A LESSON ON UNITY FROM MARCO POLO

It must have been frustrating to Marco Polo when none of his fellow Ventians believed him when he told of the wonders of Cathay (China), after spending 20 years in that enchanted land. There he stood, with his father and an uncle, in outlandish and travel-worn garments, way back in 1295 A.D. when those in Venice and the western world knew nothing of the orient, telling tales of a fabulous civilization that defied the imagination.

It was only when the travelers slit open the seams of their coats and poured out an abundance of precious stones, known only to the orient, that the people believed them and at last heaped honors upon them. Later Marco Polo commanded a galley ship and was taken prisoner. In a dungeon he dictated to a fellow prisoner the Book of Marco Polo, which revealed for the first time for western readers the vast continent of Asia. Think of the books we would have missed had it not been for prison terms!

More precious than all the jewels Polo brought with him from Asia is a precious story he tells in the book he wrote in that dungeon. It is a legend he heard while in Persia, from the very town where the Magi lived who visited the Christ child in Bethlehem. The legend has it that one of the wise men was young, another middle-aged, and the third was aged. As each wise man returned from his visit with Jesus, the others would ask, What is he like? The young man reported that Jesus was young, the middle-aged that he was in his middle years, while the aged told of his being an old man. Each had seen him in terms of his own needs. Jesus was one who understood the problems of youth, and so the young man saw him as young. So with the other two, each seeing him as being like him, even in age.

There is an important truth here, for our Lord is the Savior of all and each person can fully identify with him. Jesus understands the problems of children and he knows how they think and feel. So it is with every age, whether the temptations of youth or the frailties of old age.

And this reaches beyond age differentials. The blacks can think of Jesus as black and the hispanics can see him as brown. Women see him as their liberator and homosexuals see him as at least sympathetic with their plight. Since he transcends time, place and circumstance, there is no way to modernize him. However much a business man may worship him, one can hardly put Jesus in a business suit. Or on the papal throne. Perhaps not even in a modern pulpit. Yet his lengthened shadow reaches over all the earth. Jesus of Nazareth is the cosmic Christ. He is the only miracle the world needs to see.

There is more to the legend that Polo learned in Persia. Once the three wise men discussed their different views of what they had seen in their visit with Christ, they resolved to return to Jesus and visit him together. This time they saw him as he really was, a child born to be king and savior.

Each on his own, apart from the others, saw what he wanted to see. But together they could see beyond their own narrow perspective to the real truth.

That is why they were wise men. They could have quarreled, for each was sure that he was right and the others wrong. They loved the Christ enough that they could go to him together and see him as he really is.

One of our most deadly maladies is our refusal to change. We see what we want to see and we don’t want to be disturbed. This sinful attitude lurks behind our divisions. We see in the Christ and his church that which suits our tradition, and we can hardly talk with others who have a different view. But if together we go to Christ, each with his cup empty, we will find the peace that only he can give. It is this peace that makes us one: “For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies” (Eph. 2:14).

Never despise the man in tattered clothing, for he may pour forth precious jewels from a forbidden land. And he may pass along a story that points up a truth that makes the difference between peace and enmity. --- the Editor