Epiphany 5C

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) :: The Prophet isaiah
Public Domain Image via Wikimedia Commons

Isaiah 6:1-8

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ² Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³ And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." ⁴ The foundations of the thresholds trembled at the sound of their voices, and the house filled with smoke.

⁵ And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" ⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷ The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

Epiphany

The Epiphany season continues with its focus on revelation, light, and Jesus (Light of the World!) for all people and all creation. God self-reveals in countless ways: scripture, circumstances; dreams we have when we sleep; dreams and visions when we're awake; memories, hopes, creation, conversations, sacraments… Epiphany is about God's people in turn revealing God's ways of inclusive grace to the world, which makes stories of God calling people so appropriate to the season.

During Epiphany we hear the opening acts of Jesus' public ministry in versions from the gospels of Luke on Epiphany 3—blog from 2019 and from John on Epiphany 2; those are call stores, too, with Jesus announcing God's call and claim on him.


Today's Readings

This week brings us two more call stories: the call of the prophet Isaiah and Jesus' calling his first disciples, who worked in the fishing profession in Luke 5:1-11.

Isaiah is 66 chapters long; it spans at least two centuries with writings from at least three different people. Today's passage is early in First Isaiah or Isaiah of Jerusalem, who was a temple priest in the lineage of Moses' brother Aaron.

All three sections of Isaiah particularly affirm God's lordship and sovereignty. Today's reading opens with the historical circumstance of the death of King Uzziah. Probably as he was offering a sacrifice of incense in the holy of holies, Isaiah receives a vision of the God he knew as the real king, the true ruler of all creation. Commentaries all say the dating here is accurate.

Although this is one of the texts for Trinity Sunday every year, and relates to that favorite Trinitarian hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy," Holy, holy, holy in this passage is not a trinitarian proclamation. It's an artifact of Hebrew, Aramaic and other semitic languages that don't have comparative and superlative adjectives, so you repeat the word once or twice. Instead of good, better, best, you'd say good, good, good. In this first reading for today, God is holy-holy-holy or the holiest.


Call—and Response

In addition to Jesus' call to ministry, besides Jesus calling disciples or followers that all three lectionary years include in their gospel readings, scriptures for recent Sundays include Jeremiah's call on Epiphany 4—blog from 2022 that echoes Moses' call from Exodus 3 and models God's many callings to each of us.

For discussion, journaling, or other considerations, think of your own major life calling/vocation or series thereof. At least since latish in the twentieth century most people have had four or five or six separate careers, or sometimes engage in two or three different ones at the same time. Most of us have many smaller circumstantial callings we receive literally all the time. What are some you've discerned and responded to?


Where We Live

Epiphany reveals Jesus as light of the world, Jesus as savior of all.

All of these scriptural call stories are mostly about God's gracious action. Our own call stories are primarily about God acting in grace. Epiphany reveals Jesus as light of the world. Epiphany is about us in turn revealing God's inclusive grace to the world. For us as holy people of a holy-holy-holy God, holiness means being baptized, set apart, and called; holiness means forgiven and set free; holiness means responding with loving, merciful, justice-seeking lives.

Presentation :: Candlemas

Vanderbilt Divinity Library requested we include this information
about the art and the artist:
Father George Saget, Presentation in the Temple, 1963,
Abbaye de Keur Moussa, Senegal

Luke 2:21-35; 39-40

²¹ And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

²² And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be called holy to the Lord"), ²⁴ and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord [Leviticus 12:6-8], "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. ²⁷ Inspired by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,
²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and blessed God, saying,

²⁹ "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
³⁰ for my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹ which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

³³ And the child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against ³⁵ that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

³⁹ When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

February 2nd

February 2nd famously is Groundhog Day in the USA.

In addition, February 2nd is Saint Brigid's Day, and Imbolc falls around February 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Imbolc is one of the cross-quarter festivals in Celtic spirituality and in the nature practices of some pagans. Cross-quarter refers to the mid-point between seasons, and conveys a sense of special things happening in creation during those mid-points.

Another February 2nd celebration is the Feast of Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary in the Jerusalem Temple, sometimes styled as Candlemas, from Simeon's words "seen – light – revelation – glory." Candlemas is a word similar to Christmas, but rather than Christ's Mass it's Candle's Mass.


