Just a week ago we were remembering and celebrating how Jesus was a part of a very ordinary human family, the smallest unit of human society. Only a week later we find ourselves having to recognize that Jesus was from the very beginning a player in the world of geopolitics and international relations (Matthew 2:1-12).
The first contact Jesus has with people outside his family is with shepherds, poor and disregarded members of their society. But he also comes to the attention of the rich and powerful. They have become known as kings, although the Matthew labels them as wise men (magi, seekers after truth) rather than figures with political power. But there is another powerful figure in this story. He is a king, and very concerned to maintain his power and position – quite prepared to kill to achieve that, to kill young children if they are any sort of threat.
We might prefer to imagine that our own following of Jesus can be kept at the simple and the local level. We don’t want to tangle with the challenges of politics and the complexity of wider human relationships.
We might prefer that, but our gospel doesn’t give us that option. Jesus accepted the gifts brought by wise men from distant places. Paul points out (Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6), as Isaiah did before him (Isaiah 60:1-6), that God did not restrict salvation to some chosen people – whether they might be Jews or Catholics. Our religion is open to everyone, which means all people are our brothers and sisters. We don’t have the option to deal with only the ones we feel close to or comfortable with. We don’t have the option to keep some people on the outside and keep ourselves safe on the inside.
We might prefer not to concern ourselves with Syria, or the Ukraine, or the Mexican border, or the many places where our fellow human beings are struggling simply to survive, some even on our doorstep. We cannot solve these problems. We cannot give everyone the life they want or deserve. But by our votes, by our conversations, by our charitable donations, we can stand with those that are threatened by the Herods of our time. We can play our part in showing there is another way than the way of self interest, of violence, of exclusion. If we travel with the wise men to give our gifts to a baby, to the God with us, then we will seek out the path that enables us to fulfill that calling.