The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti

Feast of the Epiphany

Jan. 7, 2001

Is Christmas for Children?

It seems required that during family Christmas gatherings someone feels compelled to say: "Well, Christmas is for the kids." I have often wondered if the person is being sentimental or expressing disappointment over the gifts they received or didn't receive. In any case, based on the gospel today Christmas is not really for children, but for full-grown adults!

Pastor Kerry Bond puts it this way:

Bethlehem is not only the place of the divine mystery of the incarnation, but also the place of human brutality. Christmas awes us with the cruelty displayed there, too. If Jesus incarnates God, Herod incarnates evil.

These words of Pastor Bond remind us that Christmas and the feast of the Epiphany are both joyous and disturbing holidays. For the Herods of this earth, be they in the guise of the military fatigues of the dictator, the murderers of street children in Brazil, those that detonate a car bomb that kills innocent people, or those that bully and terrify others the birth of Christ is bad news. Not only is it bad news but it compels the Herods of the world to act to eliminate this threat to their power.

This is a must for the Herods of the world because their powers rests on the foundation of the will to domination. This reign of domination is one of murder, brutality, terror and despair. It serves only itself and renders others mere slaves or pawns in life. Other people are not people. They are non-persons not created in the image of God. Other people to the Herods of the world are mere fodder for the insatiable will to power and domination that drives these Herods.

Jesus is the exact opposite. In the gift of Christ we have the good news that all people, Jew and Gentile, are loved by God. All people have called to share in the revelation that was Israel’s alone seen on the face of the newborn child Jesus. This revelation of the vulnerable God comes to save humanity in a unique and decisive way in Jesus. God comes in vulnerable and disarming love not to terrorize, brutalize and murder but as crucified love for all people. This God’s power is one of a love that moves the heart rather than threatening it with horror. This is the God of Calvary not the Coliseum.

This is the God that we worship. The three magi help us to better understand this. Though Jesus is born in the city of King David, the gentiles are now co-heirs of God’s saving revelation and action in Jesus. This is what the magi represent in the story—the revelation to the gentiles, i.e., the whole world. But there is more. The gentiles also recognize that to come to this revelation they have to venture to the people of Israel—they have to go to Jesus himself with their gifts that honor the newborn king. The gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh are those that recognize that the fullness of the divine and the fullness of the human reside in this child.

Gold is the gift given to kings because of its precious glow and purity—a great gift of honor. Frankincense, that sweet smelling offering of prayer, recognizing the presence of the Holy in our midst and the sweet smell of our prayers offered. Myrrh the bitter-sweet spice to prepare the dead for burial—a recognition of the humanity of the Christ child.

We are left with the fact that God’s revelation of the manger, to the three magi, was of the new king. Here in this king is the fullness of the presence of the Holy One and the humility of the fully human. Here is a king that will not terrorize or hunt down opponents or make his kingdom one big prison. Here is the king that offers the salvation of unconditional love, forgiveness and reconciliation. Here is a king that is the revelation to all nations that service unto death is where we find the real treasure, the real life! And this is where the Church comes in. It brings this revelation to the world and causes the Herods of the world to be disturbed. Wherever the Church is there is the denunciation of terror and the annunciation of the value and dignity of every human person. A great gift and revelation of the Father to the world.

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Uploaded January 13, 2001