The Second Sunday of Epiphany (18/01/26) Glanvilles Wootton
Isaiah 49.1–7; Psalm
40.1–12; 1 Corinthians 1.1–9; John 1.29–42
The season we are in – the
season of Epiphany – is all about ‘seeing’. That’s what the word means –
something like ‘manifestation’ or ‘revelation’. It’s pretty common to say
something like, ‘I’ve had an epiphany’, when we are claiming that we have
realised something and something has dawned on us.
In our context, today, what is meant by epiphany is something very specific. It is something to do with seeing something about Jesus.
In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus speaks to his disciples in these words: blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it (Mt 13:16-17).
It’s a striking passage isn’t it? It’s pretty safe to assume that while Jesus is talking to his disciples they will be looking directly at him, and, while they are looking directly at him, he tells them that for generations before them many prophets and righteous people have longed to see what they are seeing.
For thousands of years people have been longing to see him. For thousands of years he is what the whole tradition of the Old Testament has been pointing towards.
Here’s an example from Genesis, the very first book of the OT. Adam and Eve, tempted by the serpent, have just eaten the apple that they shouldn’t have eaten, and God curses the serpent and says: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed/offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel’ (Gen 3:15).
There’s a nice tradition of calling Genesis 3:15 the ‘First Gospel’ (Protoevangelium) because it’s the Bible's initial prophecy of a future Redeemer (the "seed of the woman") who will defeat Satan (the "serpent")
Here’s another very early example from Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy, the 5th book of the OT (12-1500 BC): The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet (Deut 18:15).
I don’t think I need to go any further do I? You are all familiar with the many prophecies in the Psalms and prophets like Malachi and Zechariah, and especially Isaiah. In today’s 1st reading from Isaiah we hear God say, I will give you as a light to the nations/Gentiles. That my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth (Isa 49:6).
Even to Glanvilles Wootton up here in the Northern Hemisphere! It must have seemed like the ends of the earth to a prophet from the 8th century BC.
And now, here he is, God in the flesh, and he’s telling his listeners that what they are looking at is something that all their ancestors longed to see, and something that all humanity longs to see.
So what are we to do with all this – us Gentiles who live up here at the ends of the earth in the White Hart Vale?
Well today’s Gospel gives us several clues:
1. It’s a good idea to be a seeker. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Mt 7:7-8)
John the Baptist, who was announcing that the Messiah was on his way, is accompanied by disciples or seekers (it’s pretty well the same thing). There was a group of people around him who were seeking the Kingdom of God and hoping for God’s salvation. We are told that one of them was called Andrew and that he was Simon Peter’s brother.
2. It’s a good idea to investigate whatever it is the prophets are pointing to. Be curious. John the Baptist points to Jesus and tells his disciples that Jesus is the answer to what they are looking for, not him. So the disciples follow Jesus.
In our day it’s the Church that points people to Jesus, and tells us that the answer to everything we are looking for is in him. It’s the Church and it’s various representatives who urge us to consider Jesus as the answer to the longings of our human hearts. The Church has nothing in her own right to give us, she exists to point the way to Jesus.
3. It’s a good idea to follow Jesus, because that’s what sets us up for an encounter with him. Notice that Jesus becomes aware that the disciples of John are tailing him, and he turns towards them and asks them what it is that they are looking for. (It’s a good question to ask ourselves isn’t it? What are we looking for from our Christian faith?)
The Bible tells us that if we draw near to God He will draw near to us (Jas 4:8). When we begin to respond to the Gospel and attempt to follow Jesus, by repenting of old ways of living and developing a life of prayer and worship, we draw God’s attention, and we begin to get the sense that God wants to hear from us. He wants us to pray and to tell him what it is that we are looking for.
Those disciples come up with what seems a strange answer. Maybe they’re nervous, or maybe they’ve been caught off-guard, but I can imagine them stuttering when he asks what they’re looking for. All they can say is Rabbi, where are you staying? There are signs, however, that they are at the very beginning of a realisation (of an epiphany), because at least they call him Rabbi (teacher) and at least they want to see where he lives and what his life is like.
4. It’s a good idea to spend time with Jesus. Our prayer life should ripen into a longing to spend time with him. In Psalm 34:8 it says, Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed/happy is the one who takes refuge in him.
None of us can really put into words the joy and the peace that comes from being in God’s presence. Ask anyone with a prayer life and they will tell you.
What’s more, those with a prayer life are more likely than others to come to the realisation that Jesus truly is God in the flesh. They are more likely to do exactly what Andrew did after he spent a few hours with Jesus.
5. And that’s the final point. The passage tells us that he went from there to find his brother Simon Peter and proclaim the Gospel to him: We have found the Messiah!
Our time in prayer, and our realisation that Jesus is God in the flesh and the answer to everything we’ve ever been looking for must, somehow, leak out of us and communicate itself to others in some way. The treasure of this good news is just too good to be hoarded away and kept to ourselves.
We might not share it by preaching or evangelising, it may be that we witness to God’s love by acts of service and kindness, or a greater capacity for friendship and less regard for self. But whatever the means, the epiphany that Jesus is God in the flesh who has come for our salvation, must find its way out of our own hearts and into the hearts of others, until, as our first reading from Isaiah says, God’s salvation reaches to the ends of the earth.
Let us pray:
Blessed are you,
Sovereign God,
our light and our
salvation,
to you be glory and
praise for ever.
You gave your Christ
as a light to the nations,
and through the
anointing of the Spirit
you established us
as a royal priesthood.
As you call us into
your marvellous light,
may our lives bear
witness to your truth
and our lips never
cease to proclaim your praise.
Blessed be God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
May God bless you all.
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