Epiphany

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Epiphany
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: January 7, 2001


TEXT: Luke 3:15-16,21-22 – An a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

ISSUE: - Jesus’ ministry begins with his baptism. It is essentially his birth, and he is claimed by God the Father. It is also important to note that Jesus is baptized in the Jordan, a symbolic place of new beginning for this people. He is baptized along with all the people. Jesus begins his ministry among the people of God bringing about a new beginning for them. Jesus with the church now begins the work of Christmas, opening the eyes that are blind, bringing the prisoners from the dungeon of darkness, becoming a light to the nations.
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When the song of the angel is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the Kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with the flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among brothers
To make music in the heart. By Howard Thurman.

Today marks the first Sunday in the church’s Epiphany Season. Epiphany means “to make manifest.” It is time to let Christ shine in our hearts and in our lives, to let him be the light for the nations of the world, as well as for our selves.
The Gospel reading tells of Jesus baptism. It marks the beginning of his ministry. It might even be perceived as a kind of ordination. Jesus goes to the prophet John the Baptist who is baptizing in the Jordan River. The Jordan River was a symbolic place for the Jewish people of this time. It was the place where they had centuries before crossed over into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. “Joshua” incidentally is another form of the name of “Jesus” meaning “God saves.” In this appropriate place, Jesus is baptized after many other people, tax collectors, sinners, soldiers and the like. After Jesus is immersed and comes up out of the water, the heavens are opened. The God’s Spirit descends upon him as if it were a dove, and there is a voice which says, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
What you have in this scene is really a kind of birth scene. Jesus is born again. Just as we all are carried in the water of our mother’s womb and are born, so Jesus is lifted up out of the water. What was essential to any child being born in this time was that there be a father present to claim the child as his own, and who took responsibility for accepting the child into his family. A child without a father in these days was a nothing with no status or honor in the society. Here Jesus is claimed by God the Father with the blessing of the Spirit, and the voice, which proclaimed: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” It is from this point and in this event that Jesus begins his ministry. His ministry is to the blind, the deaf, the lame, and those imprisoned by an oppressive burdensome culture and alienated from God.
The baptism of Jesus is another birth story, at least in Luke and Matthew it is. In the oldest and most basic Gospel of Mark it is essentially the only birth story. Jesus is the honorable saving Son of God.
What is also important in this story, is that Jesus is baptized along with others. He is Son of God, and yet not separated from other people who are looking to renew, repent, change their lives with John the Baptist’s baptism. Again it is important to appreciate that it is not important to believe that Jesus was born, but that He was incarnate; he came in the flesh sharing the human form of humanity, and entered fully into the human condition with all that was good and all that was bad about the human condition. While appreciated as Son of God, Jesus is at the same time fully aware and immersed into the human condition with all of its sin, pain and suffering. Then the ministry begins. He is Son and Servant of God.
For the people first hearing this story and for those experiencing it, the coming of the new Joshua or Jesus was for them a kind of fulfillment of Isaiah’s scripture. In the reading today from Isaiah 42:1-9, commonly known as one of the Servant Songs of Isaiah, the servant is described as a non-manipulative, non-forceful presence that opens the eyes of the blind, sets the prisoners free from darkness, and is a light for all the nations of the world. Yet, it is important for us to understand that Isaiah was not necessarily speaking of just one individual character who is the Servant. Isaiah may well be meaning that the nation Israel, her/himself was to be God’s servant in the world bringing peace and hope, and enlightenment from God to all people of the world. However, the nation never quite lived up to that expectation. What is important for the Christian Community is that Christ came as a Servant from God who did bring to all who turned to him, a healed spirit and acceptance, hope, and an inner peace that came from an appreciation of God as Love and Forgiveness.
Thus, we see Jesus Christ as Son of God and Lord of our lives. He is the Servant of God who has entered into the human condition and is the one who understands our humanity with its needs and ways. He comes to us to bring the enlightenment and the way of God in our lives. At the same time we are as Christians baptized into his way of life, called to share in that ministry and spirit of servanthood, to join with him in being the light to the nations of the world.
For us to be baptized without a sense of mission and servanthood is to miss the point of baptism. It is appropriate to see Jesus as Son of God. But that sonship is revealed by a significant expression of care, compassion, and life giving concern for others. The same is true of our own baptism. Our baptism declares to us that we are the Sons and Daughters of God. And God is indeed pleased with all who turn to him in faith. But our baptism also calls for seeing Christ as the head and our selves as the body of Christ at work in the world. We embrace the fullness of God. We pray and worship and partake of the Lord’s Supper for strength and encouragement, so that we can proclaim the God News of God in Christ, and seek and serve all people loving our neighbors as ourselves. Work and strive for justice and peace, respecting the dignity of every human being in fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Together we begin a new year. In the Epiphany, missionary, Season we might well want to reflect on what our specific ministries with Christ are going to be this year. What specifically will we be doing that serves the common good or meets some special human need of other people, of the environment, of helping to restore human dignity. This kind of reflection must always be the concern of any congregation and its vestry that is worthy of the name of being Christian servants in the world. Our bonding together as a community with a genuine sense of fellowship, community with a servant mission is the calling of the church in the world today.
Today, we are baptizing still another person into the community. It is her being born again into the fellowship, partnership with Jesus Christ. Once again God proclaims through this sacrament: “You are my daughter, Jade Adele; the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” She joins the family of God, and all of us as fellow partners and Christians, her parents, her God-parents, this congregation must be mindful of our calling to incorporated her into the body of Christ and lead her into the way of caring compassionate servanthood, and a love of God, and God’s world.
With the Epiphany Season, with our Baptism, and with Jade Adele’s, and as we all renew our Baptismal Covenant once again, the work of Christmas begins;
To find the lost,
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoner
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among brothers
To make music in the heart. By Howard Thurman.