Scripture Reflections

John the Baptist said something interesting in the Gospel reading from Sunday: “I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:33-34)

 John and Jesus were cousins, and so even if they didn’t spend time together growing up, they would have known of each other’s existence. Elizabeth’s response to Mary’s visit while they were both pregnant means that, at the very least, John would have grown up hearing that he had a cousin who was his “lord” (Luke 1:39-45). Elizabeth likely told him stories of the time he “danced in the womb” because Jesus was in the room!  And when Jesus arrived to be baptized, John knew that Jesus was his superior and believed that it should be Jesus baptizing him. So, he obviously knew Jesus, at least in some sense.

 And yet he boldly testified, “I did not know him—that he was the Messiah, the one baptizing with the Holy Spirit, the Son of God—at least until I saw the Spirit descend, because God gave me that sign.” It is intriguing to think that John went into the wilderness and began a ministry of preparing the way for the coming Messiah without knowing who that coming Messiah would be. Did he speculate that it might be Jesus? Did he have other candidates in mind? Did he have any idea how long he would have to wait for whomever he was waiting for in the wilderness?

 It is difficult to say “yes” to what God calls us to do without knowing how it will work out. I like to do home renovation projects, and one of the adages of home renovation is “know the end before you begin.” In other words, plan the whole job up to the conclusion, and then start, so that you know what you are trying to accomplish and actually reach the end. But John wasn’t given that luxury, and we aren’t always given it either. God often calls us simply to do what he has given us to do today, without knowing where things will lead.

 He calls us to forgive, not knowing how the other will respond or where the relationship will go. He calls us to love those who are hurting, not knowing if they will notice. He calls us to humble ourselves, not knowing whether anyone else but God will appreciate our self-sacrifice. He calls us to pray, not knowing the response we will receive. He calls us to tell our friends and neighbors about him, not knowing if they will thank us or mock us.

 Most of us would likely rather walk by sight, but the Lord calls us to walk in faith, and faith means doing what is right even when we can’t see where it will go.

Steven+

Scripture Reflections

We’ve done it! We’ve made it through Advent, Christmas, New Years, and now Epiphany (the day, that is—the season continues for a few more weeks). The end of the year always feels so jam-packed with gatherings, shopping, cooking, and planning that we struggle to keep in step with the slow rhythms of the Church calendar and to allow ourselves to sit in the gift of it all one step at a time. For starters, it’s hard to slow ourselves down in Advent—to actually sit and anticipate and prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. And with the way our culture hypes up Christmas, it can be hard to allow the significance of that day to truly wash over us. We’re then immediately surrounded by pressures to create New Year’s resolutions in order to better ourselves and make each year an improvement on the last. And for those of us who didn’t grow up celebrating the 12 days of Christmas, it’s tough to allow ourselves to wait 12 days before celebrating the arrival of the Magi at the birthplace of Christ on Epiphany!
 
It often feels like this season is a season of striving and working and busyness. But so many of the scriptures designated throughout this season speak not about our striving but rather about God’s striving and fighting on our behalf. Isaiah 2:4-5, for instance, was part of the Old Testament passage on the First Sunday of Advent. It reads, “He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.” Isaiah 52:12, from Christmas morning, states, “For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” And just this past Sunday, we read Psalm 89:18, “The LORD is our defense, the Holy One of Israel is our King.”
 
As this often-busy season comes to an end, I pray you allow yourself to take a moment to sit in the truths of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Our God is not a God who calls us to overwork ourselves. He is a God who calls us rest in the fulfilment of his promises just as Mary rested after the birth of Jesus. He is a God who calls us to come, as the Magi came, and sit in the presence of the Word. He is a God who foretold the birth of his Son, offered that same Son up for our sins, and has promised that His Son will return someday to free us for good. Let us rejoice in this God! Amen.

Tori

The Feast of the Epiphany

Friday, January 6, is the Feast of the Epiphany. This feast celebrates God’s revelation of himself in the person of Jesus Christ to a world blinded by sin. In particular, the feast celebrates not only that God has revealed himself to the Jews through Jesus, but has also revealed himself to the Gentiles. This is why the ordinary reading for January 6 is the story of the Magi, who were the first Gentiles to worship Christ.

It is startling that from his infancy, Jesus Christ received the worship and prayers of Gentiles. There were other incidents along the way—a Roman centurion, a Canaanite woman, and a group of Greeks all sought Jesus for one reason or another. The disciples had a hard time with this, and it took time for them to understand what it meant that salvation was not just for the Jews, even if it was from the Jews (Jn. 4:22). Acts 10 and 11 reveal Peter’s struggle to accept this, and Acts 15 is a record of the church’s wrestling with how to incorporate Gentiles into a Jewish church. Paul calls this inclusion of the Gentiles a “mystery” (Eph. 3:6), which demonstrates how stunning it was to the Jews that Gentiles, who were not recipients of the promises given to  Abraham, were included in salvation.

We now take for granted that we have been included, so much so that we are rarely amazed by the fact that God has revealed himself to us. But Epiphany is our once-per-year reminder that what we take for granted is actually startling—we did not deserve it and we were not promised it, and yet God still revealed himself to us! We, who were blind, lost, and dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1), have been shown the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4:6). This should bring us to our knees in wonder. God has revealed himself to us!

Steven+