Epiphany 2016

MATTHEW 2:1-12
WHEN YOU ARE A LITTLE KID YOU DON'T ALWAYS PICK UP ON WHAT IS GOING ON BETWEEN YOUR PARENTS.  ONE THING I VIVIDLY REMEMBER WAS THAT ON CHRISTMAS DAY AFTER MASS AND BREAKFAST, MY FATHER WOULD TAKE ME – NOT MY SISTERS, NOT MY MOTHER, JUST ME – TO VISIT “THE LINDSTROMS”.  THIS TRADITIONS STARTED WHEN I WAS ABOUT FIVE, AND CONTINUED UNTIL I WAS IN COLLEGE AND THE ELDERLY COUPLE, PLAGUED BY MEDICAL PROBLEMS AND DEMENTIA, DISAPPEARED INTO A NURSING HOME.  THEY WERE THE PARENTS OF ONE OF MY DAD'S FRIENDS.  MR. AND MRS. LINDSTROM HAD EMIGRATED FROM SWEDEN AS ADULTS.  THEY'D HAD THEIR FAMILY AT AN OLDER AGE THAN MOST.  MRS. LINDSTROM, HAVING SPENT HER LIFE AS A HOMEMAKER, COULD BARELY SPEAK ENGLISH, AND MR. LINDSTROM WAS PRETTY DEAF.  OUR VISITS ALWAYS CONSISTED OF MY DAD SHOUTING AT MR. LINDSTROM AND ME EATING SWEDISH COOKIES OFFERED BY MRS. LINDSTROM.  I REMEMBER ONE TIME AS WE WERE ABOUT TO LEAVE THE HOUSE MY MOTHER, WHO WAS AS USUAL OVERWHELMED WITH PREPARATIONS FOR CHRISTMAS DINNER, SAID TO MY FATHER, “WHY CAN'T YOU JUST CALL THEM UP AND WISH THEM A MERRY CHRISTMAS?”  WE WENT ANYWAY.
AS I WAS READING TODAY'S GOSPEL, I THOUGHT ABOUT THE MAGI.  IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN THAT THEY WERE MEMBERS, IF NOT PRIESTS, OF THE ZORASTORIAN RELIGION.  BY THE TIME JESUS LIVED, THE JEWISH RELIGION AND MANY OF THE PAGAN CULTS IN THE ROMAN WORLD HAD BORROWED CONCEPTS FROM ZORASTORIANISM – THE IDEA OF ANGELS, FOR EXAMPLE; THE PERSONIFICATION OF EVIL IN A DEVIL; EVEN THE PICTURE OF AN AFTERLIFE AS HEAVEN OR HELL.  I'M NOT SAYING THAT THESE IDEAS ARE NOT REFLECTIONS OF TRUTH, BUT THE ZORASTORIANS HAD THEM BEFORE THE JEWS DID.  AND THE ZORASTORIANS WERE THE FIRST TO BELIEVE THAT INDIVIDUALS COULD COMMUNICATE WITH GOD THROUGH PRAYER WHEREVER THEY WERE; THEY DID NOT NEED TEMPLES OR CHURCHES, DID NOT NEED TO MAKE ANIMAL SACRIFICES.  SO WHY TRAVEL ALL THAT DISTANCE, WITH ALL THE HARDSHIP AND DANGER, LEAVING BEHIND LOVED ONES AND PROBABLY PRETTY GOOD JOBS, JUST TO SEE THIS BABY WHO ADMITTEDLY, ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN ASTROLOGICAL CALCULATIONS, WAS IMPORTANT – BUT IN THE PASSAGE WE'VE JUST HEARD, THERE IS NO MENTION THAT HE WILL HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANY NATION BESIDES ISRAEL.
THAT'S THE ARGUMENT YOU HEAR FROM A LOT OF PEOPLE, CATHOLICS INCLUDED.  IN FACT, I'M SURE MANY OF OUR PARISHIONERS, THE ONES WE SEE ON CHRISTMAS AND EASTER, WOULD OFFER THAT ARGUMENT.  “GOD IS EVERYWHERE, SO I CAN WORSHIP GOD ANYWHERE.  I DON'T NEED TO GO TO A CHURCH TO SPEAK TO GOD.  AND IN A WAY THAT'S THE ARGUMENT MY MOTHER WAS MAKING; JUST CALL THEM UP.  MERRY CHRISTMAS IS MERRY CHRISTMAS, WHETHER IN PERSON OR BY PHONE OR BY CHRISTMAS CARD.
