We are now in the second week of January 2021!
We have all groaned and ached and prayed our way through this past year and it seems to me that God did his own groaning and aching. In many ways that are behind the story of the Wise Kings, the feast of the Epiphany. Jesus is revealed to the world as the Lord of all peoples. It is always important to emphasize that the lordship of Jesus is unlike the lordship of an “earthly” ruler. Cesar considered himself the Lord and God of the World and wanted everyone to bow before him. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is not that type of Lord at all. He is the full manifestation of God in our midst.
Totally different, Our Lord, as he became incarnate continues to become incarnate in every person and moment in history. He is the flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, inseparable. He became like us and in so doing we become like him. Forever each aspiration, pain, struggle, success, and failure is wedded to the person of Jesus. Nothing that we might experience is foreign to him, and his grace transforms it all into something better.
By the same token, his lordship is not one of being above all others, but one of loving service. The songs from Christmas still can be heard – Emmanuel – the lord is with us; Jesus – God is Salvation; Christ – the messiah, the long-awaited anointed one of God. His rule is not the violence of an overlord, it is the path that takes us into the Reign of God where there shall not be the need for tears, or hunger, or injustice.
With all of this in mind, let us look forward to this 2001, a year when we will allow ourselves to come to know this lord of ours in the intimate knowledge that can only be shared between the loved and beloved.
There is still so much more to say, but let me close by remembering one of my favorite anecdotes:
For all that has been, Thank you
For all that will be, Yes.
Many Blessings