Sermon 184 - 2023 Theophany

 As preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Church

January 06, 2023

Mt 3:13-17, Ti 2:11-14, 3:4-8  Ez 36:25-28,33-36

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

        The image of the double-headed eagle is most frequently associated with the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire. Its interpretations vary to include the double sovereignty of the emperor over both secular and religious matters and/or dominance over both the Eastern and Western branches of the Empire. Balancing the tension between the two realms of sovereignty was always problematic. In Christian faith we enter into another challenge: to balance in our minds and hearts the tension between human and divine.

       The Festal period bounded by Christmas and Encounter [Presentation] is also known as the season of lights. These feasts  serve as epiphanies of Christ as the Son of God, signs signaling Christ as both human and divine. Theophany, the Baptism of Christ, is the most unambiguous of them all, with the voice from heaven proclaiming Jesus as God's son. God entering into our world as a human being can be a frightening, overwhelming, prospect. The God we learn about in the Hebrew scriptures that we cannot look at without dying, is now flesh and blood facing us. However, Christ's message takes us in a direction away from fear.

       Christian doctrine clearly shows us the human and divine sides of God, but is there possibly another double image here that we might overlook? The inimitable grandeur of God, the God of magnificence, power and omniscience coupled with the unmistakable humility of Christ's life and teachings. Our Christian understanding of the sacred needs to hold at once both of these images in tension.

       Throughout this season we see the grandeur of God, the creator of the universe, entering into our human reality: becoming a little child, enduring circumcision, being presented in the temple and submitting to baptism. And John's baptism of Christ, inaugurates his ministry. A ministry revealed in the gospels where we encounter many other signs of Christ's humility, a humility he teaches by preaching, as in the Beatitudes; by parable, as in the publican and the pharisee; and by example, as when he washes his disciples' feet. And this lesson is a seamless one beginning, as it were, from on high, with God condescending to become a child and culminating with Jesus freely consenting to death on a cross.

       When we contemplate the enormity of God's power as the creator of the universe, we are humbled by our insignificance. But when we face ordinary challenges to our own sense of importance, we can easily forget humility and resist God's movement in the daily ebb and flow of life.

       In today's feast, John the Baptist had to deal with the humility of overcoming his objections and do what Jesus asked. The purpose was beyond what John could understand, but he complied with what Jesus' said needed to be done. It was a seemingly small part of a larger plan for our salvation.

       This is a conundrum that we face in so many of our tasks. They look small and insignificant and yet the fabric of our lives and circumstances is sown together by many small stitches. In the end, God sees and evaluates the entire tapestry from a viewpoint beyond our own. So we need not flinch from doing the those little things that seem so humble and unnecessary. After all, God chose what the world considers foolish to shame the wise. [1 Cor 1:27]

 

Glory be to Jesus Christ