Repentance, Rupture and Revelation - thoughts for an Epiphany sermon

You can listen to this sermon here

Gate Pa – Year B -Epiphany-Baptism of our Lord 2024

Readings:

Psalm                          Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
First Reading:             Isaiah 60:1-6   
Second Reading:        Eph 3:1-12
Gospel:                       Matthew 2:1-12 and Mark 1:4-13

What I want to say and what I want to happen:
Today we have two principal feasts and should not be displaced by any other celebration.
-          Epiphany

-          Baptism of the Lord

Both stories are unsettling, intense, almost violent. They rupture the lives of those involved

What I want to happen:

Who is the God revealed in Jesus
How do we live that revelation

The Sermon

1.     Introduction

Happy Calendar new year (?)
Today is Baptism of the Lord
-         principal feast and should not be displaced by any other celebration.
Marks telling of it - version we are to use in year B
-         unsettling, intense, almost violent
Jesus wades across the Jordan to where John is baptising
As he is himself baptised in the baptism of repentance
Heavens are ripped open
Hears voice
Spirit descends like a dove
-         not a gentle dove but a dive-bombing dove that possesses Jesus
driven back across the Jordan and up into the Judean wilderness
tested by the Satan
wrestles with what it means to be “Beloved Son of God”
His life is ruptured by this baptism of repentance
There is - before baptism and after baptism
Which is what baptism is really all about
What repentance is all about
-         rupture
-         having our minds blown
-         re-orientated to a new way of being
Why for many Christians in eastern orthodox tradition
This is one of the most important days year
This is where story of God in Jesus really begins.
Quote Howard Thurman
Now the work of Christmas can begin

     2.     Epiphany

   
Yesterday was also Epiphany
-         Also principal feast and should not be displaced by any other celebration.
Day we celebrate arrival of the 3 magi
Thought they deserved to actually arrive.
-         unsettling, intense, violent
these in all likelihood Zoroastrian priests from Persia
read the stars – specially forbidden by Torah
know something is up
come looking
only find no-one in Jerusalem has noticed anything being up
arrival and questions cause wave activity and anxiety
Herod responds with fear and paranoia
Magi realise something more is up
Their visit leads to violence
-         killing all infant boys under 2
-         Joseph and Mary leaving their home in Bethlehem and fleeing to Egypt
o   Refugees
When they return at Herod’s death to do not go home
-         Start again in Galilee in Nazareth
-         Away from family and the life they had know
®   Another rupture
-         Before Magi and after Magi

      3.     Epiphany in the church

Originally Jan 6 was - coming Magi
-         Baptism of our lord
-         Wedding of Cana
Still is for much orthodox church
About revelation
Revelation of God in Jesus
This revelation made available to ALL people
What have been rupture points for us
As we reflect on this Epiphany
Who is the God revealed in Jesus
How do we live that revelation

We then watched "Rich" by Rob Bell, part of the Nooma series.

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