Where will the Christmas Spirit go?
Epiphany Sunday
Today’s Gospel ends with this line: “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi departed for their country by another way.” Their visit to the newborn Jewish king had come to a close. Their gifts had been given, their homage paid. They returned to their home country and presumably their routines.
The Christmas season is coming to a close. Today is Epiphany Sunday. Today we have the last readings related to the birth of Jesus and the last opportunity to wish people Merry Christmas. Most of us soon will take down our Christmas trees and put away the ornaments and lights. We will vacuum up the needles. Christmas 2017 has all but come and gone. Life will return to normal. The New Year has begun, and we, like the magi, are returning to our routines.
We often refer to the magi as the Three Kings, but Bible scholars tell us that the word “magi” is better translated as magicians or astronomers. They would not necessarily have been the wealthy or powerful men that the word “king” implies. Also, the Bible does not give their names or even say that there were three of them. We do not know exactly when they arrived, but the Bible says that the magi came to the house where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were staying, so the Holy Family had had enough time after the Nativity to find better accommodations.
The magi had travelled many months and spent a small fortune to pay their short visit to the baby Jesus. No booking cheap airline tickets online for them. It’s amazing when you consider that they were Persians or perhaps Babylonians who did not even believe in the God of Abraham. Yet, they studied the stars and Jewish Scriptures and then came to pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews.
Let’s face it, Christmas is an enormous amount of work and expense for us, too. Of course, coming to Church and praying and gathering as a family doesn’t cost much—and it is what matters most—but the decorating and entertaining and travel and presents can certainly add up. Our credit card statements may say “Merry Christmas” to us long after the official season is over.
Yet, Christmas is also a season of great joy. How many of you would chose to give it up? People are often happier at this time of year. Family and friends often come to visit, or you go to visit them. We receive Christmas cards and letters from old friends and get caught up on their lives. Children’s faces are usually happy, and almost everyone enjoys singing their favorite Christmas carols.
You could say that at Christmas we become a little more the people whom God intended us to be. We are a little kinder to family, friends, and even strangers. Most of us are a little more prayerful, a little more generous, and a little more considerate to others. People like to see Christmas come because it is a happier time of the year. And most of us are a little sad when it is over.
So, where does that Christmas Spirit of peace and generosity go? Why is it not with us the whole year? Do we unintentionally pack the Christmas Spirit along with the ornaments and lights and put it in the closet for another year? Is the Christmas Spirit really meant to be confined to one or at most twelve days a year?
Think again about the magi. You could say that they had wished upon a star and their wish came true. But what happened to them after Christmas? The Gospel says, “Being warned in a dream, they departed to their own country another way.” “Another way” presumably means by a different route, but I think they returned to their own country in “another way,” meaning changed—as wiser wise men. Why? Because they had found God in the least likely of places. They found God in a manger. How could they not forever be alert to the signs of God’s presence in common places? The baby Jesus is still to be found in the mangers of our lives, in those common and ordinary places such as with family, friends, and jobs. The baby Jesus is there in the manger of our everyday lives.
The magi also returned happier and nobler because they returned lighter. They had come bearing heavy gifts, and they returned without the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh. They returned with that lightness of heart that every generous giver knows. The magi left generous gifts with the Holy Family. They gave them the financial resources they needed to escape King Herod and travel to Egypt. As the magi gave to a poor family in need, they no doubt found a key to happiness. They discovered God’s secret is the giving of oneself to others as God has given of Himself to us. The magi gave the Holy Family gifts that represented who they were—gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the stock of their trade as magicians.
And what happened to the shepherds of Bethlehem? The Bible says, “They returned to their fields, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” Where did they return? To the everyday tasks of caring for their sheep.
The shepherds had heard the angels singing on that starry night. They had gone to the manger and seen the baby Jesus. They had been filled with the Christmas Spirit. But meanwhile, there were sheep to be tended and pastures to be cultivated and fences to be mended and little lambs to be guarded and wool to be sheared. The shepherds had a lot of routine work to be done. The Bible could have said of the shepherds, “They returned to their jobs.” That is common. But the Bible says “they returned to their fields glorifying and praising God.” That is uncommon.
Life is like that for most of us. We return to our old steady routines, our appointed tasks. We too go back to our everyday living. We return to the same old office, the same old shop, the same old kitchen, the same old school, the same old conflicts, the same old problems that we all faced on December 24th. What more can we do to keep the Christmas Spirit alive? How do we not simply put it away in the closet with the lights and ornaments? We can return to our fields—to our old routines and old jobs—glorifying and praising God. But what does that mean?
It means returning more thankful to God for his goodness to us, for his generosity, for his gifts. The baby Jesus was a pure gift to us. He is full of grace and peace. We can return aware that God is with us in our ordinary tasks of our daily lives.
At Christmas, we hear that God became fully human. Christmas is the great message that God is with us in our ordinary jobs of life. When God chose to become a human being, God chose to come as a baby, a child, a carpenter. For 30 of His 33 years on earth, Christ lived and grew and worked like any of us. We are called to make this world a better place by doing the ordinary things of life graciously and peacefully. Jesus consecrates the ordinary jobs of life and makes them holy even though those jobs don’t feel holy at all.
Where will the Christmas Spirit go? Into the closet, boxed up and put away for another twelve months? Remember: the shepherds went back to their fields, glorifying and praising God. The magi went home another way: wiser and happier. We too can go back to work, praising and glorifying God. We can go back wiser and happier because we know that God loves us. We can strive to remain kinder and more generous. We can remember that God lives with us in our ordinary routines. And where is the baby Jesus after Christmas? He has come to live in your heart and mine.
May God bless you in the year ahead and may you know the Christmas Spirit every day of your life. May you be wiser for knowing Christ and seeing Him in your daily life. May you be happier and lighter for having shared your treasure—your gold, frankincense, and myrrh with others.