The Simplicity of Epiphany
At Epiphany, everything shifts. As opposed to celebrating the birth and life of Jesus as we have been doing, Epiphany calls us to ministry, to evangelism, to reaching out.
A Simple Call
It’s all about Jesus. Epiphany, in fact, celebrates the wise men coming to see Jesus. Jesus, the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, not just the sins of a small group of people. And therefore all are invited to come and follow him.
John 1:43-48 gives us a picture of Philip’s call. Jesus is walking, and he decides to go to Galilee. He is looking for people, and he finds Philip. We don’t know how he knew Philip or if the two had any prior conversations. Some have conjectured that Philip was a disciple of John and saw Jesus at his baptism. But all it took was for Jesus to approach Philip and extend a very simple call: “Follow me.”
With that, something happened to Philip, because he got so excited that he decided to go right away and tell Nathanael, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth” (John 1:45). And before the end of the passage, there are four or five followers of Jesus beginning to circle around him as the core cadre of the new disciples, each of whom is called and found in his own way.
Nathanael’s call came through a miracle. Jesus said to him, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
We can imagine Nathanael’s wonder: “How did he know that? I didn’t see Jesus when I was sitting there!” This clear supernatural insight was the door that opened to let Nathanael know Jesus was more than just a traveling rabbi. And his response: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel” (John 1:49) reveals the two acclamations that showed Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Messiah.
A Simple Task
In one of our collects, we pray, “that we would share the divine life of him.” And that’s the assumption of the Epiphany season. We’re not just seeing what Jesus did but committing ourselves to be instruments through which Jesus also continues to call people to follow him, to come to know the Christ, to serve others.
When I think about that call, I notice something about Jesus that flows all through the Gospel of John: his inner self-containment. He has that capacity to receive from his Father in such a way that what flows out is service. It’s gift. It’s not manipulation. It’s not trying to get somebody to do something I want.
In other words, if I’m going to share the divine life of Jesus and be a channel through which others are invited to follow him, I must have an inner security in my relationship with God. I have received from God the kind of forgiveness, the kind of peace, the kind of mercy, the kind of affirmation, that allows me to walk into a day and say, “I’m here to serve.”
Whether my needs are met or not is beside the point. I’m here to serve. I’m here to give into the lives of other people, and truly trust that as I am giving, God’s going to take care of the needs of my heart.
A Simple Prayer
So if I’m going to be one who shares Christ’s divine life, and live in that way through this Epiphany season, being available for God to use me to reach out in service, that others might come and follow him, everything starts with this prayer: “God, work in me the kind of inner peace and security in you that I might be free to step out, not knowing what the results might be.”
Because as you know, sometimes the results mean acceptance, sometimes rejection, sometimes scorn, sometimes curiosity. You even see it in Philip when he says, “We have found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.”
“Nazareth?” Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46).
And what you don’t see is Philip backpedaling: “Oh no, no, no; wait a minute. He was also born in Bethlehem.” His attitude is just “Come and see,” not “Let me try to figure out a way to get out of the question.”
Even in this passage, we notice a security in the disciples that is, in fact, a call to us to be secure in Jesus. For God to do whatever is necessary in us for that to happen, so that it’s about service, and giving, and having the kind of inner peace and contentment that allows us to serve.
The result? We will be a channel of the divine life that is calling other people to follow him.
How have you been a channel of Jesus’ life? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer.
(This post is an adaptation of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on Jan. 5, 2017, in the Diocesan Chapel of the Diocesan Office, Orlando.)
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.