In The Shoes Of The Wise

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

January 2, 2011

Let’s keep in mind that the season of Christmas is not yet over. The commercial Christmas is almost over, but the real season of Christmas is still here with us. For Christians, especially Catholics, real Christmas does not end. Sometimes we hear people say “Everyday is not Christmas,” meaning, “everyday is not celebration;” “free gifts and fun do not occur everyday.” But to be sincere with you, everyday should be Christmas. For friends of God, everyday is Christmas; but not Christmas in the sense of partying, exchange of gifts, commercialization that happens before and after Christmas etc, but in the sense of allowing the Word of God take flesh in their hearts. For us, Christmas ought to be an every day experience in the sense of allowing Jesus Christ to be born again in our hearts, in our lives, in our relationships, in our interaction with people, in our relationship with the world. Christmas is everyday for those who receive the Word of God in their hearts and allow the Word to guide their steps, to shape their lives and to form their characters. Remember the words of the Scripture, “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet; and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).

Dearest beloved, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ. Few days ago, we rejoiced and celebrated the incarnation; few days ago we celebrated the birth of our Redeemer in Bethlehem. On that very day, the angel of the Lord led us to the manger. Today, we celebrate his Epiphany, his manifestation to the nations. The Epiphany of the Lord is the manifestation of the Son of God to the nations of the world. Today we celebrate the Son of God who came from the bosom of the Father to the bosom of a Woman, put on humanity that we might put on divinity. Today, we celebrate Jesus, who became the Son of Man that we might become sons and daughters of God. Today, the Son of God manifests himself as the Son of Man. Today, God shows himself a human being. Today, the King of kings and the Lord of lord shows himself a subject. Today the giver of all things manifests himself as a needy. Today the owner of all riches shows himself a poor child.

Today’s gospel taken from Matthew 2:1-12 tells us that the Magi from the East came to Jerusalem looking for Jesus the new born King. The gospel said they arrived in Jerusalem with a question, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” Jerusalem was a beautiful city. It was a great city of trade and commerce. But when the Magi arrived, they were not interested in beholding the beauty of Jerusalem; they were not interested in trading their treasures for money; all they cared to know was where the child was. They were desperately not looking for silver and gold; they were looking for the owner of silver and gold. They were not looking for the important people in the city- the Lords, the scholars, the lawyers, doctors, the priests, the Levites or even the prophets, they were looking for the Lord of Lords; they were looking for the King of kings; they were looking for whom scholars called the Logos; they were looking for the one lawyers debated about; they were looking for the one all the true prophets spoke about. They were urgently looking for the Savior and their salvation. You know, a discovery of the Savior leads to salvation.

When Herod heard that a new King has been born, he was greatly worried. But when the Magi heard that a King has been born, they were greatly excited and wanted to see him. While they were looking for the King to pay him homage; Herod was looking for him to destroy him. While Herod was worried, the Magi were excited. What the Magi came to do was in accord with today’s responsorial psalm, “Lord, all nations shall fall prostrate before you.” The gospel says “on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage.” Then they opened their treasures, and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They offered the Lord the gift of gold. Gold was a symbol of his kingship and power; the newborn child is going to be a king. They offered him frankincense. Frankincense is a particular kind of incense used in religious ceremonies and worship to give honor to what was considered holy. Frankincense was a symbol of his priesthood. The newborn child is going to be a priest. Finally, they offered him myrrh. Myrrh is an ointment which was used to heal wounds, and to also embalm the bodies of the dead. Myrrh symbolized Christ’s death on the cross. The newborn child is going to die on the cross in order to bring about the healing of God’s people. Myrrh was used to heal; it was given to Jesus showing that Jesus is the healer of the world. Remember John 10:10!