Candlemas

The early Church often celebrated Candlemas on February 14, (the biblical number of) 40 days after Christmas to mark the end of the Christmas season. In that case, just as you can wish everyone "Happy Easter" for fifty days, "Merry Christmas" is appropriate for forty days.

However, for most of us in the West, the church's year of grace still is in the season of Epiphany when we celebrate Jesus as light, redeemer, savior for all people everywhere.

Candlemas was observed in Jerusalem from about the year 350. In the West, it appears in both the Gelasian (7th century) and Gregorian (8th century) Sacramentaries. The Syriac Pope Sergius (in office from 687-701) introduced a procession with lighted candles that gave the day the name of Candlemas. We carry lighted candles at the beginning of the liturgy and light them again to listen to the gospel. (Thanks to the University of Dayton, Ohio for these details.)


Today's Gospel

Because it's also appointed for the First Sunday of Christmas in Luke's lectionary year C, you may have heard it a few times. Today's gospel brings us a very Jewish Jesus with his parents fulfilling the requirements of the ceremonial (sacrificial, ritual) religious law that Luke refers to as "Law of Moses." Please take note that in this passage law doesn't refer to the Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant.

Although all of the gospels and everything else about Jesus is about Jesus as savior, redeemer, light of all the world, unlike Mark, Matthew, and John, Luke doesn't get specific about that kind of universalism until his volume 2, Acts of the Apostles. People sometimes cite Acts 10:10-15 when Peter learns no food is off limits, but Acts in general expands into universal salvation as the narrative unfolds. However, here close to the outset of Luke, we hear Simeon announcing "…salvation… in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."


Canticles

Luke uniquely brings us three canticles or New Testament psalms; each has a particular place in the Liturgy of the Hours / Divine Office / Canonical Hours.

• Luke 1:46-55 Magnificat—Mary's song in response to the angel's announcement she will become the mother of Jesus. This canticle belongs in Evening Prayer or Vespers, typically sung at nightfall.

• Luke 1:67-79 Benedictus—John the Baptist's father Zechariah's song in response to the news of his son's upcoming birth. We sing or chant this canticle at Morning Prayer, a variable format that generally combines elements of Lauds and Matins.

• Luke 2:29-32 Nunc Dimittis—Simeon's song in response to recognizing the Savior of the world in his presence. Nunc Dimittis is the canticle for Compline or night prayer, and we sometimes sing or pray this canticle as we conclude the Eucharist. Martin Luther and John Calvin both include the Nunc Dimittis in their Eucharistic liturgies.

Presentation in the Temple from Gospel Light

Epiphany 3C

Nehemiah 8:1-12

¹ All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. ² Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month.

³ Ezra read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

⁴ The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand.

⁵ And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. ⁶ Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

⁷ Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places.
⁸ So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. The interpreters gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

⁹ And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

¹⁰ Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

¹¹ So the Levite priests stilled all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." ¹² And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine,
for this day is holy to our Lord.
The joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10
Homecoming

Although some had settled and made homes for themselves in Babylon, many of God's people returned to Jerusalem after being exiled in Babylon. Without a doubt, Babylon had meant cultural, geographic, religious, political, and culinary displacement. By the time of the New Moon event we read about in Nehemiah 8, they'd rebuilt the city walls (safety) and and the temple walls (identity), yet found themselves subjects of yet another empire, Persia.


Torah

Torah is the Pentateuch or first five books of the Old Testament. These are spoken, written, remembered, recited, re-enacted words God used to call and to claim a people. To form and to shape a common life. To redeem and to sanctify. The words are history, poetry, songs, liturgies, sagas and include the decalogue or the Ten Words of the Sinai Covenant in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21.


Scripture

Today's scripture passage from Nehemiah reads "Torah" for every English instance of "law."

Remember that for the apostle Paul, "law" almost never means the commandments or the entire Torah. For Paul, "law" almost always means ceremonial, sacrificial practices that are not redemptive or salvific.

At this time of resettling into Jerusalem, orally transmitted texts were starting to be written down by people from many religious traditions. The words gained added authority by being edited, codified, and gathered into a canon or collection that had passed certain criteria to ascertain origins and authorship. Much of our current Old Testament came into being during those years.

