A reflection from Michael Leunig in his “When I talk to you: A Cartoonist talks to God” (HarperCollins) ruminates on the poetic truth that there are only two feelings, only two languages, only two activities, two motive, two frameworks and two results in the world that humanity occupies – Love and fear.
We see both in our reading about the Magi following a star and finding the child Jesus in Bethlehem.
Love and joy drove the Magi on a presumably long and hazardous journey from Persia to where the star finally stopped in the tiny town of Bethlehem. As did love and joy cause the shepherds in a nearby field to run in haste to see the child whose birth was announced by an angelic choir.
Love ….. and fear.
When Herod and the elite in Jerusalem were told by the Magi of the birth of Jesus, they could also have travelled with the Magi to pay homage to the Christ child. That, according to Matthew, they did not choose to do so is a consequence of fear ruling their lives. And the result was the ultimate act of evil in the shedding of the innocent blood of two year-old babes.
The recognition that God is with us – what we call the Epiphany (manifestation) - brings with it the invitation to react with love…or panic and fear.
As the Magi found God-with-us in the most unlikely of places, after much searching (and wrong turns), so too do we travel. We all carry love and fear in the deepest parts of ourselves. We pray for the Christ light to shine on those dark places with the forgiveness and love that only God can offer so that when we meet Christ we are filled with the same love and joy as the Magi and the shepherds.
May the blessing of the Epiphany reach you all at this time.
Ceri
