Feast of the Epiphany
Cycle B
January 4, 2015 4:00pm, 7:30
and 9:00am
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
T. S. Eliot
One
of the authors I remember studying back in college was T. S. Eliot.
T.
S. Eliot was an English poet and dramatist.
He died in 1965.
Eliot
wrote a poem entitled The Journey of the
Magi. Obviously, it focuses on the
three magi or wise men whom we hear about in today’s gospel.
And,
of course, they are portrayed here in our nativity scene. I want to read a few lines from Eliot’s poem
– The Journey of the Magi.
This is a bit challenging, but it really
grabs my attention.
By
the way, the poem is written as if it is the reflection of one of these three Magi.
I will read this slowly so you can take in what this Magi
is saying.
The Journey of the Magi
“…were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death
But had thought they were different;
this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like
death, our death.”
Maybe
it is good for me to read these few verses just once more.
“…were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death
But had thought they were different;
this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like
death, our death.”
The Magi’s Death
This
one wise man or Magi, speaking for all three of them,
is saying something very profound.
They
see the newborn King of the Jews, the Christ Child. They see the baby; they see “Birth” as this Magi puts it.
But
they realize that they are also seeing expressions of “Death.” It is the “Birth” of Jesus but it is aspects
of their own dying or “Deaths” that they see.
And,
it is not their physical death, but their spiritual death. The idea is that seeing the baby Jesus, the
Christ Child, this “Birth” forces
them to die to certain things in themselves.
This
experience forces them to change, to go home different persons. And the author T. S. Eliot is also saying
that our seeing and celebrating this “Birth”
must now also involve a “Death” for
us.
Birth and Death for Us
For example, maybe we are to go through a death to our own comfort
zone,
where we prefer everyone to be like us or to think as we do.
And in turn, maybe we are to go through a birth to the acceptance
of diversity of thought, culture, religion and race. This is what Jesus does in accepting the diversity
in the Magi themselves.
Or, maybe we are to experience a death to some indifference within
us toward human life.
And in turn, maybe we are to experience a birth to valuing the
sacredness of human life wherever it is found, as in the unborn child or in
young children who suffer from poor health care and poor nutrition and poor
education. The Magi’s
respect for the Child Jesus may move us to this.
Or, for us, maybe we are to go through a death to a narrow idea of
faith where we think that just by assenting to certain truths we are okay with
God.
In turn, maybe we are to go through a birth to searching for a fuller
relationship with God and to seeing our entire life as a journey in doing this. The journey of the Magi is a
good example for us.
Conclusion
I have to say that I have never before looked at today’s feast of
the Epiphany in this way.
I have never before imagined the experience of the Magi
as seeing both “Birth” and “Death.”
I find T. S. Eliot’s poem very thought-provoking.
The one magi says it so pointedly:
“…this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like
death, our death.”
