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Welcome to Unpacking the Mass with Keith Nestor. On this podcast, we dig into the week's readings for the upcoming Sunday for the Catholic Church so that when you go to mass, you are ready to hear what God has to say to you through the scriptures. So grab your Bibles and let's get digging. Hey, friends. Welcome to Unpacking the Mass. Today we're looking at the readings for the Epiphany, the Lord, and we're going to be talking about the different reactions that people have from darkness and light. Really, it's more about the different reactions people have to darkness because, you know, you might say to yourself, well, everybody wants to embrace the light and come into the light, but the reality is there are two types of people in this world. There are those who cling to the darkness because they prefer it and those who. Who would rather come into the light. And we have to ask ourselves, which one are we? And we're going to see, of course, in our scripture readings today that the reaction to the light coming into life isn't always the same. We're going to talk about that as we compare the magi from the east with King Herod. Both of these people, I mean, I know the magi has more than one person had this same experience. Jesus is coming. The light is here. The darkness is present, but the light is shattering the darkness. Yet their reactions to that light are very different. And I think sometimes people think just they take it for granted. Well, of course I want to live in the truth. I want to live in the light. But when that light starts to shine on us in ways that make us uncomfortable or just challenge us too much, it's amazing to me how many times we can choose to run back into the darkness, even though we know it's not what's best for us. We're going to explore that today. But before we do, let's begin with the word of prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, we pray that we would not be found among those who prefer darkness to light, but that when you shine upon us, Lord, we allow you to expose the reality of who we are without hiding. Show us, Lord, that when we come into the light, even when it's difficult, Lord, it's always better. We pray these things in the name of the Father and of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our first reading comes to us from the Book of Isaiah, chapter 60, verses 1 through 6. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you, and nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about and see they all gather together, they come to you. Your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then you shall see and be radiant. Your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you. The young camels of Midian and Epa, all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise the Lord. Our second reading from the book of Ephesians, chapter three. Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly, which was not made known to the sons of other men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. That is how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel and our Gospel found in Matthew, chapter 2 today, verses 1 through 12. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly, and ascertained from them what time the star appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. But when they had heard the king, they went their way, and lo, the star which they had seen in the east went before them till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts. Gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country. By another way, the world tells us that freedom is doing whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want to do your own will. But the promises of the world leave you distracted and pulled in all kinds of directions. True freedom is to do God's will. Freedom is becoming the men that God created us to be, men of worship, sacrifice and love. To grow in that freedom, we need to make an exodus from the Pharaohs and idols that keep us enslaved. That's why I love the Exodus 90 challenge. It's a powerful way for men to push themselves into true freedom. We prioritize silent prayer and practice asceticism with the support of a local brotherhood. And there's been nothing more effective and helpful in my life as a man than to go through Exodus 90. I promise you, it's worth it. So this January, I'm doing the Exodus 90 challenge, and I invite you to join me and tens of thousands of men from all over the world. So if you want to become the man God made you to be physically, mentally and spiritually, check out Exodus 90, take the first step and download the Exodus 90 app today. Then invite a few friends to join your local fraternity. So go to exodus90.comkeith to learn more. That's exodus90.com join me and tens of thousands of men from all around the world for Exodus 90. Starting Monday, January 5th. Is it time for your Exodus. Friends? We're going to talk about these two different reactions, but we have to understand a couple of things here. First of all, do we recognize that we are in darkness, or have we become accustomed to that darkness to the point where we just think, this is the way it is? And you know what it's like when you're in a dark place and your eyes adjust and you can see a little bit. But when light comes into that room or lights up the environment that you're in, it can be jarring at first because now, whoa, what's going