Going outside boxes is hard. Leaving our comfort zones? Equally
hard. The Magi’s quest took over two years transgressing borders. In search of
a child. A complete stranger. A stranger they believed would liberate his
people from oppression.
Crossing boundaries, discarding prejudices, tearing down walls:
very, very hard. And very, very scary! And taking another road back is hard and
scary, as well. The Magi went against the orders of Herod the King and innocent
children were massacred. More often than not, then and now, when the powerful
are threatened the most powerless get hurt.
Who among us have flown on airplanes? Who among us have looked out
the windows of those airplanes and seen the land masses below? What did you
see? Did you see the lines, the borders that separated one nation from another?
Did you see the markers that identified each country's territory apart from
another? Like in our color-coded maps? The boxes we make, our comfort zones,
our prejudices, our bigotry, our racism, the thick and high walls around our
homes and even our churches, that Apartheid Wall in Israel, and Trump’s White
Walls, the borders that separate us are all man-made.
We put them up, which means we can tear them down!
In the verses that most of us have been reflecting on this holiday
season, from the first chapters of Matthew and of Luke, one element is crystal
clear. Except for Mary and Joseph, all the characters who come together to
celebrate the birth of the Messiah are strangers. Complete strangers.
Empires and Kingdoms create systems, structures, and lifestyles
that create strangers, that divide, that alienate, that pit one against the
other, whether the division is based on class, race, creed, gender, religion.
The birth of the Messiah, the fulfilment of the promise of
Immanuel, the coming of Yeshua—which means Yahweh Liberates—brings complete
strangers together. It births community! The birth of the Messiah, my dear
friends, can tear down walls.
And as the Messiah showed us, feeding the hungry, giving drink to
the thirsty, visiting the sick and the imprisoned, clothing the naked,
welcoming the stranger, proclaiming good news to the poor, all these tear down
walls as well. One word. Immanuel.
But let us not forget. The best way to experience Immanuel, God’s
presence in our lives, is to be Immanuel to someone else. The key is not to wait for Immanuel but to be
Immanuel to those who need God the most, to those whose only hope is God!
Today, as so many people struggle for life, for safe spaces, for
dignity, each of us is invited to be active participants in the quest for a
just and lasting peace, to be agents of love and faith and hope in the healing
of our world, to tear down walls that divide, that disempower, that
marginalize, that dehumanize, that kill.
Scary? Yes. Hard? Yes. Dangerous? Yes. But this is what the
incarnation is all about. No one deserves to be alone, so God took the first
step. God transgressed borders. God left heaven to be with us. God chose to be
one of us. God took sides. And God took the side of the poor, the oppressed,
the marginalized.
And we, those who confess to follow God, should do the same. My
friends, as we celebrate the Birth of the Messiah, I invite us all to cross
borders like the Magi, to tear down walls that divide, to be God’s presence in
others’ lives, to change our ways and take another road.
And like the Magi, by taking another road, the road less traveled,
and even the road-less travel, let us participate in the healing of our world
and in our own healing.
Immanuel.
