Epiphany II+B 16,
January 2015
The Reverend Robert R.M. Bagwell+
The Reverend Robert R.M. Bagwell+
What
would have happened if on the first Christmas, there had been three wise women
instead of three wise men?
They
would have: asked for directions, arrived on time, helped
deliver the baby cleaned the stable, brought more practical gifts, and made a
casserole.
I don't
know if you thought about the collect we just prayed so I want to look at it
again.
Almighty God, whose Son our
Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people,
illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's
glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, .... Amen.
We have
just asked God to let us shine out like Jesus Christ shines out. Even more so that our lights may shine
because we have been illuminated by God's word and sacraments. What will be the
result of this? We prayed that people
seeing Christ in us to the four corners of the globe, may worship and obey
Jesus. Think about that for a
moment. Through us and our lives God is
calling out to others. If you look at my
Facebook page you will read these words of Paul to the church at Corinth: :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 This is the season of "theophany".
Theophany is the "manifestation" of God to the human 5 senses. The events: the wise men, Christ's baptism
with the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, the changing of the water into
wine, and may I add, with our Baptist
brethren's song: when Jesus came into (our)
hearts.
Jesus isn't just the good news, we
are called, (there's that word again) to be lights of good news to those on
this planet around us! We are in the
season of the year of Manifestation, we call it Epiphany. You are called, I am called, but why Jesus
said in another text: You
are the light of the world. A town
built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives
light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your
light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5
Wait a
minute: I thought that Jesus was the
Light of the world. In Colossians
chapter one we read: "
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the
glorious riches of this mystery,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ in you. Christ in
me. Glory.
In our first reading we have the story of the calling of
Samuel. Samuel also had a miraculous
birth, similar to John the Baptist. His mother, Hannah, was much loved by her
husband but she was childless, a point of dishonor in her day. She was mocked, talked about and put down by
the other women and she lived with shame.
But she cried out to the Lord and in her older years prayed for a son
and swore to give him to God if he would but answer the prayer. . The Lord heard her prayer and she had a son a
year later. She named him "Samuel" a name that means "name of
God." Hannah was saying that God
was the child's father in a sense. When the child was old enough she took him
to the tabernacle and presented him to the priest Eli. Today, this young acolyte is sleeping in the
same chamber where the ark of the Lord was kept. outside where the seven branched candlestick
burned perhaps to make sure it did not go out, when God called. It is important
to note that although Samuel was around the things of God, his whole life was
devoted to God and you might say his "business" was God, he had never
heard from God to this point. I think
many of us go to church, perhaps read our Bibles and pray, but do we ever
expect to hear from God? Perhaps God is
trying to speak to us even now, but we're not expecting it and so we really
don't listen. The United Church of Christ started an evangelism campaign
several years ago with the headline "God is still speaking", and he
is, but are we hearing? Are we
listening? Over and over the Bible talks
about a "call", calling and the "called, but somehow we don't get the message.
Jesus calls out a people unto himself. The Greek word is "ekklesia" which
the English translators translated as the word "church". It means "the called out ones" in
the original language. That is us! In the gospel text we read more about calling
. Jesus calls Phillip and immediately he
goes to find Nathaniel, both had been followers of John the Baptist and so the
proclamation of the gospel begins. As it
has always been as Phillip said "come and see". Nathaniel on the other hand seems somewhat
sarcastic, a person of extremes. He responds: "can anything good come out
of Nazareth". Prior to the birth of Christ, Nazareth was not an important
part of the national and religious life of Israel. It had a bad reputation
in morals and religious life.
But Phillip is not dissuaded.
How many Christians give up when they get a turn down, a 'no' or a
"I was taught not to discuss politics or religion". Had the disciples had the timidity we
manifest, the gospel would have died in Israel.
Jesus however, is the Light of the world. God calls, God invites. When Nathaniel approaches, Jesus manifests
his God-likeness in his knowledge of Nathaniel.
, "Here is truly
an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "Where
did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig
tree before Philip called you." Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are
the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"! Nathaniel is
essentially dumbfounded. He now only
begins to see the glory of God in Jesus the Messiah. Rather than suspicion of
Jesus, he embraces him in a profound way.
Do we? Or has the gospel
story become "ho hum", everyone knows that, but everyone
doesn't. Jesus and his church are not
called to be "a religion" but a life.
Jesus is life. He calls, we
listen, he transforms us and then we received his glory, his
manifestation. Each day we must remember
that. The Reverend Tullian Tchividjian, the pastor
of the famous Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft Lauderdale says: "we
must preach the gospel to ourselves every day because we forget it every
day." When you screw up, remind yourself, when you make the same mistake
over and over again, when we lose our tempers or gossip or whatever pet sin we
live with and wonder why, remind yourself of the gospel. It is not us in Christ that is the hope of
glory, but Christ in us! When Christ
said "it is finished", he meant it!
We can not add or subract from His finished work. We can only engage in His work for those who
have not been called yet, or heard yet or been asked to 'come and see'
yet--those who have yet to see his Epiphany glory.
One of
my favorite Epiphany hymns reads as follows:
Manifested by the star To the sages from afar;
Branch of royal David’s stem In Thy birth at Bethlehem;
Anthems be to Thee addressed, God in man made manifest.
Manifest at Jordan’s stream, Prophet, Priest, and King supreme;
And at Cana, wedding guest, In Thy Godhead manifest;
Manifest in power divine, Changing water into wine;
Anthems be to Thee addressed, God in man made manifest.
Manifest in making whole Palsied limbs and fainting soul;
Manifest in valiant fight, Quelling all the devil’s might;
Manifest in gracious will, Ever bringing good from ill;
Anthems be to Thee addressed, God in man made manifest.
Each day may God help us to manifest his glory, may we remember who we are and what God has done for us and in us.
