“I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth”. These words given to us after being received by the prophet Isaiah are a commission to be a source of illumination to Gods people and to help them through guidance and by being a living example to them of Gods teaching. The call to be this kind of example and visible lesson to Gods people is one that is given to each of us as well. We are each called to be His servants, but also to be a light to those around us who may not know Him yet.

This is no small commission that we receive. It means being accountable to our Lord for our conduct and our belief, not only on the personal level of how we think, act, and live our lives, but also in how this is all perceived by others. Whether we realize it or not, those around us who know us to be believers look upon us in making their own choice about whether the teachings of our Lord are credible, and worth their pursuing as well. That is both a tremendous honor and responsibility. It means that we are never without the need to consider our words and actions because of the effect they will have on those around us in the most profound internal consideration – whether those who profess to be Gods people really believe in His teachings or not, and so whether it is worth their effort to pursue that same relationship with God. There is an adage that is as true today as it ever was – “talk is cheap”. The real proof of one’s sincerity in their belief is how that is lived out and put into action. We can profess to be followers of Christ, but if we don’t show it in how we live, no one will really believe us. What is worse, we will be one more example of a hypocrisy that so many believe is what organized religion in general is based on. We will be adding fuel to an incredibly destructive fire that already threatens to consume so much of society.

When we hear in our Gospel today of John the Baptist encountering Jesus and seeing the Spirit of God descending upon Him like a dove, we can only imagine the joy that he must of have felt seeing the manifestation of Gods promise with his own eyes and knowing that Jesus was truly the one they had been waiting for, for so long. There are many who still look around them with the same sense of anticipation, and the same longing. Very often they are not even sure what they are looking for, only that deep down they sense that something is still very much missing from their lives, and they seek to fill that void. They are looking for, and longing for, Jesus Christ without even realizing it. In a small way, we can each of us be a sign to them of what is possible through learning about, and belief in Jesus. Seeing the peaceful presence, the caring for others, and the loving interactions of those who profess belief goes an incredibly long way toward their finding what they seek. It opens doors of communication that would otherwise probably not be possible. Words simply do not carry the same weight that actions do, especially to those who are already wary of something they do not understand. It often takes seeing what we profess to believe in, in action, before our words can even be heard. There is a saying that is often ascribed to Saint Francis of Assisi, that sums up much of what our readings today teach, and what we can hope to emulate – “Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words”.   

Calling today Epiphany Sunday has always seemed incredibly appropriate to me. In our Gospel today we hear of a realization by the wise men upon seeing the star that something unique is taking place, and that they are spiritually attuned enough to recognize its significance and act upon it, even going so far as to journey from their homeland to Bethlehem to behold what the star had foretold. We also hear of how they were initially manipulated by Herod to try to get them to use their search for his own worldly purposes, they were thankfully warned of this and guided to take action to avoid being complicit with his plans. There is quite a bit for us to learn from what took place.

First of all, when we hear this narrative, it should strike us as remarkable how they acted upon what they saw in such a direct fashion. It is widely acknowledged that these men likely from the Saba region in ancient Persia, which is in modern day Iran – from Bethlehem, a distance of over a thousand miles through harsh desert climates and along paths that were subject to thieves, hostile tribal factions, and poor trail conditions. Yet this did not deter them, such was their attunement to search for a king they did not yet know, but who they innately sensed was worth any risk they might encounter in their journey. They went so far as to bring him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were not ordinary gifts, but really a profession of who and what they sensed this child was. The gold represented royalty, frankincense divinity, and myrrh humanity. Even their words before Herod boldly proclaimed the importance of this child – “we have come in search of the newborn King of the Jews”.  All of this was revealed to them through their openness to the spirit at work, and their subsequent action they took was their own willingness to follow what the spirit had placed within their hearts. This same spirit is still very much alive and active today for those who are willing to listen for the message.

The trouble is, there is much that competes with the words of the Spirit, just as Herod and his court tried to manipulate these wise men to their own worldly purposes, so too today there is a cacophony of noise that the world points at each of us every single day to try to derail both our attunement, but also our willingness to act upon Gods message. The motives for this remain the same – greed, envy, insecurity, hatred are all unchanged both in their prevalence and intensity. I think that what has gotten worse is the means of conveying these negative agendas to us. Their assault at times seems inescapable. Even our Lord when he had grown, and begun His ministry felt the need to consistently withdraw for periods of time to find stillness and quiet so that He could digest and dismiss all of the onslaught of those same agendas in His days here on earth. If we think that we don’t need to do the same, if we think that we can somehow deal with these things that even our Lord needed to withdraw from at times, I honestly think we are kidding ourselves. As we close the Christmas Season today, I think that we need to look ahead to the coming year and plan some time for fostering our own spiritual attunement, so that we too may perceive and act when the Spirit calls us.