness of God. Jews are included in the kindness of God. We infidels are included in the kindness of Allah if Allah is God. Laity, women and gays all included in the kindness of God.  Now in temples, mosques, churches and synagogues across the whole globe, clerics are trying to explain why the kindness of  God didn’t include all those thousands of dead victims who were ruthlessly swept away by the  tsunami --140,000 of them and still counting? They’re trying to explain why the kindness of God didn’t include also those millions of living victims who are now crying for clean water to drink  or who are now crying for their mamas and papas or for their babies?

 

“Why did you do this to us, God? What did we do to upset you so?” asked a woman in India this week. Israel’s chief rabbi Shlomo Amar said, “This is an expression of God’s great ire with the world.” A priest of New Delhi’s Birla temple said, “This disaster was caused by a huge amount of pent-up man-made evil on earth and was driven by the positions of the planets.” An Islamic cleric said, “The disaster was a reminder from God that he created the world and can destroy the world.” Whatever our heads think about such attempts to explain away the problem of suffering, our hearts don’t buy it.

 

A take

After 50 years in the business, here’s my take about the problem of human suffering. At the end of the day God doesn’t cause the disasters inflicted by robbers on the road to Jericho (acts of evil men).  Nor does God cause the disasters inflicted by tsunamis (“acts of God”). God does not cause those disasters but this is also true: neither does God prevent them. At the end of the day God simply pours the oil of compassion upon those disasters, like the Good Samaritan. And as a grieving father God invites you and me to help him pour the oil of compassion. Here I always quote Teilhard de Chardin, “It is thoroughly in accord with the Gospel to regard God as a father weeping across the ages over his afflicted children, in ceaseless effort to spare them their  bitter wounds and to   bind up their hurts” (Divine Milieu). After 50 years that little and that much is my take on the problem of human suffering.

 

It’s also Bernie Heeran’s take. He is a retired firefighter whose son Charlie worked at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center and was killed on that fatal day.  In a Documentary on 9/11 he expressed himself in simple un-theological words saying,  “God had nothing to do with 9/11. He was fighting evil that day as He does every day, and He wants us to help him in the fight.  On the September 11th  God together with  firemen and policemen,  with  doctors and nurses, with priests and rabbis, were all fighting evil.” 

 

Conclusion

Beyond reproach

At the end of the day it’s our compassion backed up by offerings of charity for all those millions devastated by the tsunami that carries more meaning than any wordy attempt to explain away human suffering. When you include in God’s kindness and yours  Jews or infidels or laity or women or gays somebody will always have  something to beef about. But when you include in God’s kindness and yours all the living victims of the tsunami of 26th of December, that’s beyond all reproach. 


[1] Their debunking is the past time of sophisticated people who aren’t sophisticated enough to be able to listen to the stories of Christmas also with the ears of a child.

[2]  English translations sometimes use “Gentiles” here and sometimes “nations.”  The use of “Gentiles” carries much more theological meaning.

[3] In fact a stone inscription found in 1871 near the temple area threatened death to any Gentile who passed beyond this "Check-point-Charlie" located in the very house of God. This same wall almost killed St. Paul. In Acts we read that some Jews from the Province of Asia tried to put Paul to death because they thought he had introduced Trophimus, an Ephesian Gentile, beyond the forbidden  wall (Acts 21:28-29).

 

[4] The fourth Lateran Council  in 1215  declared Jews may not appear in public during Holy Week; that they must pay tithes on their houses to the Church; that they must wear distinctive dress from their twelfth year on.