Dearest beloved! There is something about this Bible passage that is easily overlooked or not even considered at all. We always preach about the homage of the Magi and the gifts and the significance of the gifts they offered to the Lord. But we hardly talk about the sequence of what was given. The first thing the Magi gave to the Lord was the offering of their lives. Prostration is a concrete sign of surrender and adoration. Prostration is a symbolic act of total self giving. It is an honest gesture of total abandonment. When they saw the newborn King, the first thing they offered him was not their material treasures. They offered him first what he most desired and cherished- the offering of their lives. St. Paul in Romans 12:1 says “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God to offer your bodies (your lives) as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” The best gift we can offer to God especially in the beginning of this New Year is the gift of our lives. The Magi offered themselves first before offering their treasures. And in the real sense of it, God does not need gold; he doesn’t need silver; he does not need any material things. Material things cannot praise the Lord; material things cannot worship our God; gold or frankincense or myrrh cannot adore the King of kings. God does not need material things; but he needs us.

Does it surprise you to hear that God needs us? I am sure you must have heard it before that God does not need anything, that he does not need us. I have heard it too. Well, God needs something, and that is you and I. God is love. God loves us. God also needs us. He needs us to show us his love; he needs us to manifest his love; he needs us to demonstrate his goodness; he needs us to also love him in return. Since God is love, he must always love something and somebody. God needs us to express his love; but we need God to survive. There is a link between God’s love and God’s need. So, God has a need. His need is you; his need is me. His need is every one of us. God’s only need is you and I. So the assertion that God does not need anything is not entirely true. We need God; God needs us. But God does not need us to be God. He only needs us to shower his love, mercy and goodness.

On seeing the Lord, the Magi paid him homage. As we experience the King of kings and the Lord of lords, let’s remember to pay him homage. When your prayers are answered, remember to do him homage. Begin your day doing him homage. Pass through the day doing him homage. End your day doing him homage. Doing nothing does not do him homage; gossip and lies do not do him homage; unfaithfulness and deceit do not do him homage; religious hypocrisy and double-standard life do not do him homage; back-biting, envy, jealous and assassination one’s character do not do him homage; religious indifference and radical moral behavior do not do him homage; narcissism, egotism, pride, and self-aggrandizement do not do him any homage; selfishness, greed and uncontrollable quest for material things do not do him any homage. Leave your house in the morning paying him homage; return home paying him homage; retire to sleep paying him homage. Pay him homage in your relationship; pay him homage in your working place; pay him homage while driving; pay him homage in your discussions and phone conversations; pay him homage in your dealings with others; pay him homage in your eating habit; pay him homage in your drinking habit; pay him homage even in love-making. Love making between a married man and his wife gives glory to God. Healthy sexual relationship can lead to an encounter with God.

Today’s gospel ended this way: “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.” Dearest beloved, it is now time to return home another way. Do not go back to Herod. Part of the reasons why we call the Magi “wise men” is because they had the wisdom to search for their Savior, and when they had found him “returned to their own country by another way.” They had wisdom! Scripture tells us that wisdom is a defense. She was present with God when God created the world. People went to Jerusalem for economic reasons and pleasure. But these men came to Jerusalem seeking for their King. On leaving Jerusalem, they went home another way. They refused to return to Herod the hater of the Savior. But in our own journey, we have returned to Herod many times. Herod is the devil; Herod is the world; Herod is the self. Herod could be our mind- our thought. Herod could be our heart- our feeling. Herod could be our eyes- the things we behold. Herod could be the name of a person, place or thing. Herod could be our friend; it could be the place you go to; it could be food or drink or other material things. You may have promised God not go back to Herod, but sooner or later finds yourself going back to him. The wise men on encountering the Lord went home another way. Today, let’s decide to go home another way. Do not return to Herod. Herod is not happy that your Savior is born. Herod is not happy that you have found your Savior. Herod is not happy that you are saved. Herod is not happy that you are happy. Herod wants to destroy all that. Do not go back to him. If you have left him; leave him in the past. If you have encountered him before, do not go back to him. Forward march! Forward ever! Backward never!

“Are you the one to come, or should we look for another?”

“Are you the one to come, or should we look for another?”

