SUNDAY HOMILY: Dr. West is right. Netanyahu and Biden might deserve our opprobrium and jail time. (They do!) However, they're still somehow our brothers and beloved by the One Yeshua revealed on this Epiphany Sunday.

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Readings for Epiphany Sunday: Is. 60:1-6; Ps. 72: 1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13; Eph. 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mt. 2: 1-12

Just last night, I found myself in a ZOOM conversation with colleagues at OpEdNews.. The name of Cornel West came up. My friends referenced his discussion with Norman Finkelstein, and West's insistence on regarding Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters as "brothers and sisters."

West, of course, is the great theologian and former Harvard professor who is running this year as an independent candidate to replace Joe Biden as president of the United States. Finkelstein is a widely published social scientist and descendent of Holocaust victims.

In their conversation, both men condemned Israel's ongoing genocidal attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. Finkelstein found them unforgivable. In the latter's completely secular opinion, Benjamin Netanyahu and by extension, Joe Biden are beyond any absolution for their crimes. Calling them and their supporters "brother" or "sister" is an abomination.

For his part however, West refused to give up even on Israel's prime minister or on the U.S. president. While both, he said, deserved removal from office and a lengthy prison sentences for obvious war crimes, West still considered them "brothers" loved by God.

As a theologian myself, I found myself agreeing with both men. Netanyahu's cynical religious pretensions are despicable. His invocations of the Bible to justify his slaughter of innocents represents the worst and most blasphemous form of religion I can imagine.

I must confess that in my heart, I wish upon him the pain that Gazan babies and their mothers must endure as their limbs are amputated without anesthesia, because of the prime minister's refusal to allow medical supplies into the concentration camp he's mercilessly carpet-bombing. I have the same feelings towards Netanyahu's sponsor, Joe Biden. He fully deserves the epithet "Genocide Joe."

And yet, biblical readings for this Epiphany Sunday tell me that Cornel West is right. Despite shockingly primitive and cruel understandings of God found in the books of Genesis and Exodus, the Divine One of the Judeo-Christian tradition ultimately reveals God's Self as the loving Mother/Father of EVERYONE regardless of our crimes, and especially (in today's particular readings) - regardless of ethnic identification. To all of them, Yeshua's final words apply. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

More specifically, the Divine One's universal and unfailing love is the very theme of today's readings.

Epiphany Sunday

Remember: the word "epiphany" means the appearance or manifestation of God - a revelation of who God really is.

On this Epiphany Sunday, Christians recall the tale of astrologers from "the East" who followed a miraculous star leading to the birthplace of Yeshua of Nazareth.

Epiphany recalls the time when such seekers recognized in Yeshua the long-awaited manifestation of the Universal God announced in today's selection from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah and today's responsorial Psalm 72 tell us clearly that God is not what ethnocentric believers expected or even wanted. S/he loves everyone equally, not just Jews, much less Americans.

That's part of why Herod "and all Jerusalem with him" were "troubled" when they unexpectedly met the travelers who were seeking the world-centric and cosmic-centered manifestation of God that Isaiah had foreseen.

The God Herod and the Jerusalem establishment knew was like the one worshipped by Jewish Zionists today. He exclusively loved and favored Jews, the Hebrew language, and the Holy Land. He was pleased by Jewish customs and worship marked by animal sacrifice and lots of blood.

So, Herod and Jerusalem were "troubled" when the foreigners came seeking the Palestinian address of a newborn divine avatar. The astrologers claimed that the very cosmos (the Star!) had revealed God's Self to them even though they were not Jews. Evidently, the wise men possessed (or were possessed by) cosmic consciousness. They realized Life's Great Source (whatever its name) not only transcended themselves and their countries, but planet earth itself. All creation somehow spoke of its Divine Source.

Today's selections from the prophet Isaiah, Psalm 72, and Paul's letter to the Ephesians agree with the Wise Men. All of them speak of a Divine Being who is universal, not belonging to a particular nation or religion. This God is recognizable and intelligible to everyone regardless of language or culture.

That Divine One brings light to the thick darkness which causes us to limit God to privileged nations, races, and classes. The universal God brings peace and justice and champions the poor, oppressed, lowly and afflicted. The newly manifested deity leads the rich (like the three astronomers) to redistribute their wealth to the poor (like Jesus and his peasant parents). This God wants all to have their fair share.

Matthew's story says that the Jewish Yeshua manifested such a God. Yeshua was the complete revelation of the God of peace and social justice - a world-centered, a cosmic-centered God who loves everyone.

Herod's and Jerusalem's response? Kill him!

A universal God like that threatened Jerusalem's Temple and priesthood. The Epiphany meant that such a God was not to be found there exclusively. If this God could not be tied down to time or place, then what would become of priestly status, temple treasure, the Jerusalem tourism industry?