This is the only instance of Nehemiah in the Revised Common Lectionary's three year cycle! The Anglican Communion that occasionally differs reads Nehemiah 9:6-15 during Eastertide and Nehemiah 9:16-20 during the Ordinary Time season of Pentecost


History

You know the story! Both the nomadic desert lifestyle and the Ten Words of the Sinai Covenant formed a people after God's heart. In addition, you probably remember several water features along the way from Egypt to Canaan.

Babylon had meant cultural, geographic, religious, political, and culinary displacement from the familiar and expected. People in exile had little or no access to scripture. We humans easily forget, especially when another culture or religion or concern surrounds or engulfs us. Many had forgotten Torah because exile in Babylon also meant exile from the identity-forming narrative of the Exodus along with the Sinai Covenant.

Actors in today's narrative include Ezra and Nehemiah. Although the books that bear their names are separate in our bibles, originally there were a single volume. The occupying Persian empire even had hired them to help the people acclimate to their post-exilic homecoming and to provide spiritual (Ezra) and political (Nehemiah) leadership. Ezra descended from Moses' brother, Aaron the priest. Ezra 7 tells us he was a scholar of the commandments who had a heart to study and teach. As priest and scribe, Ezra would have been one of the maybe 3% who could read and write.

Everyone gathered at the Water Gate. Was it near Gihon Spring? On the way to the Pool at Siloam?

Most who asked Ezra to bring "the book of the law" and read Torah probably had some knowledge of scripture and possibly a degree of devotion and curiosity, too. But very few could read or write.

Nehemiah 8:7-8 Understand. Interpret. This could have been translation from the Hebrew most had forgotten or never known into the Aramaic most spoke. It could have been exegesis, explanations, and cross references.


Response

Whenever I've read and loved this passage, I've imagined tears of joy, yet most commentaries said they probably were tears of grief and repentance from being convicted of breaking the law.

Though we know the commandments as gifts of grace, we sometimes talk about the bitterness of the law and the sweetness of the gospel. Could it have been mixed emotion tears of both sorrow and joy?

In wisdom Ezra counseled the people, do not weep. This is a time for joy. Glory in a feast of rich food and extravagant drink, and be sure to provide festive food for everyone who may not have any.


Where We Live

This interactive communal experience of reading, hearing, interpreting, understanding, and living the words of scripture was like what we in the church do in preaching, teaching, and individual study.

We become a People of the Book who interpret scripture for our own context. As Walter Brueggemann says, we become "fully texted" people who know and live scripture.


Keep On Reading!

• Nehemiah 8:14-18

After a full day of hearing and learning Torah, they immediately celebrated Sukkoth, the Feast of Booths, a festival of double thanksgiving—for the Exodus and for the Commandments. Scholars consider both the nomadic desert lifestyle of the exodus and the gifts of the Ten Words or Commandments constitutive for the people of God, similar to the way a constitution creates a nation or country.

Sukkoth reenacts the Exodus in tents that offer some shelter yet remain somewhat open to weather and natural elements. At this Sukkoth, former exiles who'd probably forgotten a (whole) lot claimed trust in and obedience to the God of the Exodus, God of the commandments.They became People of the Book! Read, heard, interpreted, lived.


Where We Live: Keep On Reading!

As I observed, this interactive experience is what we do preaching, teaching, reading, studying, interpreting, living scripture.

Gathered at the Water Gate, some people probably heard God's good news for the first time; others probably remembered what they'd forgotten.

Too many self-improvement specialists counsel people to forget the past and concentrate only on the future. Scripture advises us remember, remember, remember.

Recall and recollect by telling the stories of liberation and resurrection. The stories of slavery and death. Re-enact the stories and the histories. In a context that usually was more playful than it was serious, that's what Israel did. That's what we do in the liturgy. Bring the stories to life!

Fully texted People of the Book. Read, heard, interpreted, known, and lived.

God called and claimed Ezra's listeners by the Water Gate.

God called and claimed Israel amidst seas, springs, streams, and rivers

God calls and claims us…?

In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body
and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13

Epiphany 2C

Intro

Tony Campolo, "The kingdom of God is a party." Not like a party, not some semblance of a celebration, but the reign of heaven on earth is the real thing.

This is MLK weekend. The USA and many other countries have been impacted with frightening political, social, and economic uncertainties. Unprecedented wildfires have leveled Los Angeles area neighborhoods. Wars and other armed conflicts simmer and explode across the globe.

