Imagine one day the powers that be in this land decide that the principle of administration will no longer be based on colour of our skin nor the creed that we profess. Everyone who is born or has migrated and lives in this country will be called a native or a prince or princess of the land. Am I advocating subversion of any kind? Nope. What I am stating is that the Jews considered themselves to be the favoured sons and daughters of God. With the visit of the Gentile Magi, now everyone will be called a son or daughter of God and a brother or a sister of Christ and there will no longer be any special provision given to those who are Jew-born.
It may not impact anyone from nations where there are no discriminations based on colour or creed but in countries where there are biases, such equality would be radical. To hear that everyone has equal opportunity under the Malaysian sun would indeed be ground-breaking. According to the 2nd Reading: “This mystery that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets was unknown to any men in past generations; it means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the same promise has been made to them, in Jesus Christ, through the gospel”.
With the Magi’s visit, the Gentiles have now secured a spot at the feast of salvation. Travelling beyond the range of their comfort zone, they came seeking for the true God.
The Magi challenge us with this question. Are we still searching for the true God to worship or have we settled for less?
Nowadays we have to celebrate diversity where anything and everything should be accepted on equal standing. Thus it is standard to hear people say that all religions are the same. But the Epiphany shows us otherwise. These Magi risked everything they had, compelled by the innate search for the true God whom they instinctively knew to be worshipped as the Lord of lords.
If Christ were to be the Saviour, it would make no sense that He is simply a Saviour of the Jews or even Christians. God, to be Saviour, should be the Saviour of all humankind. The message or the Gospel must go out that Jesus Christ is the Saviour and not just the Saviour of Christians. He is the Saviour of all.
The message is not easy to preach given that we are constrained or limited by the dictates of “tolerance”, “diversity”, “equality” and “respect”. The result is that every religion should be treated on an equal basis and the challenge is that even if we believe in Jesus as the Saviour of mankind, we behave as if He were provincial and limited to Christianity as we unwittingly hold on to the axiom that basically all religions are the same.
Putting aside the difficulties surrounding the Kerygma, that is, the proclamation in this current climate of “DEI”, what can be done? If we acknowledge and accept that the Magi who came were looking for the God who saves, then how can that message of salvation be universalised?
Two of Pope Francis’ exhortations, “Evangelium gaudium” and “Gaudete et exsultate” are helpful. The word “evangelisation” is derived from Greek “eu angelion”, meaning, good message. In proclaiming the Gospel, the most powerful tool we have is not a book, not even the bible to beat others into submission. Rather it consists of a lived experience of Christ where we demonstrate a consistency between our belief and our behaviour. Immediately what comes to mind are the two basic Sacraments helpful to make the connexion between word and deed. Firstly, we are sinners through and through. We need the Sacrament of Confession for the grace to avoid sin. Secondly, the Sacrament of Communion for the strength for good deeds. We will be more attractive when the beauty of God shines through our actions.
Evangelisation is not and cannot be the proselytisation of the past and therefore it does not begin by seeking to convince others. The days of “proselytisation” are over in the sense of walking up to someone to tell him or her that Jesus Christ is Lord. It may have some value that we can shout at some street corners announcing who Christ is and that belief in Him promises eternal life. But we live in echo chambers, a world of herd-mentality where “your truth is true for you, my truth is true for me”, that it is almost impossible to penetrate those enclosed bubbles.
Instead, evangelisation must consist of bearing witness to the truth of a love that has looked upon us and has lifted us up. There is a profound beauty in the God who, sacrificed Himself for us and now through His Sacraments, lifts us up. Evangelisation must consist in communicating this truth and nobility in our behaviour is the only convincing message that modern men will embrace.
Like it or not, the current demand is that we live in a world which is hyper- sensitive to the lack of credibility. Imagine someone discovers a celebrity or a cleric who texted some homophobic slur in the past and immediately he or she is made to grovel before the “approved narrative” or the “canonised group-think” on how wrong he or she had been. Company and even the Church now must run “PR campaigns”. Whether all this is spin or not, credibility has become the standard and perhaps it is a good thing because it makes us more accountable, not so much in bowing to group-think but rather the need to make sure that we walk our talk. People are searching and even dying to believe. And we might be the only Gospel they ever read.
I end with a note on parking. Our one neighbour, maybe, in the big scheme of things, he is insignificant and who even cares, right? But for him, we are the only Christians he knows and each time he comes, in his rage to park his car at the entrance to block us, what we regard as a nuisance should give us enough concern to think of the impact we have on others because we are called Christians.
