Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?

 Homily Outline for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

           “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem!  Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.  See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.”

            Our feast today, Epiphany, celebrates the Manifestation, the showing, the revealing, of Jesus to the world. God didn’t just come in a hidden way.  He came to reveal Himself, to show Himself to us.  The Arrival of the Magi at the manger is the first fruit of this.  Isaiah’s promise begins to be fulfilled.  Jesus is the Light who has come, the Glory of the Lord who shone upon those present at His Birth.  Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, has entered into the world, born of Mary, the Mother of God.  His name, Jesus, means “God Saves.”  He is Emmanuel, God with us.  

            Throughout the Old Testament there are small hints and clues that God would call all people to Himself.  Even Abraham is promised that he will be a blessing to ALL nations.  But, those hints and clues where largely overridden by the People of Israel’s strong awareness that THEY in particular were called by God.  It was not always so clear that they were called precisely to bring forth the Messiah for ALL nations.

            So, these three wise men have been seeking God, and they find Him.  The acknowledge Christ, they fall down in worship, they pay him homage.  To prostrate ourselves before the Lord, to bow or to kneel, is to imitate their good example!  Jesus is God for us, for every nation, for the Gentiles.  You can almost hear the surprise in Paul’s voice, “The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise of Christ Jesus through the gospel.”  Although I suppose some of us here may have some Jewish heritage, for the most part, that’s us!  Even we are coheirs with our elder siblings, the children of Abraham!

            In another place, Paul speaks of Jesus Christ and Him crucified as a stumbling block.  For a long time, even after I began to pray and read the Bible more, I didn’t really understand that. How could our Lord and Savior who came to us so humbly and saved us at such a price be a stumbling block?!?  It came into focus during my third or fourth year in college.  

 I’d been to some kind of debate, I don’t remember the exact topic, but I remember very vividly a conversation I had with a friend afterwards.  He came to Mass regularly, and was an upright guy.  We discussed the way Jesus brought salvation, but he balked at the idea that Jesus was the only way to God.  I had encountered this idea from people who didn’t practice any faith, and, fairly or unfairly, it had always seemed like a weak excuse for their own laziness.  I had never encountered it from someone who was regular, and even devout in their prayer.  But, as our discussion continued, and as I reflected on it later on, I began to see the connections.  To believe, and live and proclaim Jesus Christ, God’s unique self-revelation, the same Christ who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me,” this requires us to reject some of the false assumptions that circulate around us.  For instance, relativism… that there’s no truth, just your truth and my truth!  Or the idea that religion is just opinion, that it’s enough to be spiritual, but not religious.  Of course that’s a problem, because Jesus Christ taught something very clearly – HE is the path to the Father, the Way to everlasting life. This is precisely why it is such a big deal that these foreigners showed up at the manger!  Jesus didn’t come just for one race or language or nation, but for ALL races, languages, and nations, and the Magi are the beginning of that!

C.S. Lewis

I mentioned C.S. Lewis last night in reference to the Narnia books, so let me mention a very helpful discussion from his wonderful book Mere Christianity.  In it, he addresses the idea that Jesus is just another noble teacher or philosopher.  Well, says Lewis, that’s pretty hard to square with what Jesus actually said and did!  He claimed to be God, He forgave sins, He healed and cast out demons.  If He did those things, and knew he wasn’t God, then he was a liar, a charlatan.  If he didn’t realize it was lie, then he was a lunatic, delusional.  Or, He was in fact the Eternal Son of the Father, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  So, is Jesus a Liar, a Lunatic, or the Lord?  It is not plausible or reasonable to claim that He was just another figure, another teacher, another guide.

So that’s the challenge for us tonight! Like the Magi, we come to the manger, we come to this altar, and we encounter Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified.  Will He be a stumbling block to us?  Or will we embrace Him and walk another way, like the Magi?  Will we simply cooperate with common opinion and go with the flow, or will we take up our cross and follow Him?  May we not to try to muddle along some middle path, neither denying or accepting Jesus completely.  We are called and challenged to accept Him with joy, to be transformed, and to bring His love and mercy to all those we meet.  He guided those Magi, and like the star His light will guide us to truth and joy.  Jesus is neither liar nor lunatic, He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!  

"God so Loved the World"