on? It can hurt a little bit, but once your eyes acclimate to that light coming in now, you begin to see a lot of great things. You can see the reality, the truth of what's around you, but what else you can see is yourself. And for Some of us. That's a pretty scary thing, isn't it? You know, John1 talks about men loving darkness rather than light. And he talks about. It's a fantastic chapter. And he talks about how when Jesus came into the world, there were some people that didn't want anything to do with him because they preferred the darkness to the light. Why would we prefer darkness over light? Well, because. And it tells us in the Scriptures, because our deeds are exposed, we can hide in the darkness, we can not be exposed. And yet at the same time, we stumble around and we can't see anything else. But we just understand that we're safe. Right? We think we are friends. Where do we do that in our lives? This first reading is making people aware that the light is coming. And it's a good thing. It's a prophecy about what we celebrate here at the Epiphany, the coming of the magi to worship Christ the King. In contrast to Herod who said, you know, I'll worship him too. But we all really know where he was at with that. So in Isaiah, there's this prophecy given to help people understand that the light is coming. And when it comes, it's going to be so bright that the darkness of this world will be overshadowed by the light. And people are going to be drawn to that because the other thing that light does is it attracts. We've all seen those searchlights at night. I remember when I was a kid, the first time I saw that. You know, when there's a business that's having some kind of big promotion, maybe a movie theater that's trying to get everybody drawn in so they shine the big lights in the sky and they're doing. And remember when I was a kid, I saw that thinking, what is that? And you just want to follow that to see what all of the. What all the action is. Where is this coming from? And of course, we see that when light appears, if you're in darkness, you're just drawn to it. And that's the imagery that the scripture gives us about Christ, who comes into the world as a light to the nations, and everyone is invited into that light. That's what our second reading is really about. St. Paul saying, look, you guys speaking to the Jews, you thought that this was just about you, but the light of the world is for everybody. And what does Jesus say? You are the light of the world. Because in Christ, that light that is shining into us is to reflect out of us to the rest of the world. You see, the light in the darkness isn't just for you or me, it's for everybody. But people have to decide what they're going to do with that light, whether they're going to allow it to wash over them or whether they're going to run away. I mean, we've seen that. Are you like a cockroach that scatters when the light comes on? Why? Because they don't want to get exposed. They don't want anybody to hurt them. That's how Herod was, wasn't he Herod? Like a little cockroach. The light comes, and what does he do? He wants to hide. He wants not only to hide himself, but he wants to destroy it. So we have to ask ourselves, who are we more like, Herod or the Magi? Now, let's look at some comparisons here as we think about this, all right? We have to see here what we see. Now, the Magi saw the star and they followed. We're going to talk about them first. Now, why would they go, you know, why would they be even aware of this? We saw his star. They were looking. They were expecting. They were aware of this incredible sign. And for some reason, they had this knowledge that this was for them, too. So first of all, you have to be looking for this. You know, Jesus is always talking about being awake, being ready. The Magi were ready. They were looking with anticipation. And when they saw it, what did they do? They went, oh, that's nice. Cool. No, they got their stuff together and they made the long journey westward toward Jerusalem. They. They made their way toward that light. Step one in recognizing or wanting to live in that light is being willing to follow the light, to follow those stars that lead you there. That's so important. God reached out to them. Now, what's interesting is, you know, not everybody followed. The star was bright. Everybody could see it, but not everybody followed it. And that's a familiar feeling. Have you ever felt like you're on your own with this? You've got gone down this road towards faith and you're searching and you're crying out to God and you wonder why the other people around you don't seem to get it. That's a familiar feeling, isn't it? But did the Magi stop and go, wait a minute, hold on. If you guys aren't going, we're not going? I had a question the other night that came through on a live stream. Someone was asking for prayer because they were coming into the church or back to the church after 40 years, and they were saying, I need prayer for the. The Other people in my life that aren't supportive of this. And my response to this person was to say, look, if you've been away from the church 40 years, that means that you're older than 40, so you should no longer care what anybody else is doing or not doing. You don't need anybody else's approval to follow the light back into the church. Sometimes we're worked up about that, aren't we? We want to go down this road towards faith, but we look around to see, hey, is