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Epiphany January 6th
(Monday); Year A; SOLA Lectionary Nicole Collins
Isaiah 60:1-6 ; Psalm 72:1-15;
Ephesians 3:1-12 & Matt 2:1-12
Addtl txts: Ephesians 1:3-14
& Luke 2:40-52 (2nd Sunday of Christmas)
Reigning in the Heart
My
husband the other day had a creative post about how many people actually came
to bring gifts to the baby Jesus. It
wound up becoming an interesting intellectual treatise from doctrinal positions
to history—Which makes you kind of wonder when facts or features to something
as powerful as the birth of Jesus become adiaphora.
What
if the numbers were significant? What if
it was much greater than expected and may have been 144 foreign kings, sages,
and other people of power? What if it
was a significant number to the ancient Israelites’ existential need for
identity being the number “12?” We will
never know. Three is “Trinitarian.”
Our
Luther once said in speaking to developing “heart wisdom” that in order for us
to fully live into the Priesthood of all believers we would need to become
little Christs: “As our heavenly Father
has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbor
through our body and its works, and each one should become as it were a Christ
to the other that we may be Christs to one another and Christ may be the same
in all, that is, that we may be truly Christians...”
In
stretching my sermonizing this week, I wanted to see what would happen if we
expanded that window of peering into the Word more deeply looking at both
Gospel lessons, the one assigned for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas and
the other being the Gospel for Epiphany which will be celebrated on
Monday. But you probably want to ask, where’s
the connection points between the two?
The connection point is WISDOM. What kind of wisdom you may ask? Wisdom that works through the heart to enact
transformation—this is the true sovereignty of God working in, with and through
us as we grow in spiritual formation/ discernment to be the people of GRACE God
is hoping for us to BE.
The
second Sunday of Christmas has us seeing Jesus as a young boy or as some
believe a “12 year old” seemingly disobeying his parents and running off to a
synagogue to grow as St. Luke says: “40The
child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon
him.” “52And Jesus increased in
wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.” The Greek contextually has us understand
wisdom as Sophia σοφίᾳ. We could dismiss
this as how we normally think of wisdom as head knowledge… But, Jesus disobeyed his parents Mary and
Joseph? To our surface understanding,
yes he did BUT he chose to make God the Father first.
Our
role within the Priesthood of All Believers is no less different in some ways
ONLY when we spiritually grow in discernment (spiritual formation) to possess transformed,
reconciled hearts. The Epiphany we need
to have to begin the life time journey towards sanctification. As St. Paul says in the first chapter from
Ephesians: “17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to
know him, 18so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened,
you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches
of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19and what is the
immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the
working of his great power.”
For
as St. Paul said earlier in this chapter we are heirs: “11In Christ we have also obtained an
inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who
accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our
hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.”
The
greatest difference in our understanding of being an heir, wisdom and roles is
that the purposes to roles, wisdom and heritage of God’s ARE entirely
different. We can debate as burgeoning “Biblical scholars” what the
importance of the “three Magi” or wise men from the East were to mean or allow
the greater message of the New Reign—the incarnation of God spiritually means
upon our Heart wisdom!
I was
asked once in talking through what I would be preaching without notes: is
Christ Jesus the Lord of your life? Well
was he? Did he become the center of my
life or better put, did I allow him to reign in my life, transform my heart to
grow in great knowledge to begin to live the lifestyle of GRACE? Yes, I did, I went to seminary or should I
say still am in seminary being stretched, shaped, molded into a leader for
Christ’s will to: Preach it! Teach it! Live it!—The Gospel! St. Paul in his 3rd chapter to the
Ephesians lays it out for us: “3This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ
Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2for surely you have already heard of the commission of
God’s grace that was given me for you, 3and how the mystery was made
known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, 4a reading of
which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.”
Getting back to the Gospels, in understanding paths chosen: If the Magi or myriad of many following the
star to discover Christ Jesus were to simply report to Herod their findings
perhaps Jesus would have been put in great jeopardy? They were lead however, by a different kind
of knowledge to basically lie to Herod and save the life of Jesus. Just as the boy Jesus was beginning to prioritize
internally to make the will of the Father BE his destiny!
The logic and contradictory elements of both Gospel texts are
our stumbling blocks to allowing the “Full Monty” of the Gospel have an
explosive impact upon our lives! The
Prophet Isaiah in one of his suffering servant songs instruct us: (Isaiah 60:1)
“Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept
you—rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for
your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!”
What are we afraid of?
Think of how powerful an impact God had upon the heart of the Gospel
writer Luke to talk about Jesus as a young boy growing into His role for our
salvation? Here is a fellow traveler with
St. Paul, a possible protégé to all of Paul’s spiritual gnosis, theology and
going all over the ancient East planting and helping to pastor churches! The Word of God came through him to reach and
teach the Gentile world the Gospel of GRACE—Jesus Christ. The Incarnation is the manifestation of the
beginning story of GRACE. It is also the
beginning of our discipleship journey—which is one of discernment and
focus. The light of Christ is the heart’s
wisdom to intentionally and humbly live into our commissioning into the
Priesthood of All Believers.
That star rising above where the babe Jesus lay is just the
beginning of our calling to grow up into Christ. As the temple, the boy Jesus disobeyed his
parents by staying and studying within has become Christ himself. The first and greatest church is the one
built right inside of you, the heart.
Christ Jesus must operate here first before we can even understand
ourselves as a corporate body of disciples—the steeple and the people!
I don’t know how many people have watched the 1973 classic
musical, God Spell but this song in particular talks to our need to grow in
spiritual formation—heart understanding.
It also speaks to our need to operate with Christ Jesus as the Lord of
our Lives—the true sovereign:
By My Side
Where
are you going? Where are you going?
Can
you take me with you? For my hand is cold,
And
needs warmth
Where
are you going?
Far
beyond where the horizon lies, where the horizon lies.
And
the land sinks into a mellow blueness,
Oh,
please take me with you.
Let
me skip the road with you,
I can
dare myself
I can
dare myself.
I'll
put a pebble in my shoe, and watch me walk.
I can
walk, I can walk.
I
shall call the pebble dare.
(I
shall call the pebble dare)
We
will talk together, about walking.
Dare
shall be carried
And
when we both have had enough,
I
will take him from my shoe singing,
"Meet
your new road"
Then
I'll take your hand,
finally
glad (finally glad)
That
you are here (that you are here)
By my
side, by my side, by my side.
AMEN
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