John 2:1-11

¹ On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." ⁴ And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." ⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

⁶ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it.

⁹ When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the best wine until now."

¹¹ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Background

So far in this year of grace and season of revelation we've waited for God in our midst, we've been awed at the nativity of the infant Savior, we've met visitors from the East bearing gifts, we've joined a crowd alongside the Jordan.

After his riverside baptism by his cousin John the Baptist that all four gospels include, each gospel brings us a different version of Jesus' first act of public ministry. How can that be? Most likely they all happened around the same time, but each writer chose a particular one because it fit their perspective better.

The community surrounding John the beloved disciple writes about Jesus' signs rather than miracles. A miracle implies suspension of natural laws (which sometimes is the case, and sometimes there is a logical explanation), but a sign points beyond itself to a place, event, person, or idea—in this case, to Jesus. The Greek here is like our word semiotic that relates to signs, symbols, meanings. This gospel includes seven signs and seven "I Am" statements from Jesus. In Hebrew numerology, seven is the number of perfection or completion.


New Creation

In Matthew and Luke, after incarcerated John the Baptist wonders about Jesus being "the one who is to come," Jesus replies "go tell John what you see and hear: blind see; lame walk; diseased become clean; dead are raised! poor receive good news."

• Luke 7:20-22

• Matthew 11:2-5

These events fulfill John's signs.

John's gospel brings us the most explicit new creation.

• In the beginning … God –Genesis 1:1
• In the beginning … was the word –John 1:1

logos, word connotes both origin (where this came from) and immanence (what this might become). Does that sound theological?

On the seventh day God finished the work. –Genesis 2:2
"It is finished!" –John 19:30

• And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden… –Genesis 2:8

The garden of Jesus' burial and resurrection becomes the new garden of Eden

• Now there was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one ever had been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. _John 9:41-42

The first day of the week is the eighth day of creation, the first day of the new creation.

• Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. –John 20:1
• Supposing him [Jesus] to be the gardener… –John 20:15b

Of the four canonical gospels, John brings us the most fully realized eschatology (protology is the word about first things, about origins; eschatology is the word about last things, about conclusions)—the clearest right here and right now of the reign of heaven on earth. A wedding party perfectly fits that worldview!


Today's Good News

This reading begins, "On the third day." In that place and time, the third day – Tuesday – was considered the best day for a wedding. But as Easter people, we also recognize the third day as the day of resurrection that initiates the new creation. And back then and there, an extravagant wedding party where everyone gets more than the dayenu or "it would have been enough" of the Passover song would be a primary indicator of the messianic age.

Cana in Galilee was disreputable gentile territory known for thieves and petty criminals. This wedding was not at an elite venue or an aspirational destination. Jesus performed this sign among regular, ordinary, working class people. Most of the guests and reception attendants probably lived nearby; some may have worked in the vineyard.

A wedding is an occasion to party; a wedding brings families together and gathers a community in one place for a single purpose. Whatever is happening elsewhere in the world, a wedding hopes for and promises a future. The couple getting married trusts that a future will arrive.

This isn't the old band Canned Heat Going Up the Country singing about "where the water tastes like wine." This is water that has become wine, and "you have kept the best wine until now!" –John 2:10


Where We Live

At the start of his public ministry Jesus attends a party and makes the party even better, in a preview of the rest of his time on earth. But two thousand years after Jesus' death and resurrection, we still experience death, disease, destruction, deadly fires, nations at war, a threat of government that is not by the people, of the people, or for the people.

Evidently a recent article in The Atlantic informed readers we need to party more. It was behind a paywall and no one provided a summary, but I agree.

After the 911 attack on the World Trade Center, although we didn't exactly rejoice with a block party, two days later on Thursday evening several churches in our neighborhood gathered to celebrate Eucharist, a meal with the risen Christ. Here's one of my reflections about it:

• 911 :: 22 years later

Literally in spite of everything we glanced into all creation healed and whole. We briefly lived in that future moment God dreams of and calls us to help create. Did you know the chasuble the person presiding at Eucharist vests in is the wedding garment of the messianic feast?

To paraphrase Cornel West, "We are people of hope. Why do we party on Friday night? Why do we go to church on Sunday?"

Because the Kingdom of God, the Reign of Heaven is a party!

