Loading...The church we belonged to for our entire married life, before I was ordained, is named The Church of the Epiphany in Plymouth, Minnesota. I guess after about 28 years attending a church named Epiphany, I am still a bit drawn to the visit by the non-Jew, wise people from the East to the Holy Family. People who represented the broadness of what would grow into a world-wide religion filled with people from various countries and cultures that we call Christianity.
These weeks since, this season after the Epiphany, capital “E,” have been filled with epiphanies, lower-case “e.” One represents the visit and gifts of the magi, titled and celebrated with reverence and recognition of the baby born. A baby whose life was threatened before he was even 3 years old, and who was dependent on faithful parents to hear the word of God and act in ways that would keep him safe. A baby who would become the bearer of truth, of hope, peace, joy, and love, who would come to a world broken by power-hungry leaders who thought they were not just agents of God, but gods themselves.
The other, small “e” epiphany represents the impact of transformation, the revelations made as we learn and become more aware of what it means to follow this baby-turned-teacher, who would be the one we follow, whose way of life and love we hope to emulate where still there are power-hungry people who threaten the way of love.
In these past weeks we have read scripture that focuses on justice, kindness, mercy, light, and beloved belonging during a time where we have witnessed, and some may have directly experienced, ways that don’t seem to match the ways Jesus modeled love. Loyalties creating more solid lines, dramatically dividing how many who call themselves Christians understand their walk with God and the ways they choose to follow Jesus.
As we progressed through this season after the Epiphany, we were reminded of many ways we are called to not just see the beautiful cultural, religious, economic, physical and mental health, historical and language differences of all those created by God, but we were also called, through our lessons, prayers, and hymns, to stand for and with those who suffer because of these differences. Not for political or partisan reasons, but because God calls us and Jesus showed us how to be in relationship with all of God’s beloved, blessed people.
We have been given, in this season, many, many opportunities to experience large and small epiphanies, a-ha moments, if you will, to, perhaps, become more aware of God’s call to us to be people who are the healers, the peacemakers, the hopeful, and the active participants called to restore and respect the dignity of all people.
We have recommitted our faith in our renewal of our Baptismal Covenant, renouncing the evil that may have been renounced for us as babies or children at our own baptisms. Promising, with God’s help, to live faithful, Christ-like lives, through all the ways we worship, study, and pray and take that worship, study and prayer out into the world to show anyone and everyone, no matter their circumstances or beliefs, that they are children of God, worthy, blessed, beloved.
If anything in this world has created a sense of dread or horror or fear in you during these past few weeks, I pray that you found ways to take those emotions and make some kind of meaningful difference in the life of someone. I hope that you heard in our readings this season that we have been given a blueprint, a plan, a direction to making this world more loving, welcoming, and whole.
The disciples may not have recognized that the man they were following and who was teaching them through word and actions was there in their midst intentionally. They probably looked at what Jesus was doing, especially when he was spending time with what was considered by many as “unclean” or “unworthy” people. They might not have liked it when Jesus was as inclusive as he was, bringing “those people” back into the communities that had thrown them away or pushed them aside. It wouldn’t surprise me if they thought that they themselves were not worthy of being included in this motley group of misfits and marginalized folx, following this itinerant preacher into some very unpopular places.
They probably felt like any one of us might have felt at some time in our lives that we are not worthy so much as to gather the crumbs under thine table, O Lord. We might linger on those words, telling ourselves that we aren’t enough, that there is no reason for God to want us, that we don’t measure up, that we are not worthy of anyone’s love, let alone God’s.
Yet God’s action toward each and every person on this planet is to have mercy. To place people in our lives to bring us back if we have strayed in our minds or in our self-segregation, or if society has shunned us because we don’t “fit” a certain expectation.
In these weeks we have been reminded that everyone who has had a difficult time or harmful experience in their life is blessed and that because everyone is blessed, we have the capacity and responsibility to follow in Jesus’s footsteps, welcoming, helping, feeding, healing, loving not just those we know, but especially looking for those we do not.
Especially finding ways to invite those who scripture identifies as immigrants, widows, orphans, victims of oppression and violence—those whose circumstances have deemed them without value to so, so many—to be a part of what we Episcopalians and other Jesus Followers describe as the “Beloved Community.”
We are called to include, to draw people in, to assist, teach, guide, eat with, and involve them, to include them in our daily life and work, our worship and ministry.
In these past five weeks we have been given the opportunity to be transformed through the teaching and guidance of Jesus.
And if we haven’t quite figured that out, we are reminded in a brilliant way, that this Jesus we are following, this Christ we worship and learn from, is truly the son of God, of whom God is “well pleased.”
In this revelatory moment, this literal mountaintop experience, Peter, James and John experience a transformational moment as Jesus is transfigured—physically changed—with a powerful message, directly from God, to each of them, telling them to “listen to him.”
This story can be found in each of the synoptic Gospels or Matthew, Mark, and Luke, so it matters. In this moment, three of the disciples, according to three of the Gospels, are told that this man they have been following, and probably not completely sure they could trust, is exactly who John the Baptizer said he was. He is God’s son.
Whatever he teaches, whomever he treats with dignity and respect, whoever he eats with, talks with, heals, feeds…whatever he does, no matter how controversial it may seem…this man is God’s Son, and he has been given the authority to show the world what God has been trying to say since the beginning of creation.
Love God. Do what God commands, as broadly laid out in the ten commandments. Yes. But also recognizing that these commandments are broad definitions that help us know that the ways in which we treat one another reflects our love for God.
As Jesus gets closer to his crucifixion, and as we can read about throughout Holy Week, Jesus reiterates that our first loyalty is to God. He goes on to say that the way we show our love for God is by loving others as we love ourselves.
In the Gospel today, we are commanded to listen to what Jesus has to say. And not just listen, but to act and respond in ways that show that we didn’t just listen, we heard.
We don’t just listen. We hear and we act.
As we journeyed through this season after the Epiphany, we were provided insights into what it means to be recognized as blessed, of how Jesus was knowledgeable of the Torah Law and what the Prophets taught that could be summed up in a single verse we heard a couple of weeks ago from the prophet Micah: He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).
I invite you to think about what small “e” epiphanies you experienced in these recent weeks. Did these a-ha moments make you pause and reconsider something you hadn’t considered before? Were you changed in any way?
Is it possible, that after today’s Gospel story, you might “Listen to him” in a new, transformative way?
Let us pray. Holy, life-giving, loving God, guide us as we consider the depth of your command to Peter, James, and John, and ultimately, to all who believe in you, to listen to Jesus. For many of us, our hearts and minds are weary, and we have taken it upon ourselves to carry the weight of the world, forgetting that that weight is yours, and that our role in this world, at this and in all times, is to follow you where you lead, in ways that reflect your love to the world. Help us to find beauty and fulfillment as we expand our awareness of the people you have blessed us to learn from and grow with. Cast away our divisions and transform us as we “Listen to him,” to be at minimum, flickers of your light, and at most, beacons of your life-giving love. Amen.
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