The title of this homily will sound familiar to many Nigerians, evoking the novel No Longer at Ease, by the renowned author Chinua Achebe. Another of his works, Everything is falling apart, is even better known around the world. The expression “no longer comfortable” captures something essential about the holiday we celebrate today.
Today the Church celebrates God's manifestation to the nations: the Epiphany of the Lord. The Magi represent the peoples of the world and, in many ways, the vast majority of Christians today. Attracted by the light of Christ, all peoples and nations are invited to turn to Him. Epiphany is a feast of manifestation, of revelation. But once the revelation has taken place, what follows?
The Christ who has revealed himself to the nations has transformed the nations. When we look at the history of humanity and cultures, we see how the encounter with Christ has reshaped them from within. Epiphany, therefore, is not only about revelation, but also about encounter: an encounter that transforms.
The Magi embody the true Christmas invitation first pronounced by the shepherds: “Let's go to Bethlehem”This journey to Bethlehem is the attitude of Christmas faith, and the Magi continue it. Just a few days after Christmas, today's celebration reminds us of the need to maintain this attitude: to always remain on the path, on the road that leads to Christ.
Earlier, we saw the shepherds set out on this journey. Today's readings reveal what kind of people actually make the journey. Herod, along with the chief priests and scribes, does not go. The Magi, on the other hand, do. Those who were comfortable stayed where they were; those willing to leave comfort and security behind set out on the journey. The Epiphany teaches us to be people who move, willing to go where Christ is found.
"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of King Herod, wise men from the East arrived in Jerusalem asking, "Where is the King of the Jews who has been born?"".
In the poem The Journey of the Magi In T. S. Eliot's poem, the poet imaginatively recounts the pilgrimage of the Magi and their subsequent reflection on how their encounter with the Christ Child transformed them. They returned to their homeland “no longer at ease.” The encounter with Christ demanded a change; they could not continue in the same personal or cultural disposition as before. Some encounters with Christ unsettle us in the best possible way: they prevent us from remaining as we were, leaving us «no longer at ease» with ourselves.
«This: Did they take us so far for a Birth or for a Death? There was a Birth, we had proof and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, but I thought they were different: this Birth subjected us to a harsh and bitter agony, like Death, our death. We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, but we are no longer at peace here, under the old law. With a strange people clinging to their gods.
How much I would enjoy another death".
Today is a good day to ask ourselves about our own response to encountering Christ. Are we still comfortable with the “old dispensation”? Are we content to return by the same path we came, or are we willing to embark on “another path”?
"And having received a warning in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their own country by another route.”(Mt 2:12).
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