Today’s Gospel revolves around some figures who would surely have been grateful for that clear view of the night sky. The Magi were a lot of things: wise men of some kind, most likely philosophers and scientists of some sort, but we definitely know they were astrologers who studied the constellations and observed their movements. They did so because they were looking for Truth – by the light of the stars, they hoped to understand the world and its events in a deeper way. And it is for that reason that, having seen the star rising, they journeyed from the east to find out whose coming it announced. Upon arriving, they beheld not just “the newborn king of the Jews,” but the “glory of the Lord” itself (Is 60:1), shining forth from the lowly Child.
W.L. Taylor, A Star in the East (1900)
Despite our obvious differences, I’d like to propose that we are very much like the Magi. Perhaps we are not philosophers and scientists, and we don’t search the stars for clues about world events. But we have seen – especially in these last twelve days – the light of the Child born in Bethlehem, and like the Magi, we have come to do him homage. We offer not gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but our love, devotion, and faith. We recognize that in the Child born in Bethlehem, God is no longer a concept, distant and mystifying; no, he has revealed himself in the Presence of one born as a Child, who loves us and comes to save us from our sins.
The Magi saw this same reality and they were changed by it. The Gospel hints as much at that change when it tells us that they departed for their own country by another way. The mystery of God’s saving love, revealed to us in Jesus, is supposed to have that effect. Having seen it, we can’t tread the same paths as before; having understood it, we are called to live differently. Sometimes, though, the light of this Truth is in danger of being obscured – just like artificial light can make it too difficult to see the stars above us, certain attitudes and influences can also obscure the radiance of Christ. I’d like to propose three dangers that might prevent us from beholding clearly the Lord’s light.
The first danger is complacency. The coming of Christ is a gift, but it is a gift that requires a response; to be received adequately, it requires a movement in the one receiving it. Like the Magi, we must get up and go and seek the Lord where he is waiting for us. In so many ways, the New Year prompts us to action and renewal – to make certain resolutions to become happier and healthier. But why not holier, too? Spend some time in prayer this week asking yourself, “Where can I make a movement to go and seek the Lord, to encounter his light in a new way in my life?” If you have trouble thinking of ways that you can grow personally and spiritually, ask someone else – your spouse, your kids, your friends, your neighbors, your pastor! Sometimes others can see what we cannot, and we must be humble enough to accept the critique.
The second danger to beholding the light of Jesus is bad influences. Let’s be honest – there are people in our lives who do not encourage us to greater virtue. Perhaps they are tempting us directly, urging us to not to worry about doing things that are bad for us or to not strive so hard to be good. Even more common are those whose example or presence perhaps prompts us to adopt their bad habits or bad attitudes. The Christian man or woman should always first try to be a good influence to such people, and by word or example to be an encouragement to them of how to do good and avoid evil. But if that’s not effective – and instead of influencing them, they influence us – then we need to limit our contact with them, or avoid being in their presence altogether. Like the Magi in the Gospel, it’s necessary at times to take another route to avoid those people who are harmful to us, whether intentionally or not. We don’t judge them, and we seek to love them if we do happen to cross paths with them, but we also protect ourselves by not letting their bad influence do us spiritual harm.
The third danger is hardness of heart. Herod also had the chance to go and worship the Christ Child, but he closed himself to the possibility because of his own arrogance and fear. Instead he sought him only with his own purposes and designs. Who knows what God might have done for him or through him if he had humbly opened his heart to a power greater than his own? Sometimes, we too – prideful and fearful – demand from God what we want, and close ourselves off to any other possibilities, including his. Whether it is in new virtues, new relationships, new opportunities to experience the Lord’s love, we can receive what he wants to give us only if we first humble ourselves and let the Lord take primacy of place instead of our own egos.
Friends, I like to look up into the night sky as much as anyone, but thank goodness we need not do so as the Magi did, because the God of Truth has made himself known – in time, in history, in the person of Christ. By the light of his birth, he has revealed his love for us – a love that can make us new, if we do not let his light be obscured by false substitutes. Let’s be on guard against complacency and bad influences and hardness of heart, and anything else that would dissuade us from humbly seeking the Child of Bethlehem. May we be confidently guided, today and throughout the New Year, by his light unobscured.
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