Baptism of Jesus C

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are mine."
Isaiah 43:1-7

• Overview of Luke's Gospel

Luke 3:15-17; 21-22

¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶ John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Season of Epiphany

After the Great Fifty Days of Easter, we experienced a half-year of green and growing Ordinary Time that lasted until Reign of Christ-Christ the King concluded that year of grace. Ordinary time is more organized and structured than it is commonplace and conventional.

Sundays between the Day of Epiphany and Transfiguration that protestant churches celebrate three days before Ash Wednesday form a shorter segment of ordinary time. With the date of Ash Wednesday being variable because the date of Easter Sunday varies, the length of the Epiphany season is shorter or longer, maxing out at nine Sundays when the day of resurrection is late.

Note: Roman and Eastern rite catholics as well as Anglicans celebrate Transfiguration on August 6th.

The baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration create trinitarian bookends to the season of Epiphany. The word trinity isn't in the bible but the concept is, and because we know a lot of the rest of the story, we often interpret scripture backwards. In 325 the Council of Nicaea formally defined the Trinity.


Intro

Very few events in Jesus' life are in all four gospels; all the gospels don't even have a birth story or a resurrection narrative. But we find John baptizing Jesus in all four—sit up and take notice!

• Mark 1:9-11
• Matthew 3:13-17
• Luke 3:21-22
• John 1:29-34


Jesus' Baptism

Jesus's baptism by John was not the same as our trinitarian baptism into Jesus' death and resurrection. John's baptism signaled a new political, religious, and economic beginning. Jesus' baptism also continued the Jewish practice of the bath, washing, or mikvah that may have begun at Mount Sinai during the Exodus, before Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Words or Commandments. Contemporary Jews continue the tradition of the cleansing mikvah.

• Exodus 19:10-14

Immediately after Jesus' baptism and God's identifying Jesus as beloved son, Luke brings us Jesus' genealogy that ends with son of Adam, son of God. Although scripture implies Jesus Christ as fully human and completely divine, the Council of Chalcedon in 451 first formally described the two natures of Jesus Christ.


Water and Identity Formation

For God's people Israel, the Jordan River was border and boundary between their old existence as slaves in imperial Egypt, followed by decades of wilderness wandering, and their new lives of grace, obedience, and freedom in covenanted community in the land of promise.

For Jesus, the Jordan River was border and boundary between his earlier, more private life and a public life of grace, obedience, and keeping righteous covenant. Notice how Jesus praying and an icon (dove) of the Holy Spirit appear in this account. Prayer and the Holy Spirit are prominent throughout Luke's gospel.

For us, living waters form a border and boundary between our more private lives (think first and second spaces-places) and our public lives of grace, obedience, keeping covenant with creation, and advocating for justice in third spaces-places as well as our presence and testimonies in the fourth space of the internet.

Every baptized person is a public theologian!

Notice that only in Luke does John announce Jesus will baptize with Spirit and with fire (3:1). What does that mean to you?

My header art from the first reading, Isaiah 43:1-7, describes God's people as created, formed, redeemed, called, named, and claimed. Particularly related to your own baptism, how does that comfort, challenge, and inspire you?

"You are my son the beloved
With you I am well pleased."
Luke 3:22

Epiphany 2025

Matthew 2:1-12

¹ In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ² asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising [in the east], and have come to pay him homage."

³ When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

⁵ They told Herod, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

⁶ "And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a governor who is to shepherd my people Israel.' "

⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸ Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."

⁹ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising [in the east], until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹ On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Days after Christmas

Days after Christmas offer several possibilities. When January 6th doesn't fall on a Sunday, many churches celebrate Epiphany on the nearest Sunday. During 2020 I wrote about Jesus' Presentation in the Temple; the Circumcision and Name of Jesus on January 1st would be good for the first Sunday of any new year. January 6th was Christ's birthday until the 4th century, when Emperor Constantine moved it to a few days after the solstice to correlate with the Feast of the Unvanquished Sun, a celebration people already knew about. And then January 6th became the baptism of Jesus, as it still is in Eastern expressions of Christianity. Some Western churches that follow the lectionary are observing Jesus' baptism today.


Epiphany Day and Season

Epiphany means revelation, revealing, uncovering. We sometimes tell people we've "had an epiphany." The "epi" prefix means upon; "phan" is revelation.

