Epiphany of the Lord (Fr. Simham)
Epiphany of the lord
Today we celebrate Epiphany. The visit of the Magi to child Jesus, symbolising that God’s salvation is extended to all nations. Instead of going into the historical or theological significance of this story or event I just want to pick up two categories of people from the Gospel and talk about the two important aspects of Religion which I think is relevant for us today.
First of all, let us look at these two groups of people. First group is ‘the three magi’ who come all the way from the East to see child Jesus. And the second group is the chief priests and the Scribes in Herod’s court. The Magi unfortunately did not have the revealed scriptures or symbolic rituals to help them, but they were in constant search for the divine, tuning their hearts and minds to the divine revelation. When they get the glimpses of it in the star, they followed it. When faced with difficulty they took the help from other sources. They pursued till the find their heart’s content; Him whom they longed to see, The Infant King of Israel. I call them people of spirituality or spiritual people.
Second group of people are ‘the chief priests and scribes’. They have their revealed Scriptures, they have their rituals and their times of worship. They are very happy with that. They fail to see the inner meaning of all those things. When the message of Messiah’s birth reaches them they do not bother to go out and meet him. They read the scriptures and know the truth but cannot believe or live it. They are perfect with their knowledge of the scriptures and performance of the rituals but they do actually take steps to see the messiah that the scriptures speak about. I call them people of ‘religiosity’ or rituals.
I came across a book called “New Wine in New Wineskins” by Zac Poonen .
He says “One of the greatest dangers that faces the Christian in his pursuit of a holy life is that of ending up being religious and not spiritual. Religiosity is often mistaken by the undiscerning believer for spirituality.
Speaking of the ‘religious’ (Don’t take it for priests and nuns belonging to Religious congregations) he says:
“They will go religiously to meetings, pray and read the Bible daily and even attend over-night vigils and prayer meetings, help out in the church, etc. But they will still seek honour from men, live for themselves, love money and be interested in gossiping, etc. Such people are religious, not spiritual. They have a form of godliness without the power.” Here are some more examples.
‘If you are more interested in reading your Bible every morning than in controlling your tongue the whole day, you are religious, not spiritual. If you are more interested in fasting and prayer than in being free from the love of money, you are religious, not spiritual. If you are more interested in evangelization than in personal sanctification, you are religious, not spiritual.’
To put it as a whole “for People of religiosity or I call them ritualists, religion is a part of their life but for people spirituality religion is their life. They live it but don’t use it. For Ritualists, religion or God is the tape they use to quench their thirst but for spiritualist Religion is the satelite that navigates their life. They follow laws but they try to find the spirit behind the law and follow it.
Friends, even today we see these two categories of people in every religion. Have you not seen religious leaders who are behind every terrorism and bloodshed in the world. Encouraging massacring of the people and calling it as holy war. Do they not pray? Do they not fast? Yes! They do. But their prayer are devoid of God who is compassion. They follow religion in the sense of practicing all what law requires, but they are not spiritual.
Spirituality for me is attuning yourself to God wherever you are and whatever you do. Whether you are in the Church or in your room all alone or on the street, you are always with God who is compassion and love. Because you are attuned to him the godly compassion and love flows into everything you do. This is what it means to be spiritual I know that there are many who are very religious and very spiritual. We need them. Religiosity devoid of spirituality is useless and sometimes dangerous. This is we need to be careful about.
Let me conclude with a thought provoking story I heard. Story of an elderly gentleman that used to go fishing every day that he could. Someone once asked him to go to church on Sunday. He said, “No thanks, I’m going fishing. I think I am closer to God if I am out fishing and thinking about God than if I am in church thinking about fishing.” Something for us to think about. Amen.
Fr. Showreelu Simham