[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Sunday, 08 January, 2012, The Epiphany of the Lord
COMPLACENCY IN OUR FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3, 5-6; MT 2:1-12

Among the many quests of humankind, there is none more profound than the search for God. This thirst for God is illustrated in the story of the wise men who came to Jerusalem in search of the Infant King. They are truly wise because they know that unless they find God, their lives could not be complete, for all the things in this world would not be able to satisfy them.

Of course, we are told that their hope was not disappointed. The Good News is that God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus. This is what the feast of Epiphany is all about. The word, ‘Epiphany’ means the manifestation of God in Jesus Christ. More particularly, this feast focuses on the manifestation of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, not only for the Jews, the chosen people of God but for all the gentiles as well. The wise men symbolized the first non-Jews who came to recognize and accept Jesus as their Saviour.

We are told that after seeing Jesus, the wise men returned to their own country by a different way. In other words, their lives were never the same again. Indeed, once we come to know Christ, our lives will be transformed. We will begin to see the deeper values and reality of life; that life is more than simply making money; acquiring status and power; that life consists in self-transcendence, union with God and death to self. This is symbolized by the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh offered by the three kings.

We can count ourselves more fortunate than the wise men. For unlike them, most of us do not have to pay a price to come to know Jesus. We are privileged because we have been given the faith to recognize Jesus as the revelation of God, the light of the world. Yes, today, we are called to praise and thank God for this gift of faith, which has been passed on to us.

Unfortunately, what is a gift can also become a liability. The truth is that we have taken our faith for granted. Because we did not pay a price for it, we do not treasure our faith sufficiently. What is freely given is seldom truly appreciated. God has given us Himself as a gift to us at Christmas in the person of Jesus Christ. But do we truly appreciate this gift from God? Isn’t it true that many of us have forgotten about Jesus in our lives?

Some of us even behave like King Herod because we find Jesus a nuisance in our lives. When Herod heard about the birth of Jesus, instead of rejoicing, he became perturbed. He was not only disinterested in Jesus but he even wanted to get rid of Him. Like King Herod, some of us even find our faith a nuisance because it seems to hamper us from doing the things we like to do. Like King Herod, we are afraid that with Jesus, we would be deprived of the fullness of life. This was indeed the mistaken fear of Herod. He thought that if he were to accept Jesus as the Infant King, he might lose his kingship and his power. This is tragic. Little did he know and little do we know that only by accepting Christ, can we become truly kings in our lives.

The stark reality is that our profession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the World is only a lip service, not a confession from our heart. Because if we claim that we have truly discovered Jesus as the Christ and the Saviour of the world, then we would be as excited as St Paul in the second reading who manifested that realization in his apostolic zeal to bring Christ to the world. We too would have the same apostolic zeal if we have come to discover who Jesus is.

Hence, if we find ourselves still lacking in missionary zeal or in Christian love, then it means that our faith is still shallow or infantile. A person who is without love or missionary zeal cannot be said to have faith. We cannot claim to be believers in Christ. Such a faith would not be able to stand the trials of life nor would that kind of faith ever be able to give life, happiness, joy and peace. It is as good as dead.

Today, we are called to follow the example of the wise men in their journey of faith. Like the wise men, we must recover our personal faith in Christ. We must take courage and the risks to personally find for ourselves who Jesus truly is. Until we come to encounter Jesus personally as God and Saviour of our lives, our faith will remain weak, complacent and irrelevant in our lives. How can we begin this personal search for Jesus?

Firstly, we should be challenged to grow further in our faith through reflection on our life events. We must first look for Him in created things and in our history, just as the wise men looked for God through the stars. Through our reflection of the world’s sufferings, pain and joy, we will begin to ask the more fundamental questions of life; who we are, where have we come from, where are we going to, what is life, why is there suffering, why is there evil, etc.. Unless, we begin to ask the ultimate questions of life, we cannot come know to know God since to search for God who is the Ultimate of life presupposes that we go beyond living life on the mundane level.

Secondly, we must look deeply within ourselves. The gospel told us that the Magi encountered God through their dreams. What are dreams if not God’s way of reaching out to us, since dreams express the deepest aspirations of man. Thus, it is not enough to look outside of us, but we must look within as well since God is found both within and without. After all, isn’t He everywhere? If we search the depths of our hearts, we will clearly hear His voice telling us that true happiness can only be found in Him. Unfortunately, there are too simply too many voices around us and some of them are false. Yes, like the wise men who had to contend with the false voice of Herod, we too must discern what are those authentic voices that come from God lest we be misled in our search.

Thirdly, we must find God who makes Himself known through others. Indeed, the wise men sought the help of Herod and the religious leaders. We must be humble enough like the wise men to look for people who can tell us about Jesus. We need to study about Him from others who have knowledge of Him. Knowledge about Jesus is necessary for us to come to a real encounter with Him.

Fourthly, knowledge of Christ comes through an intimate knowledge of scriptures since God makes Himself known through the scriptures. This is clear, for the gospel tells us that the wise men came to know Jesus through the help of the scriptures.

However, studying about Christ is not enough. It will not bring us to a real faith yet. We must have a personal knowledge about Him. This knowledge can come only through personal experience. The avenues for such a personal experience of Christ are made possible through the testimonies of those who have experienced Him in their lives. But most of all, it is through prayer and worship that Christ becomes real in our lives. The way of prayer and contemplation is in the final analysis the only way to experience Christ as God personally in our lives. This was true of the Magi. We are told that when they were led to Jesus, they worshipped Him. Only in worship, did they come to experience Jesus as their Saviour and the resultant effect of this experience was that they were transformed, for we are told that after paying homage to Jesus, they returned to their own country by a different way.

Yes, today, we are being challenged to find our faith anew again. We are called to be open and courageous in seeking the real Christ in our lives. We must imitate the example of the Magi who took the risk of leaving the security of their homeland in search for God and the ultimate meaning in their lives. We must not simply be contented with observing or following a religion. If Christianity does not offer us a greater meaning and zeal for life and love, then it is clear that we are worshipping the wrong Christ and the wrong God. A faith that cannot provide us the fullness of truth and meaning to life; a faith that cannot transform us from within to become people of love and dynamism, can hardly be said to be divine.

Finally, we must never presume that we know Him well enough. Let us realize that the riches of Christ are inexhaustible. Our knowledge of Him must increase so that our relationship with Him can be deepened. The more we come to know about Him, the more we come to know about ourselves. And as we come to know ourselves better and who God is, the more we can share in the life of God.