The beginning of the year is a time traditionally to have resolve for the coming year. This seems to be even truer for the beginning of a new decade. Typically we reflect on the past, and perhaps on ways that we have been sidetracked and we make our resolve to make a difference or to do things differently.
While Epiphany celebrates the coming of the promised messiah and the visit of the Magi, it also speaks to us in the here and now and offers us opportunity to state our resolve in a way that goes beyond our personal or individual lives. Epiphany invites us to be a part of a future that is unlike anything that has been before. To make Epiphany happen in all of its promised splendor means that the inhabitants of the Earth join together in such a way that our actions are nothing less than foundation-shaking and even revolutionary. It sounds like quite a task, even one that might be impossible without something or someone to lead the way.
Epiphany celebrates the rising of a new star that shines a great light into the world. It is a light that is to illuminate every path; to show the way forward toward a future for generations upon generations ahead. While the prophecy of Isaiah in today’s first reading tells of the “wealth of the nations” being brought before Jerusalem, we recognize that the historic reality surrounding the birth of Jesus tells a different story altogether. It is the story of one who comes not to be glorified among the princes of the world, not one who is to celebrate wealth and political power, but rather one among the poor who brings reparation to the downtrodden.
Looking closely at the lectionary readings for today the idea of world power figures prominently. Epiphany challenges set notions concerning the ruling class and the dominant political and economic structures of the world. Does the light serve to glorify the power of wealth and kings or does it show a different way? Undoubtedly the invitation lies before us to change the structures of how things in our world work. We are to put ourselves into the workings of the world in such a way that we stand for the common good of our fellow people and put the future of the planet ahead of the concerns of amassing wealth, profit, and power.
An interesting question has to do with how we are to participate in rebuilding the world, in bringing reparation and planetary healing. It’s nothing less than sharing or participating in the salvific mission that we understand as a partnership, a duty, and an ethical obligation. In times past such participation may have taken on a much different theological understanding or approach, but part of what we always need is to interpret faith according to the demands of the times in which we live. Without such ongoing reinterpretation and engagement there is the threat of the loss of relevance.
Surely our resolve comes into play as we look for ways to be partners in revealing justice to the world, as we look to making justice, and here we should read justice as reparation and restoration for the poor, the homeless, the marginal and struggling. Resolve requires courage if we are to change the world for the better, to light the world with the hope of lasting peace.
Changing the world begins with changing ourselves individually. It requires that we see a bigger picture of where we live, what is important, and who is among our family. We move beyond being concerned about our personal interests alone. Rather, the resolve to have courage, to build a better world, means standing with others, as partners and co-workers with whom we share a common vision.
Recent world events show clearly that we live in times when peace is threatened. Kings and demagogues make their ungodly play for power. We live in times where children cry out as the prophetic voice but the world fails to hear them. This new year the new decade offers the opportunity to follow a rising star, one that lights the way of peace and hope for all. Yet the question of who will find the courage to follow it remains to be answered.
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