IN LATER YEARS I THOUGHT ABOUT THOSE VISITS.  I REALIZED THAT MY DAD DIDN'T VISIT THE LINDSTOM'S BECAUSE THEY WERE THE PARENTS OF A CHILDHOOD FRIEND – THERE WERE SEVERAL OTHER OLDER COUPLES WHO COULD QUALIFY FOR THAT DISTINCTION – AND I DON'T THINK HE VISITED THEM BECAUSE THEY WERE LONELY AND HE WAS DOING THEM A FAVOR.  THEY WEREN'T LONELY – THEY HAD THREE CHILDREN AND A COUPLE OF GRANDCHILDREN RIGHT THERE IN THAT CITY, AND THEY WERE ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL LUTHERAN CHURCH WHICH CONTAINED A LARGE CONTINGENT OF SWEDISH IMMIGRANTS.  I THINK HE VISITED THEM BECAUSE IT PUT HIM IN TOUCH WITH SOMETHING HE TREASURED – THE FACT THAT AS A CHILD HE WAS UNCONDITIONALLY ACCEPTED BY THEM – HE WAS MADE TO FEEL PART OF THEIR FAMILY AT A TIME WHEN HIS OWN PARENTS WERE GOING THROUGH A LOT OF STRESS.
THE ZORASTORIAN PRIESTS BELIEVED THAT GOD WAS EVERYWHERE, BUT IT WASN'T THE SAME THING AS TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN THE FLESH, HOWEVER THEY MIGHT HAVE UNDERSTOOD THIS.  AND THAT'S WHY, AS IT SAYS IN THIS GOSPEL,  THEY WERE OVERJOYED WHEN THEIR QUEST WAS SUCCESSFUL.
THERE ARE PLACES WHERE WE FIND GOD IN THE FLESH.  OF COURSE THERE IS THE HOLY EUCHARIST, WHICH WE CATHOLICS ARE SO FORTUNATE TO HAVE AVAILABLE TO US.  ALL OF US COULD OF COURSE DEEPEN OUR DEVOTION TO THE EUCHARIST.  WE COULD TAKE TIME TO LOOK UPON JESUS, PRESENT IN THE FORM OF BREAD AND WINE, AND LET HIM LOOK AT US.  TRUE FRIENDS DON'T NEED WORDS, BUT THEY DELIGHT IN BEING PRESENT TO EACH OTHER.  I THINK THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT MY DAD FELT WHEN HE VISITED THE LINDSTROMS.
BUT ANOTHER PLACE WE FIND GOD IN THE FLESH, AS DO OUR PROTESTANT BROTHERS AND SISTERS, IS IN EACH OTHER.  JESUS SAID THAT WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER IN HIS NAME, HE WOULD BE THERE.  THAT ITSELF IS A REASON TO GET TOGETHER WITH OTHER BELIEVERS ONCE A WEEK OR MORE OFTEN; TO EXPERIENCE JESUS PRESENCE IN THE MIDST OF THE ASSEMBLY WHO GATHER TO WORSHIP HIM.  MY DAD MAY NOT HAVE HAD THIS ON THE TOP OF HIS MIND, BUT THE CHRISTMAS VISIT TO THE LINDSTROMS WAS A MOMENT WHEN CHRISTIAN PEOPLE, OF DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS, TO BE SURE, CAME TOGETHER TO HONOR THE BIRTH OF JESUS, AND HIS PRESENCE WAS THERE.  THAT COULDN'T HAPPEN OVER THE PHONE.
THE MAGI KNEW ABOUT GOD, AS MUCH AS IT WAS POSSIBLE, I GUESS, FROM A NATURAL PERSPECTIVE.  THEY HAD PROBABLY READ THE HOLY BOOKS OF OTHER FAITHS – IT APPEARS THAT THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT THE JEWS EXPECTED A MESSIAH.  AND THEY HAD ENOUGH INFORMATION TO KNOW THAT THE STAR THEY FOLLOWED WAS LEADING THEM TO THIS MESSIAH.  AND UNLIKE HEROD, UNLIKE THE SCHOLARS HE CONSULTED WHO KNEW WHERE AND PROBABLY WHEN THE MESSIAH WOULD COME, THE MAGI ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING WITH THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND WERE USHERED INTO THE INCARNATE PRESENCE OF GOD HIMSELF.
WE DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MAGI.  THERE ARE LEGENDS THAT THEY SPREAD THE NEWS OF THE COMING OF GOD INTO THE WORLD, BOTH IN THE EAST AND THE WEST.  THAT WOULD BE LOGICAL, I'M SURE.  AND IF JESUS IS IN OUR ASSEMBLY AND IN OUR EUCHARIST, THEN IT SEEMS WE SHOULD BE SPREADING THE NEWS AS WELL, ESPECIALLY AMONG THOSE WHO HAVE LOST SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT GOD, THOUGH INDEED EVERYWHERE, HAS MADE HIMSELF PRESENT TO US IN A SPECIAL WAY IN THIS PLACE, AT THIS TIME, SO THAT WE CAN NOT JUST KNOW OF HIM, BUT KNOW HIM IN THE FLESH, IN PERSON, FRIEND TO FRIEND.
MY FATHER KNEW THAT A PHONE CALL WOULD NEVER REPLACE A PERSONAL VISIT.