God Manifests His Power to Save

The Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord (A)
January 5, 2014
Matthew 2:1-11
Preached at Holy Will UMC, Cavite
 

 
Introduction

Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. The word “epiphany” comes from the Greek word επιφανεια, epifaneia, which means ‘manifestation’. It is used only once in the Greek New Testament but at least 23 times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint. Most of the time it means ‘God showing himself to people to save them’.

Originally, the Epiphany is a celebration of the ways of how God “manifested” himself to humankind. Nowadays, the Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas Season, the Twelve Days of Christmas. But in the Early Church, it commemorated the following: Jesus’ Nativity, his Adoration by the Magi, his Baptism, and his Miracle in the Wedding at Cana. We know this because of a sermon of Peter Chrysologus (the ‘golden-worded’), a fifth-century bishop, theologian, and saint. Eventually, these events were commemorated on separate days: the Nativity became Christmas and was moved to December 25; the Adoration of the Magi remained on January 6; the Baptism of the Lord was moved to the second Sunday of January; and the Miracle in Cana on third Sunday of January (in the Revised Common Lectionary, only every Year C).

The Epistle to the Hebrews says that God “…at sundry times and in divers manners spake of old to the father by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son” (1:1 John Wesley New Testament). In these events—the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Baptism, and the Wedding Cana—how did God manifest himself through his Son, Jesus Christ?

 

I. The Nativity: God with Us

The Nativity of the Lord was the first manifestation of God to us through his Son, Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is called עִמָּנוּ אֵל, Immanuel, ‘God with Us’ (literally, With-us-[is]-God) (Matthew 1:24; cf. Isaiah 7:14). In the Gospel of Luke, the angels sang at his birth: “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace: goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:13-14). And how is the glory of God show? By a “babe, wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger” (v. 12). As Peter Chrysologus said in his sermon, the Child was “…heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body.”

 

Lastly, the Gospel of John calls Jesus the “Word”: “In the beginning existed the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (v. 1). “And the Word as made flesh, and tabernacle among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth” (v. 14). In Jesus Christ, “the Word…made flesh” God has spoken to us!

 

 

II. The Adoration of the Magi

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea, as Star rose in the East and it was seen by the Magi, Wise Men from the East. John Wesley wrote in his Notes upon the New Testament:

Wise Men—The first fruits of the Gentiles. Probably they were Gentile philosophers, who, through the Divine assistance, had improved their knowledge of nature, as a means of leading to the knowledge of the one true God. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose, that God had favored them with some extraordinary Revelations of himself, as he did Melchisedek, Job, and several others, who were not of the family of Abraham; to which he never intended absolutely to confine his favors. The title given them in the original was anciently given to all philosophers, or men of learning; those particularly who were curious in examining the works of nature, and observing the motions of the heavenly bodies. From the east—So Arabia is frequently called in Scripture. It lay to the east of Judea, and was famous for gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The Magi were the first among the Gentiles to be believers of the Lord Jesus Christ (just as the shepherds were the first among the Jews to be believers in him). How did they come to believe in him. God showed them the Star in the East. About this Star, John Wesley wrote in his Notes, “Undoubtedly they had before heard Balaam's prophecy [in Numbers 24:17—G]. And probably when they saw this unusual star, it was revealed to them that this prophecy was fulfilled.”

The Bible is not a story of men struggling to know and reach God; ultimately it is God who stooped down and made himself known to men. The shepherds were not looking for the Child Jesus; it was revealed to them by the angel. The Magi were not in a search for a child who is “born King of the Jews”; it was God who brought them to his Son by the light of his Star.

 

 

III. The Baptism of the Lord

Next Sunday we will be celebrating the Baptism of the Lord in the River Jordan by St. John the Baptist. In his Baptism, God revealed his as his only-begotten Son: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I delight” (Matthew 3:17). Peter Chrysologus said,

Today, as the psalmist prophesied: “The voice of the Lord is heard above the waters” [Psalm 29:3]. What does the voice say? “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” Today the Holy Spirit hovers over the waters in the likeness of a dove. A dove announced to Noah that the flood had disappeared from the earth; so now a dove is to reveal that the world’s shipwreck is at an end forever.

We will talk more about the Baptism of the Lord next Sunday.

 

 

IV. The Miracle at the Wedding in Cana

The Miracle at the Wedding in Cana is when Jesus turned water into wine. Peter Chrysologus compares this to the wine and water in the Holy Eucharist. In Catholic and Orthodox churches, they follow the custom of adding a small amount of water to the wine in the chalice. (Actually, the Orthodox use warm water to symbolize the “fervor of the Holy Spirit”, among other things.)

Today Christ works the first of his signs from heaven by turning water into wine. But water has still to be changed into the sacrament of his blood, so that Christ may offer spiritual drink from the chalice of his body, to fulfill the psalmist’s prophecy: How excellent is my chalice, warming my spirit.

The Miracle at the Wedding in Cana is called as σημειον, sēmeion, which means ‘sign’ in Greek. The turning of water into wine is a sign of the power of Jesus to transform. Just as he transformed water into wine, he has the power to change people’s lives: in the next chapter, Jesus talks about a person having the need to be “born again” (3:3) “by water and the Spirit” (v. 5). This “born again experience is not mere intellectual assent (“Accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior”) but through the Sacrament of Baptism: “There we are buried with him in baptism into death, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4)

(See sermon on turning “Water into Wine” from January 2012 here.)

Conclusion: The power to save

The theme of Epiphany is the manifestation of God to human beings in his power to save.

In his Nativity, the Lord Jesus, who is “God with us”, was born in order that “he might save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

In his Epiphany, when he was adored by the Magi, Jesus was manifested to the Gentiles by the leading of a Star. In the gifts of the Magi, he is shown as “King and God and Sacrifice”.

In his Baptism, Jesus was manifested as the only-begotten Son of God, who baptism is a prefiguring of the washing away of our sins.

In his Miracle at the Wedding in Cana, Jesus showed his power to have things and people transformed.