Epiphany

One of the hardest things that my grandmother did when she came over to the United States was to adjust to life in a foreign country. She had not gone to school at all - her mother taught her at home.  She never left her small village until she sent to Hawaii on a pre-arranged marriage to marry a man she had never met until the day of her wedding. Like immigrants of all generations, adjustments are necessary for success and they’re never easy and sometimes if not most of the time, adjustments require sacrifice.

Some Vietnamese friends of mine told me their immigrant journey.  Prior to leaving they were in school, preparing for a career in law and medicine.  Escaping from the communists they left at night, caught a boat at the coast and were cramped with dozens of others fleeing from persecution. While on the high seas they were attacked by pirates, some of the women were accosted and everyone lost their belongings. They found temporary housing at a refugee camp in the Philippines. Eventually they came to the US and had to start their careers all over again while working at 2 jobs for minimum wage.

Just before I came to Guadalupe I went to a Mexico on a research trip to study the affect of immigration to the United States. A part of that trip was interviewing people who had been working in the US and returned back to Mexico and to hear the stories of Central Americans who were traveling through Mexico on their way up to the US. I and other researchers heard stories of leaving their families behind. All the Central Americans we listened to were beaten and robbed.  Every one we talked to spoke about how their lives were forever changed by the migration journey. 

Anyone who was ever compelled to make a life-changing journey - whether a sheltered girl from a rural mountain town in Southern Japan, a high school student escaping persecution from Vietnam, a young man crossing the Sonoran desert, or a young woman traveling from Honduras to Texas through Mexico - these are stories of sacrifice. Joseph and Mary’s story is also a story of sacrifice on many levels. Like my Grandmother, they were rural folk who had found themselves among strangers in a strange town. Mary gave birth gave birth to her child without the traditional support system of her mother and other women - she was on her own.  Joseph too had made a great sacrifice. Rather than do what would normally be expected of him, he chose to marry a woman whose child was not his own.

Mary and Joseph’s story and these immigrant stories are filled with uncertainty.  At times it would seem better to just give up and go back, to throw in the towel, call it a day…but most people do not give up, they do not return defeated. The indomitable human spirit drives us forward.  How is that possible when the circumstance around us would suggest that the most safe and logical decision would be to pack things up? Dreams and visions.  The dream of a better life drives people forward. If we have a clear vision of what we’re moving toward, hope is sustained and we continue moving forward. Isaiah’s passage encourages the people who lived in a time of deep darkness to imagine a different future for themselves and their children.

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.

Isaiah gave the people of Israel hope.  He allowed them to move beyond the struggle of every day life of look at the long term perspective.  Isaiah shared a long term vision for Israel: a vision of peace and security.  God’s people would no longer suffer the violence of invasions and wars.  The people would no longer have to forage for food, they would have a stable society in which they could tend their flocks and raise crops. Imagine for a moment if Israel lost HOPE and lost the perspective of a better life. Imagine if they simply gave up and returned back to Babylon to live once again as slaves.

So let’s fast forward to Jesus’ birth. When King Herod heard about the King of the Jews - the Prince of Peace, birth, his reaction was of fear. The entire power structure of Jerusalem that was holding up the Roman occupation was also troubled. Herod and his people could not bear the possibility that there might be an alternative to the darkness of the Roman empire and that is why they plotted to kill the Christ child.  What if the Magi crumbled under the veiled threats that Herod made.  What if they lost hope and returned to Persia? They didn’t because they were driven by a promise of a better tomorrow.

The appearance of the Magi was troubling to Herod because he and all of those who supported the Roman occupation of Jerusalem realized that an alternative to the terror of violence of Herod was a Peaceable Kingdom and that the Roman occupation would eventually crumble under the weight of its own oppression.  They knew that the long arc of history would in fact bend in favor of justice and that is terrifying to those who wield power. The Scripture says that the Magi looked to the stars for insight. This meant that they used human wisdom to find the Messiah that would usher in the Peaceable Kingdom. The Magi knew that the vision of a Peaceable Kingdom was not limited to the People of Israel, but that the Kingdom of Peace was a universal desire and that it was achievable!

The road to the Peaceable Kingdom suggests that all of us are on this pilgrimage journey together. In a sense, we might be considered spiritual immigrants, finding our way in a world that is not familiar to us. We will need to take chances and risks and we cannot be daunted by failures or set backs. We must move forward guided by a vision of a better tomorrow, as it were guided by a single star among many stars in the dark night.

This week is called, “Migrant Week” by the USCCB and so we as a Church honor all of those who have taken the journey through the long night - the immigrant journey. We recognize the sacrifices that our immigrant families have made yesterday and are making today and honor their contributions to building up a Peaceable Kingdom among us.  Reflecting on the story of Mary, Joseph, the child and the Magi, we will find our own story - a story within the story.  And like the Magi, we will bring gifts of frankincense - the symbol of prayer; gold - they symbol of resilience; and myrrh, the symbol of the ultimate sacrifice - giving our life so that others may live. In return for these gifts, God gives us his gift - his very Self in the person on Jesus.