Homily for January 6

Journey of the Magi by James Tissot

Homily for Epiphany 
Scriptures for today's Mass

Some scriptures are easy to preach on because we know them so well,

like this story of the magi visiting the Christ child.

And some scriptures are very difficult to preach on precisely because

- we know them too well, so well we might take them for granted

or not be challenged by what they tell us.

This is the the 46^th year I’ve preached on the feast of the Epiphany

on this story of the magi seeking the Christ child.

I don’t remember what I preached in the early years of my ministry.

Truth is: I don’t remember what I preached in the middle years either.

But I do know that over the last ten years or so, I’ve been fascinated

by the very last line of this day’s gospel:

After having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,

they departed for their country by another way.

They went home by another way…

Matthew’s is the only gospel that mentions the magi -

they don’t appear in Mark, Luke or John.

And even Matthew doesn’t give us much information about the magi.

He doesn’t tell us how many there were

and he never once refers to them as kings.

Tradition has presumed on the basis of their three costly gifts

that the magi were a trio, likely possessed of royal wealth.

The bible neither confirms nor denies this conclusion.

Matthew tells us, vaguely, that the magi came “from the east”

and that when their business in Jerusalem was finished

they went home.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t tell us where home was for the magi.

More significant for Matthew - and for the magi -

is that they magi went home - “by another way.”

Home…?  Where’s home for you?

Did you “leave home”  to “go home” for Christmas?

Did folks you love leave their home to come to yours to visit?

How many places have you and I called home in our lives?

My home was in Danvers for 18 years, that’s where I grew up.

Then for 8 years my home was in Boston for college and seminary.

After I was ordained

my home was at St. Ann Parish in Quincy for 5 years

and then in South Bend, Indiana for four years.

Coming back from studying and working at Notre Dame

my home was in Boston for nine years of campus ministry

at Northeastern and Emerson College.

Then for three years I called St. Joseph Parish in Medway my home.

Leaving Medway,

I’ve made my home in Concord for the past 25 years.

And in our mobile culture,

that’s a long time to call one place home.

But in 5 months I’ll leave my home here for a new home -

and  I don’t know yet where that will be.

But I do know this.

The experience of leaving a place and a people I’ve called “home”

for a quarter of a century,

and the mystery of not knowing what place I’ll next call home

have led me to realize, finally, at the age of 71:

that the place that’s most truly my home

is one where I’ve not yet lived, or visited or seen or known;

that all the places I have called “home” over seven decades

have been temporary stops,

way-stations along the path leading me home;

and that each place I’ve stopped to live along the way

has come to an end, to a move,

bringing me ever closer to my real and ultimate home,

 - that each move has found me going home - by another way.

Some of you have moved many more times than I have

and have called places all around the world your home.

Some of you are much younger than I

and have lived in many more places than I have.

Some of you were born in Concord

and have called Concord your home for your whole life.

But changing addresses is actually incidental here.

We all have one home

towards which we’ve been making our way

since they day we were born.

And whether we’ve lived in just one town

or in 20 cities and towns ‘round the world

the changing circumstances of our lives

have been steering us home by different ways.

Regardless of my street address:

my relationships, my loves and losses, my joys and sorrows,

my successes and failures, my ups and downs,

my good deeds and bad

- have been but twists and turns along the path to my true home,

- have been the straight-aways and potholes

on the highway of my road home,

- have been the accidents and near-misses

of the ride I call my life,

- have been up-hill climbs and down-hill coasting

that have tired and invigorated me along the way,

- have been all the cross-roads at which I’ve needed to decide,

 “Which way is the way that will bring me home?

Where’s the path the Lord has mapped our for me?

What will happen if I cheat and take a short-cut?

Why would God ask me to take this route

when I would so much rather another way?

How many will be the different ways home I’ll take

before I reach the place that’s truly home for us all?”

Matthew refers to these visitors from the east as magi,

not as wise men.

But you and I would be wise women and men

were we to take a cue from the magi.

They weren’t afraid to leave home and its comforts

to set out on a path they believed God had charted for them.

They didn’t hesitate to travel not so much by their own lights

but rather, by the light of a star, a mysterious light

in which they put their hope and trust and faith.

They were wise in discerning

that, indeed, there’s good and evil in the world:

that Herod, though powerful was not good,

that he was cunning - and his designs evil.

And in their wisdom, the magi avoided the evil and chose the good -

and they went home - by another way.

Wherever we’ve lived,

regardless of how many places we’ve called home,

all of us, everyone of us, is on a path home

to a place we’ve not yet even visited.

And just when anyone of us might think,

 “Ah! NOW, I’m home!”  Or,  “Now I know the way home!”

Just then might the Lord (who is always calling us home)

just then might the Lord say,

“Well, there been a change in plans.  You’re still heading home

but we’re going to get there - by another way…”

Whatever the path,

no matter how many the twists and turns, the ups and downs;

no matter how many changes in the route;

no matter how many different ways home;

the Lord walks with us, every step along the way

and never more certainly so than when the way home

is burdensome, difficult and painful.

And at least once a week

he invites us pull over to the side of the road,

and to catch our breath and rest with him.

At least once a week he calls us together here,

all of us, pilgrims, making our way home together,

all of us by different ways.

He calls us together to refresh us

with the company and communion we share here,

with the word of his truth in the scriptures

and with the food of the Eucharist,

a sign of his way home to the Father,

a sign of the love he shared with us on the Cross.

So, in the new year,

come and come often to his table,

this way station on our path home.

Come and have a taste and a sip

of the banquet of life he’s prepared for us in that place

where those who’ve gone before us know already, we pray,

where home truly lies

and wait for us to join them  - when we’ve all come home,

each and all, by many different ways.

    
 
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