Feast of the Epiphany – Cycle C
January 5, 2025 – 5pm
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
The Power of a Baby
This past Sunday, I was visiting with some family members.
My brother and sister-in-law were here in town, and there were seven of us adults and one baby. We were hanging out and just talking for hours.
Well, two of the adults were a young couple – Matt and Jen – with their two-month-old baby, Tate. You might guess what happened.
While we talked about a lot of things, the real center of attention was Tate. This little, ten-pound baby had that kind of magnetism or power.
Four Kinds of Power
Today’s gospel got me thinking about that experience and about different kinds of power – I’m thinking of four kinds.
The first is the leader of a country, maybe like King Herod in today’s gospel.
The word and decision of these leaders can affect peoples’ lives in good ways and in bad ways. They have some real power.
Then there is the gifted athlete, maybe like Lamar Jackson.
He is fast and strong and can attract thousands of people to the stadium or to watch a Ravens game on TV. That’s another kind of power.
Then there is a music star, maybe like Taylor Swift.
Her music and charisma can electrify large audiences and move people to spend hundreds of dollars to attend one of her concerts. That’s still another kind of power.
And then there’s a newborn baby, maybe like little Tate whom I saw last Sunday.
He can’t do anything for himself or for anybody and yet everyone’s attention is riveted on him. Isn’t that another form of power?
The Greatest Power
In fact, isn’t it true that a baby has a different kind of power and may have the greatest power of all?
The powerlessness of a baby is powerful. This little person can touch hearts in a way that national leaders or athletes or rock stars cannot.
Its innocent, wordless presence can transform a room in a way that no one else can. It touches us at a deep level.
We watch our language around a baby. It moves us to be the best person we can be, at least while we are with the baby.
Many of you who are parents know this very well. The powerlessness of a baby is powerful!
Jesus’ Power
And this is how we experience God’s power here on earth.
God has come to us in Jesus, born as an ordinary baby. As we see in the nativity scene, he was powerless at birth.
Yet his birth manifests the kind of power on which we can build our lives. God comes to us in Jesus not coercing or forcing us but trying to draw the best out of us.
God comes to us in Jesus trying to elicit our care and respect – not just for babies, but for all persons. God comes to us in Jesus moving us to come out of our self-focus and reach out to others who are in need.
A Different Way
So, the infant Jesus calls us to embrace a different kind of power.
Maybe this is what the magi experience. They come from the East looking for the newborn king of the Jews and what they find is different from what they probably expected.
They didn’t find this newborn king, this baby in a palace and surrounded by wealth and power. Instead, they found him to be powerless in ordinary human terms.
And maybe this is what the passage means when it says that the magi went home “by another way.” They apparently did take a different route home and did not return to Herod.
But maybe they also went home “by another way” in the sense of being different and seeing things differently. God, coming to us in the powerless baby Jesus has affected them, changed them.
And that’s the invitation to us in this Christmas season. Allow the powerlessness of the baby to draw the best out of us and change our lives too.
