A Sermon for Epiphany 1 – 10th January 2021
Today is Epiphany 1. The word for the season comes from the Greek epiphaneia which means manifestation or showing forth. Originally the feast was held in honour of the Lord’s baptism and much more of this is made in the Eastern Church. In the West epiphany has become associated with the showing of Christ to the Gentile world represented by the persons of the wise men. No number of wise men is given in the New Testament but the three gifts have led to the suggestion that there were three. Throughout the epiphany period the emphasis of the Bible readings is on the sharing of Christ’s glory. Glory – one of those difficult words and is perhaps best defined, as reflecting the radiance of God like a mirror, in a life of righteousness, justice and compassion – but we shall come back to this in a moment.
Even in the Western Church the Baptism of Jesus is given prominence on the first Sunday of Epiphany and this is reflected in the readings today, especially in the reading from the Gospel according to Mark. A question raised is perhaps why does Jesus need to be Baptised? – after all he was considered to be without sin. The setting of the baptism is that Jesus was about 30 and with the emergence of John the Baptist, Jesus realised that his life was about to change from being that of the assistant in the carpenter’s workshop to being of the greatest importance to the world. But why baptism? – Jews were not normally baptised, the ceremony being reserved for those who were converting to Judaism. I find a convincing answer to the question given by William Barclay, one of the great preachers of the 20th century who has suggested that he needed to get alongside the people to whom he was hoping to grant salvation. Baptism was Jesus’s opportunity to do this and to quote: “in his baptism he identified himself with the people he came to save, in the hour of their consciousness of their sin, and of their search for God”. This is perhaps confirmed in the closing statement of today’s reading – the words of the vision which occurred as a result of this supreme spiritual encounter: “This is my Son, the Beloved One, in whom I am well pleased.”
These words carefully chosen from the greatest of prophets Isaiah 42:1 where the reference is to the suffering servant and Psalm 2 where there is a description of the Messiah to come.
I would like to leave this question now and concentrate on what epiphany and baptism might mean for us
Now, earlier I mentioned that sharing in Christ’s Glory was a theme of the epiphany readings. The well-known wedding party story is always one told at Epiphany – you know the story were Jesus turns water into wine. As the Gospel says, “Jesus did the first of his signs in Cana of Galilee and displayed his glory.” Glory in this sense means to show us what could happen if one becomes a follower of Jesus and achieves that communion with God that Moses so earnestly sought. And surely, on a personal level, that communion is something which today we all seek perhaps as much if not even more than it was sought 2000 years ago.
As H.Allon said, writing in 1876, “Communion with God is the supreme privilege and joy of the religious life; it is the inspiration and strength of all great service. God redeems us and saves us by drawing us to himself. By mysterious voices He solicits us; by irrepressible instincts He impels us; by subtle affinities He holds us; by ineffable satisfactions He makes us feel His nearness and fills us with rest and joy.”
And how can we achieve this? We achieve this by living a life of righteousness, justice and compassion. Or, in other words to live life in the service of others – to follow Jesus Christ and bring about a change in one’s life that will be like changing water into wine.
A tall order indeed, but the prize – to catch a glimpse of the reflected glory of God – will repay the price many times over
Dr David Greenwood. 6-1-21
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