Epiphany January 8, 2023
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
Who has the power? In the wake of tense battles over important positions, we might wonder what real power looks like. Majority votes, political concessions, making other people do what you want… all these are a part of how we tend to imagine power. Yet, a careful reading of the scripture ought to challenge us to think more deeply about it.
Who, after all, has the real power in the story of these Magi? Herod is a king backed by the power of the Roman Empire. He can assemble all the chief priests and give orders to the magi with every reason to expect their obedience. The priests and scribes oblige him giving him their answers. The Magi seemed to agree with what he asked them to do. Yet, all this flexing of his authority stems from being “troubled” at the news a single newborn child. How powerful are you when a defenseless child is what frightens you?
When the magi never returned, how long did Herod have to stew in his own sense of impotence? How long did it take him to realize he had no control over them anyway? Once he realized they weren’t returning, all the expert advice of his scholars and all the blind slaughter of children isn’t enough to actually stop this child.
Then, within just a few years, death comes to demonstrate once and for all just how powerless Herod really was. Jesus grows up, lives as a simple craftsman for decades, and spend three short years teaching farmers and fisherman in the countryside before being brutally executed. He never got anywhere near the political power and influence of either of the King Herods of his lifetime. Jesus lost the only popular vote he ever participated in. Yet he was the one with the power the entire time, something definitively proven when he overcame the one thing no king had ever overcome before: death itself.
Still, we might be forgiven for not recognizing the real power of Jesus Christ. Scripture does after all use the same language as the world around us when speaking of power: “the wealth of nations will be brought to you… He shall govern your people with justice… all nations shall serve him… every nation on earth will adore you… [from] Bethlehem shall come a ruler.” Though the Church at one time had massive influence over the whole of Europe, it did not last and its authenticity was always questionable. Legend has it that Stalin once mockingly asked how many divisions of soldiers the Pope had. The answer, of course, is none.
Yet Jesus Christ is the true ruler, the great shepherd, the eternal king, the one who holds the ultimate power. When we look at him and fail to see that power, the fault is with our perception of him, not his possession of power. Scripture uses the same kind of political language that we use, but it does so as a starting point. This way of speaking is a sort of bridge across the great chasm of difference between our perspective and God’s. In other words, we shouldn’t be judging Jesus by our definition of the word “power,” but judging our definition of the word “power” by how it measures up to Jesus Christ.
For all the supposed power of modern day kings – the orders Joe Biden can give, the votes Kevin McCarthy can direct, the money Jeff Bezos can make, the robots and computers Elon Musk and Bill Gates can design and control – for all of that they don’t have real power and we are fools if we think they do. Just as the Magi revealed the weakness of such a perspective back then, they can reveal it to us now… and we’d be wise to look for modern day magi to remind us of that.
Scriptural prophecy and the stories of tradition tell us that the Magi were themselves kings, yet we never see them give an order. They were wealthy, but the only reason we can know about their wealth is because they spent their money on traveling a great distance in order to give away their wealth in the form of gifts to the infant Jesus.
St. Paul too reflects this idea of power as giving something away. He speaks plainly of “the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to” him. Why? “For your benefit.” To teach, to forgive sins, to offer the sacraments. St. Paul and every successor to the Apostles – all bishops and priests – are endowed with the ability to give something. That’s the best definition of power, the ability to give of oneself. It’s why virtue can also be translated “power.” Virtue is the ability, the power to give oneself to what is good. Whether or not you have a sphere of influence that the world notices, virtue is power to give of oneself.
It’s a definition that works for God himself. The Trinity is God the Father giving his very being to the Son, who gives himself right back to the Father. Their self-gift is so complete that the giving is itself another person, the Holy Spirit who’s very identity is gift. God who is all powerful is an eternal gift of self and all of creation is a testimony to that power where he lends existence itself to all that there is.
Knowing this, who would we call powerful? After the Magi, we have John the Baptist whose immense power as the greatest born of woman is seen best in his quote “He must increase, I must decrease.” We have the Apostles, all but one of whom literally gave their lives away for the gospel. Who has the power? The saints of history, hated and slaughtered by those with the imaginary “power” of worldly kings.
Who are the magi of today? Benedict XVI was pope, yes, but his real power was the generous outpouring of his intellect in pursuit of the truth about God and his constant effort to give that truth to others. Countless little, “unimportant” Christians in China, Somalia, Syria, and Nigeria are the magi of today – people who often travel great distances, face harsh penalties, and are openly manipulated by governments all while they simply want to get to Jesus and show him their love.
What about you? Do you see yourself has having power over your family or coworkers when you give orders? Yes, service is sometimes the leadership to cause people to do good things they wouldn’t do on their own, but it is just as, if not more often the ability to do for them something only you can do: a gift of your time, the exercise of your talent for their benefit.
Is money power? Yes! If and only if you give it away for the good of others! And yet, the power of God does not require wealth, intelligence, or an able body. It is a great thing when those with riches and influence also have the virtue to use them in a powerful way, but true power is the virtue itself, not the stuff virtue uses. After all, the most powerful thing any human being did was die naked on a cross. Heaven will be full of poor, disabled, uninfluential people who were and are more powerful than any billionaire or king ever was.
This is why freedom of conscience and religion are so important. It is an acknowledgement of that deepest part of the human person, the ultimate seat of freedom that make loves possible. It’s why, even when we don’t have freedom of religion, we still have the interior freedom, the power to love anyway and even state torture and execution can’t stop us.
So, to answer our opening question, who has the power? The one who gives. Who is able to give? The one who loves can give of themselves even when they have nothing else. Who can love like that? The one loved by God. That’s what it means to love and to be a saint, full of power. Given a gift by the greatest giver, we make a gift of ourselves until there’s nothing left but love itself, a love that conquers not only kings and rulers, but death itself.