Despite the song about the Twelve Days of Christmas, January 6th, the day of Epiphany is the thirteenth day of Christmas. Although we're in Luke's lectionary year, the gospel reading today is from Matthew because only Matthew includes this story.

On the day of Epiphany and during the Season of Epiphany we celebrate Jesus as light of the world; we affirm the God of the bible as God with and for all religions, ethnicities, abilities, social statuses, etc. We rejoice in the God who breaks barriers, the God who shatters boundaries and expectations. Epiphany is a season of evangelism, of reaching out to and inviting in people of all cultures, nationalities, orientations, professions, etc. And we celebrate the light of Christ reflected in us! In the global North, Epiphany arrives shortly after the winter solstice, making its symbolism of light especially full of meaning. Stars are the epiphany symbol.

The day of Epiphany initiates the variable length (because the date of Easter varies) season of Epiphany that extends until Ash Wednesday. Or Shrove Tuesday. Western protestant churches celebrate Transfiguration on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, making the theophanies of Jesus' baptism and his transfiguration bookends.

We'll number Sundays after Epiphany until Lent. Next week we'll revisit Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River by his cousin John the Baptist and we're experience a trinitarian theophany, or revealing of God as Father, Son, and Spirit.


Today's Gospel

These visitors from a country east of Judea (along with their retinues) most likely were religious leaders, probably Zoroastrian priests who were astrologers. Zoroastrianism was a middle-eastern way of life that preceded Islam. Astrologers studied and interpreted stars in the sky for signs and meanings; they may have been astronomers in our sense of people with expertise about the heavenly bodies. In any case, they were of a different culture, religion, and ethnicity then the Jews (Israelites, Hebrews) the bible identifies as the distinctive people of God. These wise persons based their decision to set out for Bethlehem on

(1) studying signs in the skies, on
(2) reading their own scriptures or holy book, on
(3) heeding messages they received in a dream.

Our text doesn't say how many there were, and it doesn't say they were kings or royals, but they brought three gifts, so tradition sings about and talks about three kings. In the Ancient Near East (ANE) a star in the sky often signaled the birth or death of a great individual. Numbers 24:17 names stars as a Messianic sign. Did the visitors recognize Jesus as royal or as divine?

Matthew writes about the star at "the rising" of the sun in the east, at daybreak, at dawning. Stars are scattered all over the Matthew passage with east, east, star, star (and magi in the house where the star stopped, not back in the stable). "From the east" is anatolia—the rising of the sun. (Not Bruce Springsteen's The Rising!) Latin words oriens and orient mean the same as the Greek anatolia—the other side of the world from ours?

Because this story of persons from The East, from The Rising – the direction where the sun rises to start a new day – opens up questions of inclusion, of boundaries, of people who are like us and different from us, the season of Epiphany emphasizes evangelism beyond how we've "always done it." Revealing Jesus with a star, a scripture passage, and a dream, enlighten our imaginations and our outreach.


Traditions :: Star Words + Chalk House Blessings

There's very little information in scripture or anywhere regarding Jesus' early life, but many traditions have grown up around Christmas and Epiphany. Traditions such as naming three kings Melchior, Kaspar, and Balthazar, traditions like decorated evergreen trees, carols and songs, and giving gifts rooted in creation are ways we make Jesus' life real to ourselves and our neighbors. Traditions are ways of incarnating, enfleshing, embodying the Nativity or birth account. You've likely noticed our Christmas Story combines narratives from Luke's gospel and from Matthew's.

Stars are the epiphany symbol! As an alternate or in addition to New Year's resolutions, there's a recent practice of choosing a star word early in the new year as a guide for the upcoming year. You can ask someone else to suggest one, or in the Spirit claim a word to light your path the way a star led the magi.

Blessing your dwelling (house, apartment, office, workshop, studio, retail space, etc.) with chalk is an historical practice for New Year's Day, Epiphany, or any time. An internet search will provide resources to make the blessing short and simple or long and elaborate. The inscription for this year is 20+C+M+B+25—the calendar year with CMB sandwiched in the middle.

CMB can stand for traditional magi names Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, or it can be initials for Christus Mansionem Benedicat / May Christ Bless this House. Although Latin "house" is similar to English mansion for a huge dwelling (or manse for the pastor's house that's not usually very big), it doesn't imply large. It's a home, a way station, a stayover place. You can bless the entraway and/or separate rooms.