anybody else doing this? Is anybody coming with me here? Am I going to get resistance? Or will I have people that come with me? And sometimes you do, and sometimes you don't. But the reality is it doesn't matter. When God is reaching out to you, what are you going to do? The magi saw the star and they said, we're going. But not everybody did. Not everybody did. What else did they do? Well, they brought gifts, didn't they? Now, what's the deal with this? What does a baby need with gold, frankincense and myrrh? Well, the reality is the gifts were about demonstrating appreciation and love. That's the point. And bringing something of yourself. You know, when it's Christmas time, our kids, our grown kids still buy us gifts. Now, the reality is I don't need them to. I don't need them to spend their money on me, but I appreciate it. Why? Because it shows that love and that care and that thoughtfulness. It's one of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan of just giving people gift cards or, you know, cash for Christmas that, you know. Well, I mean, it's one thing if it's a person you don't know that well, you don't know what they're into. But we try to avoid that in our family these days. Now it's like a specialized gift card. Like, hey, here's a gift card to your favorite restaurant. We're going to send you there, or, or your favorite store or whatever. But what's really awesome is when someone knows you and gives you something that shows that they care for you and that they understand you and that they have thought about it. That's really the point of these gifts. And when they show up, they bring the best that they have of themselves and offer that. That's another part of gifts that are really cool is if someone, like, let's say someone is really good at making something and that's their best, and they craft that and work. They put all their effort and thought into that. Or the thing that's most valuable to them and they present that to you. You feel special, don't you? And that's what they, they didn't just show up empty handed and said, hey, here we are, Jesus light. You know, what do we get? And it's amazing to me how many times we show up to Jesus and we're just like, okay, I'm here. What do you got for me today, Jesus? You ever do that? I was talking to somebody lately about, you know, those feelings that we get when we go to adoration or we go to mass, we pray the rosary or whatever. And sometimes those feelings are there where we just are so blessed by that time and God's just given us grace after grace. We're floating on a cloud, it feels like. But then there are other times when you go to mass and you don't feel anything. Maybe the homily, you couldn't understand it, or maybe you go to adoration but you're distracted or you're tired, or you go to pray the rosary and you're just not feeling it for whatever reason. What about those times? It's interesting that when we have those moments, sometimes we can think it's not worth it. But what I was saying to my friend was, you know, it's in those moments where we don't feel like we're getting anything, that we have to focus on what we're giving, what we're bringing to the Lord. And you give God a gift of your love and devotion and time. When you go to mass, when you go to adoration, when you pray and you don't feel like you've received anything outwardly from that. Now we always receive grace, but we don't always have those warm fuzzy moments. But that's not the point. The wise men came, the magi came and they brought gifts. They didn't show up going, all right, here we are, what do we get out of this? It's a point that we need to make because sometimes we approach our faith solely from the perspective of what am I getting out of this? And that's why a lot of people walk away from church, walk away from faith, walk away from Jesus. Because they get to a point where they're so self focused and so self centered. If they can't positively quantify what they got, they're just done. You ever hear people say things like, well, I'm just not being fed or I'd go to church, I really don't get anything out of it. People who love light rather than darkness Recognize that when they come to Christ, it's not just about what they get, it's about what they give that's important. The magi showed up and they brought gifts and they worshiped the king of Kings. He wasn't their king. They were kings. Right. We believe that because of tradition. But they knew that he was the king of kings. He wasn't the king of their nations from a worldly perspective, but they recognized that he was. They recognized that even though this king of the Jews was in this particular nation and they come from afar, he's the king of kings, and they bow and they worship him. Now, let's talk about Herod. Let's talk about his response to the light being shown upon him in a certain sense. First of all, this is interesting. Herod has to call on others to tell him about the prophecy. He doesn't know it himself. He's like, wait a minute, what are you guys talking about? So he gets all the scribes, people tell me where he's going to be born. Tell me. Herod is the king of Israel. He should know better than anyone about the prophecies about the coming Messiah. But what does he have to do? He. He's got to rely on other people because he doesn't care himself. He's relying on other people to tell him what God is saying rather than his own personal relationship. That's important. Think about