Isaiah 60:1-6
Eph 3:2-3,5-6
Matthew 2:1-12

Bishop Untener's Homily

God Overcomes the "Great Divides"

The great mystery of our faith is that God overcame the difference between God and human beings. God became a human being. 

Well... that's impossible. The difference is too great. You see, God isn't just more powerful and greater than we are. God is in a totally different category. God is beyond all categories. God is not just "larger" than we are. God is unlimited. How can the limitless God become a human being? God did.

At Christmas we celebrate this great and wonderful truth.

But it doesn't stop with overcoming that difference. Once become a human being, the God-made-flesh overcame all the barriers within the human race. For example, for the Jewish people, every other person in the world was an outsider. No matter what part of the world you came from, near or far, you were a "Gentile," and all Gentiles were outsiders.

So what do we see happen after Jesus is born? Gentiles from the distant east come and do him homage, and give him gifts. God is crossing the gaps between human beings. In the Letter to the Ephesians, which we just heard, it is stated as clearly as could be: "The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus." And at the very end of the Gospel of Matthew, the risen Jesus will say to his disciples, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations."

That is what we celebrate on this feast of Epiphany.

The Body of Christ

I want you to think graphically about how Jesus, not only became part of the human race, and crossed the boundary between Creator and creatures, but also crossed the boundaries between human beings.

Picture individuals from all over the world standing in a great circle around this altar, receiving Holy Communion - the Body of Christ. As I now mention, just as an example, some of the different kinds of people on this planet, picture each one, right there next to one another, receiving the Body of Christ. Picture someone who is... Chinese, Mexican, Polish, Chippewa, Iranian, English, Turkish, Brazilian, Eskimo, Nigerian, Japanese, French, Philippine, Jewish, Tahitian, Italian, Korean, German... 

You could go on and on. And you could add age differences too, from the very old to the very young. And even include teenagers!

But it takes no stretch of the imagination to think of all of them receiving Communion together. There they are, the Body of Christ - for Christ has crossed all the boundaries between human beings. Our God is everyone's God. Our God is brother to everyone. 

That is what we celebrate on this feast of Epiphany.

It's Everyone's Dream

When you picture all those different kinds of people standing around the altar receiving Holy Communion, and taking place right here in our own parish church, it warms your heart. It's really what, down deep, we want.

We've become a smaller world, and, in that respect, a better world. We really want the human race to be a friendly family. Travel and communications have brought us closer together. The days of isolationism are gone. This is one world, and we want it to be a good family. We know that terrorism will never bring about good. Ultimately, wars won't either. 

What we want is a family that overcomes the barriers that have been there for thousands of years.

That is what we celebrate on this feast of Epiphany.

I'm Part of Making it Happen

Keep in mind that we've been called to be disciples of this man Jesus who not only bridged the gap between God and human beings, but who bridged the gap between human beings themselves. We've been called - as Peter, James, John, Mary Magdalene, Mary his Mother were called - to be part of what Jesus is doing to make this happen.

How do I do that? I do it every way I can. But to give it a start, I have a suggestion. It involves two steps.

Step #1

The first step is a little painful, but not much. Here's what I have to do. I have to stop and think about who the "outsiders" are in my life. There's no need to define "outsider". It's simply anyone I don't feel connected to... and don't want to be connected to. I don't want to accept the fact that there's a bridge between us, and for sure I don't want to cross that bridge.

Who are those people, or kinds of people, in my life? We've all got them. They're part of our... family, acquaintances, neighborhood, city, workplace, parish, country, world. (By the way, if you don't have any, then you don't have to take the second step. But in my whole life, I never met a person, including myself, who didn't have some.)

I'm going to give you 15 seconds to think of some names, not an exhaustive list, but just some real ones so that you can get the feel of Step #1.[PAUSE]

Step #2

The second step is simply this. I want each of us to pick out some of those people, or kinds of people, and say a prayer for them. Just a regular prayer, asking God to care for them and help them, and bless them - just as we would pray for someone we love and who is perhaps in some kind of trouble.

It's not hard. As a matter of fact, it's quite easy, and it even makes us feel better. 

You might say, "Is that all?" Yes. That's all. But... I guarantee you, it will have effects - good effects on you and on those people. Things will happen. I guarantee you, things will happen.

Do it every day this week - and get in that habit of doing it for anyone who ever comes to mind that you've categorized as an "outsider."

When we do that, God, who is watching, says: "I knew it. I knew that if I crossed the great, impassable gap between myself and human beings... and if my Son crossed the gap between all human beings of every time and place... I knew they'd catch on."

That is what we celebrate on this feast of Epiphany.

Originally given on January 5, 2003