WALK THE NEW ROAD


I was overwhelmed at the shopping malls and stores before Christmas. There were so much advertisements and things on sales. All the products were arranged orderly and attractively. Every store tried to display their merchandises nicely to appeal to their customers. And the day after Christmas, I had an opposite experience. Christmas was over. All the Christmas presents leftover in those stores stayed so lonely on the shelves. They looked like orphans. Nobody wanted them. Though their prices were cut down to 50%, hardly someone showed interest in buying them. Once in a while people looked at them, pick one up, put it back, and walked away. It seemed that the store clerks also did not care much to take time to arrange those items in order either. That is the reality of things displayed in the world before our eyes. We felt attracted to them, but not for a long time.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany which means the manifestation of God.

God is displaying before our eyes a precious gift that never ceases to captivate our interest. The Church continues to proclaim and advertise this gift for two thousand years. Many people continue to show interest in this gift from God. This gift is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world. People found Him in Bethlehem. And we continue to find him today.

The Wise Men

There is an old poem about a parish priest who climbed a height church steeple to be nearer to God, So that he could better hear God’s word and pass it on to the people. But the higher the priest climbed the further from God he seemed to get. Finally, in desperation, he cried out from the very top of the steeple, “God, speak to me! God, where are you?”

And at that moment the priest heard a voice crying out from far below, “My son, I am down here on earth among my people.”

The Gospel reading says that some wise men from the East came to honor Jesus. These wise men, called Magi, were the most learned men of their time. Why do we call those magi the wise men? They are more than men who study the stars. History has called them wise men because they make a quest for God. They are longing and searching for God in their lifetime. They are also wise because they follow guidance. And when they find Christ, they worship Him and offer him gifts.

Foolish people seek other gods: power, prestige, possessions, and worship them. Herod, for example, tells the wise men to go ahead searching for the Messiah, and when they find Him, they should come back and inform Herod so that he could come to worship the new born King. But Herod’s intention is actually not to worship the Messiah but to kill him. He is insecure. He is afraid for his position. He is not searching for God, but for his own power. He considers Christ as a threat to his kingship so he plans to kill Jesus to protect his throne.

Where to Find God

The wise men are considered wise because they make a quest for God. But where can we find God? The wise men go to Jerusalem to find the Messiah, but they cannot find Him there. They go to King Herod’s palace, but they cannot find the Messiah there. They wander in the big cities, but they cannot not find him there either.

They follow the star and it leads them to a tiny village of poor, ignorant people, and in a cave in a hillside. There they find the Messiah as a little baby lying in a manger. This is the meaning of Epiphany: God manifests Himself to us in the little, poor and humble Jesus.

The first lesson is that God has truly come down from heaven to live among his people. And the second lesson is that the people among whom God chooses to live are not saints in monasteries, intellectuals in universities, or kings in palaces. God chooses to dwell among the poor, the shepherds, the homeless, and the hungry.

We can find God in our own world today. We can look for him in the same place that the Wise men find him: not among the great and the powerful, nor among the wealthy and the sophisticated people, but among the lowly and the powerless, the poor, the hungry and the homeless.

Many people think that they would find God in reading religious books and studying theology, but religious books and theology only give us ideas about God or guidance to God, and not God Himself. We can only find God in serving people, especially the poor.

Recall the famous passage in Matthew’s Gospel, at the last judgment when the king says to the people on his left, “I was hungry, thirsty, homeless, in prison, and you did not care for me... what you did for the least one of these you did for me. What you did not do for one of these least ones you did not do for me.”

Take a New Road

The second point is: For the Wise men, once they find Christ, they change their way. They came to Bethlehem by their own way, but when they return to their country, they take another road. Once they find Jesus, they are able to recognize the evil plan of Herod. And they decide not to go along with Herod’s evil plan.

The same thing should happen to us. Once we find Christ, our life will never be the same. When we find Christ, our life will be different. We will no longer want to go back to the old way; we will no longer want to cooperate with evil and sinful way of life. We will walk in a new way. We will become loving and caring people.

Many years ago, in less civilized times, the punishment for crime was very, very severe. One man caught stealing sheep had the letter ST (Stealer) branded on his forehead for all to see. The man had a complete change of heart, and gave himself totally to God and to neighbor, and by the time he was old he was much revered and respected among his neighbors. When the children asked their parents what the letters ST stood for, they simply said “Saint”. (Jack McArdle 150 More Stories, #47, p. 35)

We just begin a new year. It is time for us to recommit ourselves to Christ and be the true witnesses for Him in the world. We are not Christians only on Sunday, but we are also Christians on Monday and in everyday throughout the week. Christians shine forth their religious values in their life so that others may recognize the glory of God through them. Choose to be the light, to shine forth God’s goodness to others.

The poll, released last Monday, asked people what man and woman, living anywhere in the world, they most admire. Three men most admired are (1) Barack Obama (2) George W. Bush (3) Bill Clinton (3). Three women most admired are: (1) Hillary Clinton (2) Sarah Palin (3) Oprah Winfrey.

For us Christians, the man we admire most is Jesus Christ whom God has presented to us. And the woman we admire most is Mary, the Blessed Mother of the Lord. Jesus and Mary are the best models and examples for us. They are the manifestation of God’s will and God’s plan for us and for the whole world!

Happy New Year!

Fr. John Kha Tran