SEEING BEYOND WHAT WE SEE

SEEING BEYOND WHAT WE SEE

The Greek word ‘epiphany’ is not one we use every day.  Orthodox Christians and, to a lesser degree, Catholics, use it to describe the “showing” of Jesus to the world.  People came “from the east” – an expression that suggests the idea of ‘far’, beyond the known world – to worship the new-born child.  The whole world will soon hear of him and today there must hardly be a corner left on earth which does not have some idea of Jesus. 

We can “see” Jesus as a person.  We can see him as God revealed in this person. We grow in our faith by seeing him, as those around him did at the time, moving through the gospels.  We notice that they gradually saw him as more than just Jesus of Nazareth.  When Nathaniel first heard of him he was sceptical. How could Nazareth produce anyone significant?  But when he meets Jesus he is stunned.  Jesus recognises his astonishment and then pushes him further to promise an even greater revelation.

2018 was a humiliating year for the Catholic Church and Pope Francis experienced the full weight of this.  For five years he rode high in the world’s esteem and gave hope, consolation and wise words to millions.  Catholics rejoiced and were encouraged by his compassionate message.  But by 2018 the face that the Church turned to the world became scarred and troubled.  I was in Dublin when Francis came to visit Ireland.  People lined the streets to see him pass and the city adjusted its normal ways to accommodate the crowds and welcome him. But there was “heaviness” in the media as it relentlessly reported the abuse of children and vulnerable adults by priests and religious, together with the cover up of abuse by Church leaders.  Enmity and anger was focused on this single person in white who had to absorb the blows and the piercing thorns that crowned him.

We can speak of the “enemies of the Church” and the “work of the devil” and no doubt there are evil spirits eager to destroy the Church at every opportunity.  But we can also see that this whole experience of humiliation, this crisis, can be a moment of conversion and new life.  It is when we are at our lowest that we are most open to change.  All the masks are removed.  Power, tradition and past glories are no help.  We are flat on the ground, bruised and broken.  

This can be the moment when new life appears.  Francis himself has often pointed to his desire for a “poor church for the poor”.  At last we are at a moment when we can learn the meaning of the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”  We are on the threshold of a humbler, weaker, servant church. What we see with our eyes is a humiliated Church such that we may feel ashamed to be associated with.  But we are invited to look beyond what we can see.  The wise men returned to their country by another route.    

January 6, 2019                                   The Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6                            Ephesians 3:2-6                                   Matthew 2:1-12