Isaiah 49: 1-7
Psalm 40: 1-11
1 Corinthians 1: 1-9
St. John 1: 29-42
“The Epiphanies Begin”
Grace and Peace to you my brothers and sisters in Christ, Amen.
Now that Jesus Christ, Son of God, who came into the world
not to condemn the world, for it was already condemned, but to
save it through the cross, has been baptized the mission to which
he came to fulfill outlined in all of Scripture has begun. And this
mission is not merely for the Jews, though it is primarily for them,
for we know that Christ came not for Israel but for all nations. Now
we may not at birth be members of Israel, God’s chosen people,
but through our baptism we are all adopted into Israel, as children
of God.
Isaiah alludes to this when God spoke through him saying,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob and bring back the preserved of Israel: I will make
you as a light for all the nations, that my salvation may reach to
the end of the earth.”
God has always desired that all of creation bask in His
glorious light. His Salvation was never to be reserved for a small
lot but freely given for all willing to receive. This is what’s found in
Torah, that the great servant of God who brings salvation will
come not merely for Israel but for everyone, to include even the
enemies of Israel.
2
It would be a waste if God’s most glorious gift of
sanctification from sin and sin’s reward, Hell, was gifted on to the
select few, the tribes of Jacob. From a numerical perspective, the
ratio of tribes of Israel to earth’s population is so tiny that this gift
becomes a trifling thing too insignificant with regards to worldly
salvation. For again, God’s main goal is for all people to worship
Him. Now He does not desire this because He needs our worship.
For from it, for He could wipe us all out and not be negatively
affected as He remakes the creation. He does not need us, nor
will He ever, and anyone who suffers this train of thought has
fallen victim to the Hell trap known as narcissism.
No, God desires all people to worship Him because He loves
us. He is the source of life, good, happiness, and most especially
existence in of itself. God does not merely exist, He determines
existence. He wants us to be happy and filled with joy and live life
eternally void of sin. But because He is all good, He does not
force us to receive His life giving presence. Because of this many
have turned away from Him and in so doing have denied God’s
free gift of life. God sees these lost lambs, and despairs over the
consequences of their freely chosen actions. All we had to do was
follow His Law which exposes to us what sin looks like. But
because all have turned from the Law in part all have turned from
God in whole, replacing Him with our own self-made versions of
the divine. All have failed, and this causes our Father above great
distress. So to only provide salvation to a select few, His chosen
people Israel, is too trifling. Therefore, His salvation will be for all
nations.
3
But it has to start somewhere, and that somewhere was at
the Jordan. Though the light Christ has cast was for all nations,
He did not disregard the special relationship He and His Father
above had with the original chosen. For the Messiah came first for
the Jews, and through them all nations. For every Jew who
followed Jesus Christ, a new lantern was hung in the spiritually
dark land, shedding light on the gentiles. Those who followed
Jesus knew He came for all nations and they in turn spoke to the
gentiles with welcoming arms and baptism. On the other hand,
those in the tribes of Jacob who turned away from Jesus did so
for many reasons and one was because they believed themselves
so special that the Messiah was to come only for them. By
believing the Messiah’s salvation was for Israel alone and not for
the gentiles, they’ve abandoned the prophecies of Isaiah for a lie,
believing that the Messiah was coming to save Israel from the
Romans. When Jesus confessed that he came to save both Jew
and Gentile, that enraged many of the Jews who suffered at the
hands of Gentiles, and thus they rejected Him.
It’s a sad reality, but one we don’t have to be weighed down
by for many of God’s chosen people saw and heard the truth and
followed Jesus Christ, becoming the first generation of Christians.
And then they in turn looked out into the vast horizon and started
spreading the Good News. The epiphanies were beginning as
people came to realize, this is the Messiah.
But, once again, as already stated, there must be a
beginning, and the beginning of Christ’s mission was at the
Jordan.
4
Now last week we already covered Jesus’ baptism, but the
Gospel of St John adds one tiny detail about this baptism, a very
important detail. John the Baptist knew not who the Messiah was
to be. That’s the detail, and to drive the message home St John
said this twice: once in verse 31, and again in verse 33 of chapter
1. It’s obvious that John the Baptist knew Jesus, they were
cousins, but that did not mean he knew that Jesus was the
Messiah. John knows Jesus, he just doesn’t know the Messiah.
It’s like those classic tropes in literature when the main character
is trying to find out who is “Person X”, only to find out “Person X”
was their best friend all along. That is what’s happening here.
John is waiting for the Messiah, but knows not that the Messiah is
his own cousin Jesus, that is until the Holy Spirit reveals this to
him at the Jordan.
Now one might ask, didn’t John know that Jesus was Christ
when in the womb; for he did leap in Elizabeth’s womb upon
being in the presence of his savior? Yes, he did, but not on
account of his rational thinking processes but solely on account of
the Holy Spirit which gave John the faith necessary to know the
truth. As an unborn child, John has no ability to reason let alone
thinking that much is obvious, but solely on account of the Holy
Spirit did he know. If anything, the story of John is proof that we
must baptize infants, and proof that having faith in Jesus Christ is
in no way connected to your ability to think. For we know that faith
comes only from the Holy Spirit, and that through Baptism you do
indeed receive the Holy Spirit.
John leaped with joy when he was an infant wholly incapable
of having reason. But he leaped because he, an infant had faith.
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After his birth and as he grew up and developed the ability to
remember and reason he ceased to know Jesus as the Messiah
but instead knew him only as his cousin. This much is certainly
true for if he did view Jesus as the Messiah during his youth then
he would have remembered it. If anything, his ability to reason is
why he viewed Jesus as his cousin and not the Messiah. And now
that John is an adult it is not reason that opened his eyes to the
truth regarding Jesus’ divinity, but faith alone which comes from
the Holy Spirit. In both cases, when John knew that Jesus was
the Messiah, it was the Holy Spirit, an outside source, and not
reason, an internal source, which provided him with the necessary
faith. And know that John has the ability to remember, when
Jesus came back to the Jordan the following day, John shouted,
“Behold, the Lamb of God!”
If anything, the first to have an epiphany following Jesus’
baptism was John the Baptist, but he wasn’t the only one who had
one, for through John the Baptist his two followers who were with
him the day after the great baptism also had epiphanies. These
were the first of many epiphanies; epiphanies that still happen to
this very day.
Now when John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus as the Lamb
of God do you think the two disciples followed Jesus on account
of their reason or on account of faith? Well, faith obviously; they
trusted John the Baptist and knew that God had blessed John, so
when John pointed out who was the Messiah it was out of trust in
John that the two turned to follow Jesus. John the Baptist was the
lantern that showed Andrew and the other disciple the Lamb of
God, Jesus Christ. And in turn these two became lamps that
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shined the light of the Holy Spirit on others so that they too may
be filled not with reason but with faith in Jesus Christ. Gentile and
Jew, it mattered not, for Christ came and died and rose from the
grave for everyone. What was the first thing Andrew did the
following day? Became a light for his brother Simon, aka Peter.
And the other disciple, whom most theologians, church historians,
and scholars believe to be John son of Zebedee, also became a
light for others. For if the massive majority of learned people are
correct in their assumption, as still many others speculate the
disciple to be Philip, then the disciple John upon the next day
would have gone to his brother James. But let’s say it was Philip
rather than John, the message is still the same because Philip
went to Nathaniel, aka Bartholomew.
The epiphanies have begun.
Let us pray,
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the free gift of
salvation and a faith that surpasses understanding. Help us lead
humble lives as we utilize the gifts you have given us to spread
the Good News. In your most holy name we pray: Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Amen.