Fr. Divine Emeka Okwara

Homily for the 3^rd Sunday of Advent, 2010

Holy Names Church

Memphis, Tennessee

A woman was once looking for the perfect birthday card for her husband. Then she came across a pleasant card that reads on the outside “Sweetheart, you are the answer to my prayers.” Then she opened the card, and on the inside is written, “You are not exactly what I prayed for, but it seems you are the answer.”

I want to assume that something like this may have run through the mind of John the Baptist as he sat lonely and alone with God in the prison. John, like every Jew had hoped and prayed for the coming of the Messiah. He like every Jewish person had longed for a military deliverer who would vanquish and conquer the enemies, establish a great kingdom, and usher in an era of peace and prosperity. The prophets of the Old Testament had prophesied the advent of the Messiah who would bring glad tiding. The First Reading taken from the prophecy of Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10 begins as follows, “The desert and parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.” Why would a desert and parched land exult? Why would the stepped rejoice and bloom? Because the Messiah, the anointed one is coming. The Messiah is coming to establish a new era of hope for the oppressed, repressed, and depressed people. The First Reading from Isaiah also says “Say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong, do not afraid! Behold, your God will come with vindication, with divine recompense, he comes to save you.” And when he comes, “the eyes of the blind will open, the ears of the deaf will be cleaned; then the lame will leap for joy, and the tongue of the mute will sing.” With time, John believed that the prayers have been answered. And the answer to the prayers is his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth.

As you already know, John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. He was the last prophet of the Old Testament that actually saw Jesus. He was an Old Testament prophet who had one foot in the old era and one foot in the new era. John had a ministry until his arrest. His ministry was that of preparing people for the coming of Jesus, the anointed one. Even though he lived in the wilderness near Jordan, still great crowds came to listen to him preach. John’s message was powerful, persuasive, direct, and life-changing. He did not live a fancy life; he did not eat fancy and expensive food; he did not wear fancy clothes; he did not live in a fancy house; he did not associate with fancy people. John was not a celebrity or a wealthy man; yet, all sorts of people rich people, poor people, beggars, lepers, sinners, Pharisees etc go out to the desert to listen to him. John was not a celebrity or the sexiest man on the planet, but his message was primarily directed to fancy people, to celebrities who let fancy material things define them instead of defining themselves in relation to their relationship with God. John had seen Jesus when he came to Jordan; he had seen him from a distance and at a close range. Remember Jesus was baptized by John. But after their encounter, Jesus and John went their separate ways. John continued with his public ministry.

John is now in prison. He has enough time to reflect and to think over what he has said and done, and what he has heard Jesus is doing. John is in prison over his refusal to sanction the intended marriage of King Herod Antipas to Herodias, the wife of his own brother. In prison, John remembered the high hope he had about the coming of the Messiah. He had hoped for a revolutionary Messiah instead he got a Messiah who ate and dinned with sinners. Although there were pleasant stories of miracles and healings, but there was no call for arms and revolution. John may have thought of Jesus as the answer to their prayers, but not exactly what they prayed for. To avoid making a hasty and wrong conclusion about Jesus, John sent his disciples to Jesus with a question, “Are you the one to come, or shall we look for another?”

But instead of answering John’s question brought by his disciple, Jesus simply said, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them.” The Lord simply said to John’s disciples, Look, go and tell John that the prophecy of the prophets especially the one we read today in Isaiah is being fulfilled: “Say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong, and fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance; with the recompense of God, He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert” (Isaiah 35:4-6). Jesus did not say yes or no, but he pointed out what has been happening. The Lord did not try to “talk the talk” but he did “walk the walk.” He let his actions speak for themselves.