that. How many times have we done that? Have we relied on other people to tell us, well, you know, I don't want to know about God. You tell me. I don't want to know what I'm supposed to do. You tell me, friends. Yeah, there's always going to be that element of being taught. But we have to take ownership of our own faith, don't we? We have to take responsibility. If you go to mass and you can't understand what your priest says, for whatever reason or the homily stinks or whatever this or whatever that. You know what? That's not awesome. But take some responsibility for yourself to learn the faith. I'm not being catechized. I'm not being taught. We've all heard that a million times. Well, you know what? The Church has given you everything that you need to learn. There are so many amazing resources out there. It's time that we learn. And if we're parents, it's time that we teach our kids. Oh, well, that Catholic school doesn't do a good job. You better do a good job. Oh, well, our priest doesn't have time to talk to My kids. You talk to your kids. Oh well, our church doesn't have good programs. You be the program. Friends. Herod was just like, hey, I don't have time for this, somebody tell me what's up. Not be like that. The other thing that's interesting about Herod is this. He operates in secret, doesn't he? He operates in secret. He's like, hey, alright, listen, I know you guys are going well, hey, tell me where he's going to be. Friends. That's what darkness is all about, isn't it? Darkness keeps things hidden. The darkness operates in secret and some of us would rather stay there because we're afraid that we're going to be exposed. Now I understand that can be a scary thing. But you know, it's one thing to be appropriate with what you share with other people, but when it comes to God, hey, we can't hide from God. We have to be willing to be exposed by God because to come into the light is to be seen by Him. And the sad reality for some of us is that we think we can hide from Him. And the good reality is that we can't. Why is that good? Because he wants to redeem and restore us. He wants to cleanse us. But sometimes we have to be willing to take that step and that courageous movement of coming out of the darkness and not operating in secret anymore. Friends, we need to come into the light. Herod was just like, no, I'm trying to keep this in secret. And then of course, kind of related to the other point. Herod sends other people to find Jesus. Did you notice that? You guys go and find him and when you do, tell me where he is. Why doesn't Herod as the King of Israel be like, dudes, let's go, I'm coming with, I want to know where he is. I'm the most excited person of all because I'm the king of Israel. But the real king of kings is coming. And if he's here, I need to know my whole mission as the King of Israel is one of a steward that when the true king comes, I need to elevate him. That's not how Herod was. Friends, the pursuit of God is a personal pursuit and we have to be willing to do that. We got to be willing to take some initiative ourselves. That's why I'm glad you're watching. Unpacking the mask, that shows initiative. But a lot of people just want others to do it for them. They want others to teach them and they want others to do it. Oh I don't have to worry about that. My wife handles all that stuff. You ever hear people say stuff like that? I don't need to do that, you know, I just, you know, tell me where to write the check. I don't want to get involved. I don't want to do anything. Okay. Am I good? The pursuit of God is a personal pursuit. Other people can't do it for you. You've got to do it. Herod wanted other people to go find Jesus for him. It doesn't work that way, friends. What about you? What about me? We've got to be willing to make that pursuit one for us. Too many people are relying on other people to do all the heavy lifting for them when it comes to their faith. It doesn't work that way. We've got to do that. We've got to stop relying on others to seek Jesus for us, and we need to go seek him for ourselves. And then lastly, Herod plotted to destroy Jesus instead of worshiping him. That's the bottom line. He didn't have that reaction of the magi. I'm going to go worship, he said, I'm going to destroy. Herod sought to hijack God's plan because it threatened his own personal kingdom, didn't it? He was more committed to himself than he was to the truth. And that's a requirement. When you want to stay in the darkness, you've got to be committed to yourself. I don't want to come into the light. I want to stay in here. I'm committed to myself more than I am to coming out of that. We got to be careful with that, my friends. Where have you been? More committed to yourself than to the truth. Think about that. Think about what God wants to show you. But you've got to say, okay, it's not about me anymore. I can't hijack God's plan. I can't destroy what he wants to do in my life or with my life. I've got to come to him on his terms, in the light and worship Him. So what about us? Will we see the star and follow it? What does that look like for you? What is it that God has put in your life that is put there specifically to draw you to Him? Stars take lots of different forms in our lives, don't they? Sometimes it's a certain person that is just that beacon of truth that is saying, hey, let me show you, let me help you. Sometimes it's a tragedy, maybe, that God has allowed in your life for the