Embracing Our Common Humanity

Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany

January 3. 2020

To understand today’s celebration, I want to begin with one of my favorite baseball stories. In 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the major leagues. The Brooklyn Dodger’s owner, Branch Rickey, told Robinson that he would be in for a lot of abuse, that he would be ridiculed and receive more verbal punishment than he thought possible. But Rickey promised that he would back Robinson all the way if he had the determination to make it work.

Very soon, Robinson started to experience the abuse Rickey foretold. There were derisive comments from opponents, fans, coaches, even his own teammates. One day around mid-season Robinson was having a particularly bad day. He fumbled several grounders, overthrew first base, and batted poorly. The crowd that day was being particularly nasty. Then something wonderful happened. Pee Wee Reese, the captain of the team, was playing shortstop. He walked over and put his arm around Jackie Robinson. Robinson later reflected on just how incredibly important that moment was: “That simple gesture saved my career. Pee Wee made me feel as if I belonged.”

Now we’re all familiar with the story of the “three kings” coming from afar in order to worship the new-born king. But the true significance of that is spelled out in our second reading from Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Paul writes that God has revealed a new mystery, something that, up until that point, was unknown. This is how Paul describes it: “It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

Up to the time of Christ, it was only the Jews who were considered the “chosen people”. Much of the history contained in the Bible deals with God selecting the Hebrew people to be peculiarly his own, his special possession. It goes back to the time of Moses, when the Jewish people were slaves in Egypt. When they cried out for deliverance, God heard their plea, freed them from slavery and brought them to their own land. He was to be their one and only God, and they, in turn, would be his people.

What Paul is saying, and what is symbolized by the foreigners from the East, is that being the people of God is no longer limited to the Jews. It is as if Paul and the other Apostles have been called by God to be the Pee Wee Reese of their day. They are to put their arms around, not just the Hebrew people, but also the non-Jews, or Gentiles. Together, they are now one team, one people, one family, or as Paul writes, “the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

The worship of Jesus by the Magi, who are non-Jews, is the dramatic announcement of the breaking down of former barriers, and the creation of a new inclusiveness, of people of every nation, culture and race. We are now partners, on the same team.

That is the spirit of today’s all-important Feast: God does not want us to put up barriers to salvation; he wants us to tear the barriers down. God doesn’t want any one group to feel superior to any other. During his ministry, Jesus would teach us all, regardless of our skin color, language, country of origin, or economic or social status, that we have one God to whom we pray as “Our Father,” making us all brothers and sisters in one human family. Today’s Feast of the visitors from the East explodes the nasty divisiveness that leads to the horrible mistreatment of people of color, immigrants, and those who are economically or socially less well-off. No, we are “coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Just as Pee Wee Reese’s embrace of Jackie Robinson changed the history of baseball, so the three kings’ worship of Jesus challenges us to embrace each other, indeed to embrace all people, in acknowledgment of our common humanity.

You might also like

Father's Homilies

Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent December 7, 2025

By Charlene Currie • December 17, 2025
Is It Right?

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent November 30, 2025

By Charlene Currie • December 4, 2025
How Far Do You Want to Go?

Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe November 23, 2025

By Charlene Currie • November 28, 2025
Prairie Chickens and Eagles Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe November 23, 2025 An American Indian tells about a brave who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All its life the changeling eagle, thinking it was a prairie chicken, did what the other prairie chickens did. It scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. It clucked and cackled. And it flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that’s how prairie chickens were supposed to fly. Years passed, and the changeling grew very old. One day it saw a magnificent bird soaring far above in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. “What a beautiful bird!” said the changeling eagle to its neighbor. “What is it?” “That’s an eagle—the chief of the birds,” the neighbor clucked. “But don’t give it a second thought. You could never be like him.” So, the changeling eagle never gave it another thought. And it died thinking it was a prairie chicken. Today, we are celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ is the King of all God’s creation. And yet, it is strange that the gospel passage chosen for this feast is the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion. Notice how weak he is. Consider how he is laughed at and made fun of. “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God….If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.” So, the problem is one of expectations. The bystanders were looking for an eagle, and all they saw before them was a prairie chicken! And yet, at the end of the gospel, this prairie chicken seems to have some power that prairie chickens don’t normally have. When Jesus is asked by the thief being crucified with him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” Jesus replies, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Hardly a promise that could be made by a prairie chicken! What’s going on here? I’d like to refer us to a passage we find in the writings of St. Paul, a section of his letter to the Philippians that is the second reading on Palm Sunday, when we reflect on the crucifixion of Jesus. Here it is: “Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Jesus taught the way of humility and service. He came to raise others up, especially those who were bowed down by poverty or prejudice. He taught that there was no greater love than to lay down one’s life for the love of others. Greatness is found not in building oneself up at the expense of others, but in building up others, especially those who need it the most. So, Jesus emptied himself, to the point of looking like a prairie chicken, and in doing so he showed us the way to the eternal kingdom by means of humble service, that we might become who we truly are, eagles destined to soar beyond the clouds.