Living Baptized: Day 6
Readings for January
6: Isaiah 66:1-20, psalm 45: 1-7, Luke 3:21-38
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord, although in
most churches I am sure it was celebrated yesterday. This is the day that the Wise Men came to the
toddler Jesus in the house where He and His parents were living. Epiphany means “a usually sudden
manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something”
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary.) How
fitting then that on this day we read not the story of the wise men, but the
story of His baptism. It is at His
Baptism that we get a clear vision of who Christ is. As the Voice that came from heaven said, “You
are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”
“Jesus goes up out of the water...for with Himself He
carries up the world...and sees the heaven opened which Adam had shut against
himself and all his posterity, as the gates of Paradise by the flaming sword.
And the Spirit bears witness to His Godhead, for he descends upon One that is
like Him, as does the Voice from Heaven (for He to Whom the witness is borne
came from thence), and like a Dove, for He honours the Body (for this also was
God, through its union with God) by being seen in a bodily form; and moreover,
the Dove has from distant ages been wont to proclaim the end of the Deluge. But
if you are to judge of Godhead by bulk and weight, and the Spirit seems to you
a small thing because He came in the form of a Dove, O man of contemptible
littleness of thought concerning the greatest of things, you must also to be
consistent despise the Kingdom of Heaven, because it is compared to a grain of
mustard seed; and you must exalt the adversary above the Majesty of Jesus,
because he is called a great Mountain, and Leviathan and King of that which
lives in the water, whereas Christ is called the Lamb, and the Pearl, and the
Drop and similar names.”
We first realize the glory of Christ at the annunciation of
His birth by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary; then again when Mary visits
Elizabeth; then again at His birth; then again on Epiphany; then again at His
Baptism; then again at His transfiguration; then again at the triumphant entry
into Jerusalem; then again on the cross; then again at His resurrection; then
again at His ascension; and finally we will see it when He comes again in
glory. Think about that. Think about how those stories are so
different, yet so interconnected. On
opposite ends of His life, you have His birth and His death on the cross, both
humble, both small, both fully in power and seemingly powerless. We have next Epiphany and the triumphal
entry, both glorious, both involving other people realizing who Christ is. And in the center we have His baptism and His
Transfiguration, both times heaven and earth God the Father and God the Son in
communion with one another. And to
mirror this we have His resurrection, fully in power from being seemingly powerless;
His ascension, where the disciples see him Ascend in glory, and they realizing
who Christ is; and when He comes again in Glory and we shall see Him face to face,
just as we got glimpses of His glory at His baptism and transfiguration.
And so my Epiphany prayer is this:
Dear Heavenly Father,
on this day when the magi traveled to greet Your Son, may we journey ever
closer to You. Shine in our hearts like
the star that led the magi so that we may have a light to follow to the path of
righteousness. Keep us ever strong in
our faith, and when we fall off the path, help us back on. For you live enthroned in Heaven above with
the Son and the Holy Spirit. This we
pray through Christ our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all human
understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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