THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY
King Herod - Man of Cowardice
The Magi - Men of Courage
In the days of King Herod,
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
"Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage." When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled.
Matthew 2:1-12
As many of you know, I like to write. “Like”
may be too mild of a word! It might be truer to say that I am “obsessive” about
writing. Often, I write past midnight. Sometimes, I get up in the middle of the
night, go downstairs and write for a half hour and go right back to bed. Most
of you know that I was a weekly columnist for our diocesan paper for fifteen
years. I decided to give it up two years ago and transfer some of that time to writing
for my blog. In the last 25 years, I have published a total of 36 books –
three of them last year. Some are
textbooks for seminarians. Some are homilies. Most are for spiritual reading. Some have been
translated into Spanish, Swahili and Vietnamese. The latest one is a book of
humor with real stories from fifty years of ministry as a priest, many of them
from my days as pastor of this Cathedral. So far, one of the most common responses to
that book is: “We laughed out loud!”
Last September, I finished a book entitled BETWEEN COURAGE AND COWARDICE: Choosing to
Do Hard Things for Your Own Good. This is a very personal, autobiographical book
that traces decisions I have made since I was six years old that have led me to
where I am today. When I gave into fear, I withered as a person. When I reached
out in courage, I grew as a person. Many of the decisions I write about revolve
around the decisions I made that led to my coming here, the decisions I made
while I was pastor here and the decisions I have made since I left here. I
wrote it as a personal whole-life review, but I also wrote it as a way to teach
others about the benefits of facing down fear and embracing opportunities for
personal growth and change.
This book came to mind when I prepared to
preach on today’s gospel. What we have in the gospel today is a contrast of
characters: King Herod, the paranoid self-focused narcissist and the Magi, the
learned spiritual seekers out looking for God. If I had written a play, BETWEEN
COURAGE AND COWARDICE, instead of a book, these would be the main characters.
HEROD, THE
PARANOID SELF-FOCUSED NARCISSIST
King Herod had come to power in Galilee at age
25. He was a man of unusual powers, physical vigor and political astuteness. He
was a master at political maneuvers, endowed with boundless energy and
ambition. At the same time, his passions were wild and ungoverned. Especially
in his later years, they degenerated into tyranny and brutality. He was filled
with fear and insecurity. He would do anything to hold onto power. The
slaughter of the innocents was in harmony with the violence and paranoia of his
later years, especially about the possibility of losing his throne. He believed
that there was only room for one “king” and it would not be this “newborn king”
the Magi were looking for. He is a perfect example of the paranoia that comes
from always trying to protect oneself and the status quo.
MAGI – LEARNED
SPIRITUAL SEEKERS LOOKING FOR GOD
At
the other end of the spectrum, we have the Magi. These guys were driven
spiritual seekers from the east. They were men on a mission! And, yes, they were
from present-day Iraq of all places! They were part of a tribe of
priest-teachers to the ancient kings of Persia. They were men with an eye out
for God. Their job was to watch the heavens for any unusual activity. Unusual
activity among the stars was a sign to them that God was up to something. An
unusually bright star, combined with a feverish search for God, meant they had
to check it out. The star they followed even had a name. It was called “the
birth of a prince.” Astronomers today believe there actually was a dramatic
star-event about this time in history.
These seekers left everything that was comfortable and familiar to them
and set out for new lands, for new insights and for new understanding. Their search led them to Jesus.
My
friends, these magi, these ancient spiritual seekers have a lot to teach us
about spiritual and personal growth. In
a world of people obsessed with working on their outsides, accumulating material
possessions and protecting their power, these men teach us about passionately
working on our insides: pursuing the truth, stretching ourselves and our
potential. The Magi were people in charge of their own passions. They were hungering
and thirsting for holiness and they were willing to sacrifice everything to
have it. They also teach us that spiritual growth is always a risk, always
dangerous, always requiring great personal courage, but always worth it.
My
little book, BETWEEN COURAGE AND COWARDICE, makes the case that we only become
fully ourselves when we face our fears and bravely choose to do hard things for
our own good. The evasion of pain, the
giving into fear, the preservation of the status quo, can be deadly when it
comes to personal and spiritual growth. If we do not like who we are today, it
is probably the result of hundreds and hundreds of small lazy choices made over many years.
The Magi have something to teach us
about building a fuller life. “Make a radical
change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously
never have thought of doing or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people
live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change
their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity,
and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in
reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a
secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for
adventure. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination
for monotonous security.” Jon Krakauer
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