When the disciples of John left, Jesus turned to his listeners and asked “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by wind? Absolutely Not! “Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing” No! “Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

Are you the one who is to come, or shall look for another? Jesus’ answer was a way of saying to the people not to be trapped in their concept of the Messiah who will come to wage a violent war against the Romans. The Lord was simply saying that his Messiah is not a warlike messiah but a Messiah who will bring about real deliverance. Defeating the Romans and sending them packing does not end humans’ misery and hopelessness. Being ruled by their own people is not going to bring liberation and freedom. True and real liberation and freedom comes from the Lord. It comes from being a part of the Kingdom which the Son of God has come to establish. Freedom from slavery is not deliverance; freedom from oppression is not really freedom; freedom from paying taxes is not really the real freedom. Freedom comes from Jesus. One can be in physical chains and still be free. Freedom is eternal life. That is why Jesus says in John 8:36, “When the Son of Man sets you free, you are free indeed.” And eternal life says Jesus “Is knowing the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ whom he has sent” (John 17:3).

Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another? Jesus comes that the blind may regain their sight. The Lord comes so that those who are blind to see the truth, those who are blind to love; those who are blind to see others especially the needy, those who are blind to see God might regain their sight. Jesus comes that the lame may walk; the Lord comes so that those who are paralyzed by fear, hopelessness, doom and negativity will walk again in hope. Jesus comes so that lepers might be cleansed; the Lord comes so that those afflicted by the leprosy of sin might be cleansed and washed. Jesus comes so that the deaf will hear; the Lord comes that those who are deaf to hear to the message of life, deaf to hear the truth (truth hurts so much), those who are deaf to hear the cry of mercy, the cry of peace, the cry of justice, the cry of equity, the cry to respond to human suffering, the cry of those who are jobless, the cry of those who are homeless, the cry of those who are naked and hungry, the cry of those crying for help may hear and act. Jesus comes that the dead may be raised; the Lord comes to raise those who are asleep in faith, hope, and love. Jesus comes to raise those especially his followers who have been overtaken by secularism, by the loss of the sense of sins, and by lack of passion for the kingdom. Jesus comes to raise those who have fallen into the sleep of the soul, those who are not burning with desire to do good. He has come to fire them up! Jesus has come to preach the good news; the Lord has come to preach the good news to all those who are materially poor and spiritually poor. And that good news is “God is love.” That good news is “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, whoever believes in him will not die, but have eternal life.” That good news is “the kingdom is close at hand.”

Dearest beloved, the question directed to Jesus by John’s disciples “Are you the one to come, or shall we look for another” can be directed to each of us too. Jesus has fulfilled the Messianic prophecies. He has left the remaining task to us. Remember the handless cross in our school, remember the inscription beside it. For the sake of our visitors, there is a big cross over there in our school. On the cross is the crucified Jesus with his two hands chopped off. But beside the handless cross is the inscription “WE ARE HIS HANDS.” We are the hands of Jesus today. We are the voice of Jesus today. We are the body of Jesus today. We are the love, mercy and generosity of Jesus today. But are you? Are you the one to come or shall we look for another?

A couple prayed for the visitation of Jesus. They prayed to see Jesus visit them. After five years of ceaseless prayers and fasting without seeing Jesus, they decided to visit their priest. Disappointedly they said to their priest, “Father, for five years we have prayed and asked the Lord to visit us, but he has refused to show up. Why is the Lord refusing to visit us?” The priest answered “In your neighborhood, there is a very poor couple with children. Suggest to them that you will celebrate the Christmas with them in their house. Prepare a good meal, and buy some Christmas gift for them. I tell you, that family has never had a good meal at Christmas. After you had done that, the Lord will surely visit you.”

The couple did as their priest told them. But after Christmas, they came back to their priest and said “Father, we did what you suggested, but we haven’t seen the Lord yet.” The priest said, “I know very well that Jesus visited the house of your poor neighbor on Christmas day. But of course you couldn’t see him.” Then the priest brought out a mirror and held it before his face and said, “Look, this was the face of Jesus on that Christmas day.”

Sisters, are you the one to come or should we look for another? Brothers, are you the one to come or should we look for another? Can you be Jesus to your neighbor or would you want them to keep looking for him? A good Christian is a Bible. A good Christian is Jesus to others. Are you the one? Are you?