Are You Expecting A New Epiphany?
Good Morning Friends,
Most every morning I get up and patch together a devotional trusting that God will use it to convey something of value to others. Much of it is believing that it will all come together if I keep typing. But some of this rests with the Spirit in you the reader and your expectations. And now we are just about ready to move forward in the Christian calendar with Lent just weeks away. But before we do it is appropriate to give some focus to the much forgotten holiday of Epiphany. So today even though we have finished the Christmas Season’s twelve days that led up to the celebration of the manifestation of God in human flesh on January 6th it is good to unpack the presents of the time. We are to view this time as a celebration of the incarnation that is more than the promise of the potential of a child foretold in the stars. It is more than the reading of the story of the Magi and the revealing of Christ to the gentiles. It is more than a reading of today’s scripture on the baptism of Jesus when Christ is revealed to the world as the son of God and more than the reading of the story of Jesus’ first miracle. It is a combination of all that and more that I think relates to the epiphany of Paul set forth in today’s scripture and John’s hope of Jesus’ continuing revelation. Many do not even know of the celebration. Many are confused as to what it all means for us today.So, Are You Expecting A New Epiphany?
Scripture: When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Matthew 2:9-12 (NRSV)
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’
Luke 3: 15-22 (NRSV)
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Bottom of Form
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
John 2:1-11 (NRSV)
for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given to me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ. In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow-heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Ephesians 3:2-6 (NRSV)
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
1 John 3:1-3 (NRSV)
Message: Epiphany was established as a church festival about two hundred years after the death of Jesus by Greek speaking Christians. A Greek word was used to name the festival. Its celebration has waned. Many ask the question of why nothing epiphs on Epiphany anymore? And the short answer is that we do not expect God to be revealed in our midst so the celebration of God’s powerful manifestation has no power. We get what we expect. The early church was a church full of excitement and expectation. They anticipated the return of Jesus at any time, and the persecutions which they endured forced them to be aware of their faith and sometimes to die for their faith. Many of us today have lost that challenge, sense of excitement and expectation. In the early church, the point of Epiphany was not to remember history, but to be reminded that God appears miraculously to us in places and in ways that we don’t expect. If we keep remembering that God seems to thrive on unexpected appearances and if we keep expecting to see God everywhere we turn, we will be less likely to miss it when it happens again. Think about this for a moment, the wedding at Cana was crowded, but only a few were aware that Jesus had worked a miracle in their midst. Most weren’t paying attention, except to realize that the wine was flowing again. They weren’t watching and missed an event that people have talked about for two thousand years. Bethlehem was so full of people that Mary and Joseph couldn’t even find a room to spend the night, but there is no indication that more than a handful paid any notice to the new life that changed all of history, bright stars and shepherd’s stories notwithstanding. If we want anything to epiph in our lives, we had better begin by expecting it and watching for it. So the point today is the fact that a baby was born in a manger is relatively unimportant, compared with the events that proved to the world who that baby was. In today’s scripture John the Baptist is preaching to a crowd who has gathered to hear him and be baptized and they were expecting something of importance to occur and it did. At Cana Mary is expecting her son to take care of the problem with the shortage of wine. The Magi were expecting something miraculous. And the beauty is that Jesus was validated by the changing of water into wine–by the voice of God and descending dove at his baptism, and through signs in the heavens that could be interpreted by the Magi. Those signs were God’s way of saying, “This is the one I have been telling you about!!!” Friends, God is manifest with you now and forevermore. Paul captures the essences of the holiday in his letter to the Ephesians. In 1 John we get a sense of how Christ reveals himself. Maybe now we will get the message. Maybe now we will be better prepared for a new epiphany.
Pray we have a willing and loving spirit that desires an encounter with God. Pray we keep watch for signs of God to manifest themselves in surprising new ways. Pray people open their eyes to God’s presence with us. Pray we wait to hear from God. Pray we anticipate gifts will be given to meet our needs. Pray we expect miracles. Pray we realize that God is manifesting in a thousand thousand places right now hoping that somebody will tune into the message. Pray about the epiphanial star, epiphanial dove, epiphanial wine showing the way to God’s manifestation so that we like Christ will become a light in the darkness…the epiphanial you and the epiphanial me. Pray we prepare for God to come like a new day of hope, peace, love and joy. Pray we invite God to come into our lives. Pray that we become an epiphany that turns our darkness to light. Pray that we arise in love with the bringer of light into this world. Pray we believe that God will find a way to reveal His truth to us. Pray in love that the confusing mix of events in our lives and the multiplicity of scriptures we read come into focus revealing the masterpiece God is creating. Pray God’s glory is revealed and that our Lord’s involvement is present and working in us even when we are unaware. Pray our repentance reveals the progressive worth of Christ and the sacred worth of all people.
Pray we call Jesus Lord and know that by His hands manifested in and through us He will reveal the New Creation, allowing His Kingdom to break through in each act of love. Pray about the giver who is the gift and gospel of light revealed.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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