Last Sunday, Sabeth, in her sermon, got us started into
the Epiphany season
by
defining the word itself as manifesting, shining forth.
Each Sunday during the season we hear in the Gospel
reading
examples
of how Jesus manifested himself as the Light of the world.
We start with a star shining over the baby Jesus,
and
we end the season with the Transfiguration,
in
which Jesus manifests a literal blinding white brilliance of light.
But first, today, consider for a moment the Old Testament
reading.
It is the call of Samuel – and note this: the child didn’t
get to decide his course.
It
was chosen for him.
Samuel was called to be a servant of God, a prophet to
convey God’s message:
first
to Eli, the priest,
then
to Saul chosen as the first king,
and
later to David, the man after God’s own heart.
God called Samuel to be God’s servant and prophet.
We may think that we have chosen to be here this morning.
We usually are operating under the illusion of our own
autonomy.
We are here because we are drawn here by God through
Jesus.
John 12:32 – “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all people to
myself.”
Like Samuel, we are put in the holy place,
Samuel
with the tabernacle where the Arc of the Covenant was kept,
and
in the company of the priest.
Under that holy influence he was then open to hearing
God’s call.
We also here are in a holy place,
the
reserve sacrament, the consecrated bread and wine,
in
the tabernacle of the Ambry with the perpetual light
to
indicate the Holy Presence.
When we come here week by week, we are put under the
influence
of
holy words, of taking into our hands holy things,
of
taking into ourselves the Body and Blood of Jesus.
We, like Samuel, are in a vulnerable place in which we may
hear God’s call.
Hold that thought, and we now turn to the Gospel reading.
John’s Gospel account of the calling of the first
disciples
is
far different from the Synoptic Gospel accounts:
accounts
of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew, James and John,
which
you will get next Sunday from the Gospel of Mark.
In the Gospel reading for today we are coming in at the
middle of a story.
It starts with two disciples of John the Baptist.
John
points to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God,”
and they head off after him
drawn
by their curiosity or whatever – they are drawn to him.
Jesus asks them what they seek.
They
want to know where he is coming from, what he is about,
and
he says to them, “Come and see.”
After spending a short time with him, mere hours,
they
are irresistibly drawn in.
They have been called.
Andrew, one of the two, goes and gets his brother Peter.
Then Philip gets called directly by Jesus.
Philip tells Nathaniel,
and
Nathaniel has his encounter with Jesus.
Each of them had their own title for Jesus, what the saw
in Jesus –
Messiah,
Christ, Prophet, Son of God, King of Israel.
We are led to believe that these are their Epiphanies of
Jesus,
using
that common usage of the word, meaning insight.
But, as Sabeth said in her sermon last week,
the
meaning of the word Epiphany is a shining forth,
a
manifestation, a light of revelation.
Jesus doesn’t respond to any of those titles they give
him.
Instead he presents to Nathaniel a whole new image and
concept of himself,
a
new way of manifesting God,
a
connecting point, between earth and heaven, as a ladder,
between
the created, physical environment we live in
and
the divine Presence of God.
Jesus reveals himself as “axis mundi,” the point where it
all comes together,
where
God and humanity are joined in perfect union,
where
others can then access God through Jesus.
That is the Epiphany moment in this Sunday’s readings;
that
is the Epiphany.
The Eastern Orthodox Church made much of that ladder.
Their chief theologian, their equivalent of Thomas
Aquinas,
St.
John Climacus wrote The Ladder of
Perfection,
Jesus
as the perfection of union with God
giving
us access to that same perfection of union,
in
which our humanity reaches its fulfillment.
You see, Jesus had a different title for himself
than what everyone was trying to
peg on him: his self designation was Son of Man,
son
of human being,
one
who has inherited humanity by birth
and
then manifests what it means to be fully human.
And this puts those first called by him on the line – and
all the rest of us too,
because
we are all human beings.
The purpose of discipleship is to fulfill this human
being,
and
to become/live into/be
the
manifestation, the epiphany, the shining forth of God.
What does fulfilling our humanity look like?
It
is to realize, like Jesus, a perfect self offering to the Creator.
That is fulfilling discipleship –
like
Jesus, to become a living sacrifice.
Then the followers of Jesus
become a light to the nations, the Light of the world.
I think of my own calling
which
led me to the priesthood.
My parents brought my sister and me to church every
Sunday.
I was placed under the influence of the Holy –
in
terms of the Sacraments and liturgy
and
a
stained glass window above the altar
depicting
Matthew, chapter 25,
“Inasmuch as you have done it
unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.”
The window illustrated the acts of mercy done for those in
need
according
to the parable Jesus was telling:
feeding
the hungry,
giving
something to drink to the thirsty,
welcoming
the alien,
clothing
the naked,
visiting
the sick and those in prison.
And in the center of the window illustrating meeting the
needs of the thirsty was
a feminine figure with a chalice – a holy influence on my childhood.
At age 16 I had my Samuel experience of being called.
Like Samuel I found it confusing at first.
(You
remember, Samuel thought Eli was calling him.)
My confusion was that the call I was experiencing
was
like a call to the priesthood,
but
this was 1963 and I was female, not male.
It would be 14 years before the Church caught up with the
Holy Spirit
and
opened the way for women’s ordination.
The call of God is irresistible.
We have much less of a choice in the matter than we think.
You are not here by accident.
Everyone is potentially a candidate for a discipleship
calling
that
can produce a servant useful for being a light to the world.
There is one key ingredient to calling
and
to comprehending the Epiphany,
to
fulfilling the shining forth of God in our humanity.
That is the Holy Spirit.
Those first called by Jesus, who were drawn irresistibly
to him,
followed
him throughout all he said and did,
went
through profound loss and confusion at the Crucifixion,
and
then went through profound confusion and joy at the Resurrection.
But they didn’t fully get it until the Day of Pentecost,
when
the Resurrection Presence of Jesus
became an extension of Epiphany
from
the fulfilled humanity of Jesus
into
the Apostles and all those called from then on –
the grace of God working in us to realize our potential as
human beings.
Gives cosmic scope to the expression, “be all that you can
be.”
But the point is, it is the Holy Spirit at work in us,
not
our own self-generated efforts,
that
makes it possible,
and thank God,
because
without that we certainly have not left a historical record
of
humanity manifesting God for the most part.
The calling is too important to leave all up to our own
efforts.
God
has seen to it, has provided for what is need.
If you dare, ask for the Holy Spirit to be active in your
life,
and
see what happens.
You are called, if you are open to hear it, to be a light
bearer,
to
be like Jesus, each in our own unique ways,
for the sake of the world and to the glory of God.
Think about it.
