Things are not always what they appear

This morning’s Gospel lesson contains not only an epiphany, or revelation, of Jesus to the Gentiles, but also an epiphany of God’s way of working in the world. The one strand that ties the various nativity stories together is summed up by Mary in the Magnificat, “He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” Jesus Himself summarizes this grand reversal of fortunes with His saying, “the first will be last, and the last will be first.” What we see in these reversals, and which was prominent in our Gospel lesson this morning, is the strong element of irony in the way that God advances His purposes in the earth. The epiphany of David’s Greater Son provokes fear and plotting in Jerusalem, but joy and worship from the land of the east. And beloved we see the ritual enactment of this irony in the Table spread before us this morning. The “glorious and triumphant feast of the Lord” to which you are summoned each week would appear to many a rather inglorious and unsuccessful feast. I mean this isn’t a Table of fine choice meats and aged cheeses that we would picture on the Table of a King. And the feast is a celebration of the death and seeming defeat of the King, rather than the triumphal conquest that many of the Jews expected of their promised King. But to view the Table in this way is to miss the epiphany of God’s way of working in the world through Jesus. The simple of elements of bread and wine signify the transcendent glory of the King of kings and Lord and lords. And the death that is proclaimed by these simple elements is the means by which Jesus, “disarmed principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, [and] triumphing over them in it.” And beloved, despite all appearances to the contrary, as you feed you upon this bread and wine Christ’s victorious kingdom is advanced in your lives and throughout the earth. Despite all appearances to the contrary, this is “the glorious and triumphant feast of the Lord.”

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Come to the Light!

We are gathered this day to celebrate the Epiphany of God’s grace to the Gentiles in the person of Jesus Christ. This Epiphany involved the manifestation, or revelation, of light in the darkness. When light comes into a dark place that which is hidden is exposed. And therefore the coming of light involves a judgment. You see this in the creation week as darkness is followed by light and thus each day is judged to be good. And you see it again as the firstborn of the new creation comes to bring the dawning of a new day following the nighttime of the old covenant. Now, the judgment that follows the dawning of this new day in Jesus Christ is determined by how mankind responds to the light. There are only two responses. You can accept the judgment of the light and be justified, or you can reject the judgment of the light and be condemned. The latter is the response of the wicked that hate the light and love the darkness because their deeds are evil. The former is the response of the righteous that come to the light and walk in the light and have their evil deeds cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Beloved, you have come to the light this morning that your deeds may be seen and judged. Beware how you respond to the light. Don’t allow your heart to be hardened so as to reject the light. Come to the light. Welcome God’s verdict upon you and forsake your unfruitful deeds of darkness. You are children of the light in Jesus Christ and thus God’s verdict upon you is always qualified by your death and resurrection with Jesus. And your death and resurrection with Jesus entails that you walk in the light, confessing your sins and endeavoring to manifest the fruit of the light in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. This is the way appointed for us to have fellowship with God and one another in name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

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