Epiphany also threatened Herod's position. Recognizing a divinity who led the rich to transfer their treasure to the poor threatened class divisions. A God on the side of the poor would embolden the lazy and unclean to rebel against those who used religion to keep the under-classes in line and resigned to their lot in life.

No, there could only be one solution: ignore the Star's cosmic message, present a friendly face to these stupid foreigners, derive the crucial information from them, and then kill off as many impoverished babies as possible hoping in the process to stop God's threatening, unacceptable Self-disclosure.

Today's Readings

All of this is expressed in this Sunday's readings. What follows are my "translations." The originals can be found here

Isaiah 60: 1-6: Yes, God's revelation has enlightened you, Jerusalem! It has been like a bright sun piercing dark clouds. But also know that same light has graced other nations making their inhabitants your own brothers and sisters. Please, embrace that disclosure of God's immensity! The resulting collapse of national barriers will enrich you beyond your wildest dreams as all the earth's treasures are shared among members of a Single Human Family.

Psalm 72: 1-2, 7-8, 10-13: Thankfully (though very gradually) humanity is coming to realize that there is but a single God whose overriding concern is social justice as it affects the poor and oppressed. In fact, God's will is the redistribution of wealth across geographical boundaries that are meaningless to Life's Source.

Ephesians 3: 2-3a,5-6: Jesus himself taught that lesson as if for the first time: All of us, Jews and Gentiles are members of a single body. Living by that teaching (he said) will bring a New Order where God reigns instead of earth's Caesars.

Matthew 2: 1-12: Recognizing God's immensity manifested in the very cosmos, Arab astrologers accepted Yeshua's universal revelation not only before his own people, but despite the plot of religious leaders to deny and annihilate its Messenger. Ironically, Arabs were more open to God's Self disclosure than those who considered themselves God's people! (Doesn't the same seem true today?)

Conclusion

Regretfully, and despite my own theological pretensions, and even with these readings fresh on my mind, I could not bring myself to voice the scriptural insights I've just shared, nor my agreement with Dr. West in last night's OpEdNews conversation. I remained silent. To my small mind, Finkelstein is right: Biden and Netanyahu are beyond absolution.

But today's Good News is that God is bigger than that. As Ken Wilber puts it so shockingly, "Everyone's right and is doing the best they can." That applies to Netanyahu and to Biden as well. They might deserve our opprobrium and jail time, but they're still somehow our brothers and sisters.

Dr. West's candidacy reminds us that only such largesse can save our degenerating country -- our disintegrating world.

With King Herod and "all Jerusalem with him," I still find that "troubling." At the same time, it's salvific, and encourages me to support Cornel West's candidacy.

It's an epiphany (revelation) of the Divine One's true forgiving nature. Nothing less can save us now.

Authors Website: http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/

Authors Bio:

Mike Rivage-Seul is a liberation theologian and former Roman Catholic priest. His undergraduate degree in philosophy was received from St. Columban's Major Seminary in Milton Massachusetts and awarded through D.C.'s Catholic University. He received his theology licentiate from the Atheneum Anselmianum and his doctorate in moral theology (magna cum laude) from the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome where Mike studied for five years. There he also played club basketball for Eurosport and a team within Rome's Stella Azzurra professional organization. In 1972 he served for a year as coordinator of volunteers in Monsignor Ralph Beiting's Christian Appalachian Project. Then for 40 years, Mike taught theology and general studies at Berea College in Kentucky receiving its Seabury Award for excellence in teaching, Berea's highest faculty award. At Berea, Mike founded its Peace and Social Justice Studies program. He and his wife, Peggy, also organized and started the Berea Interfaith Taskforce for Peace. For years, he periodically taught liberation theology in a Latin American Studies Program in Costa Rica sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. In Costa Rica Mike and Peggy were fellows at the liberation theology research institute, the Departamento Ecumenico de Investigaciones (DEI) headed by the great Franz Hinkelammert. In Mexico, they also served as fellows and program directors in San Miguel de Allende's Center for Global Justice. Mike's studies and teaching have brought him to countries across Europe and to Cuba (on 10 occasions), Nicaragua (12 occasions), Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Israel, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Brazil where he and Peggy were associates of Paulo Freire. Mike's languages include Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. For three years he was a monthly columnist at the Lexington Herald-Leader in Lexington Kentucky. He has contributed more than 400 articles to the online news source OpEdNews where he is a senior editor. He has also published in the DEI's Pasos Journal, in the National Catholic Reporter and Christianity Today. His scholarship has been cited in the New York Times. Mike has authored or edited 10 books including one of poetry and a novel based on his experiences in Cuba. His latest book is The Magic Glasses of Critical Thinking: seeing through alternative fact & fake news (Peter Lang publishers). He blogs at http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/ Attempting to appropriate his identity as an ordained exorcist (all Catholic priests are), Mike also reads Tarot cards. He is a lifelong golfer and Chicago Cubs fan.