purpose of driving you back to Him. Sometimes it's an incredible blessing. The stars that God uses to draw us to him take many different forms. The point isn't what that form is. The point is that we see it and that we follow it. So what are the stars in your life and are you following? That's important. It's a long journey sometimes. For the Magi, it was a far road. We don't know how long it took them, but they didn't stop. Whatever that star is in your life, follow it until it gets you to Jesus. Or we can run. We don't want to do that. There's that moment always in our own personal conversion, but it continues. I've noticed that moment where we go, okay, am I going to do this or am I not going to do this? It's really what it boils down to, isn't it? And oftentimes we fool ourselves by thinking that it's about knowledge, when really it's about obedience. Oh, if I just knew what God's will was, I would do it. If God would just come down here and show me what he wants me to do, I would do it. I always think about that when people say stuff like that to me. And I always wonder, are you doing everything that you know you should be doing? Typically, the answer is no. I know for me, it usually is. There's always something I could be doing more of or doing better at or something I shouldn't be doing that I could stop doing. When I'm always questioning God, show me your will. What is it that you want from me? I always get an answer. It may not be the answer I want, but I always get an answer. What about you? It's not about knowledge, it's about obedience. The knowledge will be there. Because here's the thing with light, the closer you get to it, the stronger it becomes. When light is far away, it's very like hard pin light. It's like. It's harsh. The closer you get to it, the softer it becomes. You know, I'm a photographer. I understand this kind of stuff, that a light source, the farther away it is, the harsher it is, right? I got this light right over my head here, and the closer I get to that light, the softer it becomes. But if that light was moved farther away, then it's just like a narrow beam. Friends, when we follow Christ, the closer we get to him, the more we can see. And, you know, it's a weird analogy, but the softer that light becomes because we're closer to Him. But when we keep our Distance, it's harder to see. So if you want more knowledge, follow more light. Get closer to the light and that knowledge will be there. Instead of just a little beam that just covers a little bit, it'll wash over you and show you even more. Don't run from it. Run to it, my friends. Run to it. And when you find him, when you get there, take yourself off the throne. Stop saying, well, okay, here I am. What are you going to do for me? That's kingly behavior on your part. You need to get rid of that. You need to show up and say, here I am. I've come to offer myself to you. I've come to give you what you seek from me. What does God want from you? What is the gift that you have that God wants? You know, just like I told you before, my wife and I, we don't need our kids to buy us stuff. But what we do need is for them to love us. What we do need for them is their hearts. That's what everybody. That's what every parent wants, right? And that's what God wants. The greatest gift that you can give him is your love and your obedience and things that you do demonstrate that. And what do I mean by that? Well, Jesus has given us the reality of that, hasn't He? Said, whatever you've done to the least of these, you've done to me. If you're like, well, I just want to love God more. How do I love God more? How do I love God more? Love the least of these. I want to serve God more. I want to serve his church. Humble yourself. Whatever you do to someone else, that's a great gift, right? You do unto Him. So if you're trying to figure out how you can bless God, then bless another person in his name that blesses Him. But in order to do that, you got to have the right mindset. Not of, well, here I am. What do I get? But here I am, what can I give? What can I give? So which is going to be darkness or light? The light is coming. You cannot stop it, but you can hide from it. I would encourage you not to. I would encourage you to let the light expose you, but also recognize that that same light that exposes you will also comfort you, because that's what light does. Also, it's not okay to be in the darkness. Come into the light. Let God expose that this year. Let him show you how much he loves you and bring everything to Him. Follow that star right to him. Whatever it is in your life, stop relying on other people and get on your own journey to him, friends, because he's made that journey to you. Wow. Powerful stuff Today on unpacking the mass. It's interesting when we look through these feasts, you know, they come around every year, the feast of the Epiphany, of course, you know, and you think, okay, is there anything different this year than last year? And sometimes there really isn't really when you think about the material. But there's always something different when it comes to what it's doing in our hearts. So ask the Lord to show that to you in a new way this year and I guarantee you that'll be some light right there. I know it certainly is for me. Thanks so much for being here, my friends. I hope you have a great week and I look forward to coming back here next week for unpacking the mass. I'll see you then. Take care and God bless you.