Epiphany 1 +A 12,
January AD 2014
Fr. Robert R.M. Bagwell+
There once was a
young man who was going into his "confirmation" interview with a semi
retired priest. He first asked the young
man how many sacraments there were and to name them. He then started his questions on Baptism and
asked, "What happens to the baby when the water is poured on its
head?" The young man was so nervous
by this point that he blurted out, "it
cries!!"
Epiphany--Baptism.
Those are the themes we enter this morning. But beyond entering we encounter God as God
intended it. God the "big
tent" Creator if you will. Jesus
the "big tent" savior.
Have you ever heard the expression: "I had an
epiphany?" Perhaps you've used it
yourself. An epiphany often happens when
something that previously was puzzling or difficult to "figure out"
becomes clear. Remember the question and
response: get it? got it? good!" Holy
Scripture is replete with such incidences when one of God's people "gets
it" and we again see one of the most
profound of those in today's gospel.
Last Monday, we began
the second oldest liturgical season in the history of the church, that of
Epiphany. Only the period between Easter
and Pentecost is older in Church tradition.
It=s name, AEpiphany@
is Greek because it is in the church in Greece that the feast was first
celebrated. What does it mean? Does anyone know?
It means Amanifestation@.
Light shining in darkness. God's
love overcoming the hatred of this world. If you will: revelation, proclamation
and invitation. It speaks of God manifesting His power, His presence, His
mighty actions in the world. It may not
seem that significant to us until we see what it is about. It is about mission.
In the West, the tradition is to remember the three perhaps
holy wise men, who along with many others of that day believed that something
significant was about to happen in the world.
Some believed that a great one was to arise, a king or deliverer. We do not know for sure how many of them
there were. We assume three because of
the three gifts.
In the Eastern Church the focus is different. If we should go to Tarpon Springs, Florida
for the Epiphany festival, after several hours of liturgical prayers and
singing, the time comes when the water is blessed. It is the center, the high point of the
celebration. The Eastern Church focuses
on the Baptism of Jesus on Epiphany.
What makes Jesus=
Baptism so important? Because it is the archetype, the model for all baptisms,
yours and mine. In fact scripture only
speaks of one baptism! Ephesians 4
says " There is one body and one Spirit, just as
you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.."
It isn't your baptism or mine. It's God's and Ours.
Theologians consider the baptism of Jesus the inauguration
of his Messiah-ship if you will. His commissioning
for ministry. Almost like an ordination.
Before this time Jesus was presumably growing in
wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man as Luke chapter 2 puts
it.
Very early in the Bible, we have God's Name
being proclaimed. Perhaps as early as Seth and Enoch in and later Noah in
Genesis. Some theologians call the
charge God gave Adam, then Noah and lastly Abraham; covenants. Like the covenant of marriage and the covenant
of baptism. They are sacred charges between God and human beings. From the
beginning God desired to bring the whole world back to himself.
The prophet Isaiah wrote: " And foreigners
who bind themselves to the Lord … these I will bring to my holy mountain. and give
them joy … Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my
altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” and later he writes “‘Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of
the earth; for I am God, and there is no other’” (Isa. 45:22). I wonder if you
knew that.
.So what happened?
They stuck to themselves. Those
other people don't need God. He loves
us--our God! So in the fullness of time
God sent his Son. As a gospel parable says: "perhaps they will hear my
Son." Have we heard him? As we go through the baptismal covenant this
morning, let us sincerely, individually, seriously look at what we are saying. It's not an "I do" it is an "I
will"--"we will". We are
a part of that mission. We are EPIPHANY
people--not just the clergy but ALL of the baptized.
What does Baptism mean to you? What does YOUR baptism mean to you? Is it something that just "happened a
long time ago that really has no influence on my life today?" Martin Luther said, that baptism is "the daily garment which
the Christian is to wear all of the time." Today,
as we commemorate the baptism of the Lord Jesus, let us ask God that each of us may find new depth of meaning
in our own baptisms, a new way of
helping us to live each day in the life of God in His Son, Jesus Christ, as Alittle
Christs@ to the
world, for that is what we are called to be. In the 1928 Prayer book service of
holy baptism there is a "rubric" instruction for the parents to hand the
child to the priest. Small parental problem,
there is not a rubric to tell the priest to give the child back! Accidental? I think not. We are given to God in baptism. We now belong to Him!
The manifestation of baptism is
Christ in us the hope of glory. I want
to explain something to you about our "sacraments". We name two primary and five secondary. Sacrament is from the word
"sacramentum" and it refers to
the oath Roman soldiers took to Caesar before going to war. Every sacrament of the Church refers to an
oath: the sacramentum. Yes, we take
oaths personally or in another's name with infants, at baptism. We take oaths at confirmation, We take oaths
at marriage and ordination. The thing
about the Christian "oaths" is that Christianity is the only religion
where God takes the oath first and God will not break the oath although we
surely will. The oath of Jesus begins in
the covenant of salvation and proceeds with "signs". Every sacrament has at least one sign. What do signs do? They tell you something, a message, or they
point to something, a direction. So it
is with sacraments. They all speak of
God's love for us in his son Jesus Christ.
In that sense, we can say they are signs of love, manifestations,
epiphanies of Christ living in us and our living in Him. They are our commission and we are God's army
of peace, love and redemption. God doesn't make "secret disciples." He makes "ambassadors or Christ" (2 Corinthians
5:20) But we must own our commission…our
co-Mission! If not we then who? Epiphany
is a recall to action, love and faith.
A priest once called on a man who was baptized but not
a believer. The man frequently attended
church; he had been baptized many, many
years before. He was showing the
priest around the house, and he pointed out his framed baptismal certificate,
saying , "I was baptized in our church, you know." The priest
replied, "Ah, your baptismal
certificate. Very good. Tell me, when are you going to cash it
in?"
Baptism is like a check from
Almighty God with your name on it, but you must endorse it or it cannot be
cashed.
What is our mission and purpose? As St Paul wrote: "For it is by grace
you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no
one can boast. 10 For
we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do". Ephesians
2
In a moment we will reiterate the Covenant of Baptism. Let us take these to heart, not reading from
the Prayer book only, but reading from the heart. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is
this: For God, who said, “Let light shine out of
darkness ] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light
of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ " .2
Corinthians 4:6
In the hymn: "God Himself is with Us"
we read:
Thou pervadest all things;
let thy radiant beauty
light mine eyes to see my duty.
As the tender flowers
eagerly unfold them,
to the sunlight calmly hold them,
so let me quietly
in thy rays imbue me;
let thy light shine through me.
let thy radiant beauty
light mine eyes to see my duty.
As the tender flowers
eagerly unfold them,
to the sunlight calmly hold them,
so let me quietly
in thy rays imbue me;
let thy light shine through me.
Let that Light of the face of Jesus be our
face to him, to one another and to the world.
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