The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
We are now in the season called Epiphanytide, which means the time of epiphany. Epiphany is a Greek word and it means to show forth. Epiphanytide is the time between Epiphany, which is on January 6, and Lent, when we remember how Jesus showed himself to be, without doubt, God the Son. The readings during this time underline the fact that Jesus had the characteristics and the power of God, and could use them as God uses his power. We will be seeing and hearing about the miracles through which Jesus demonstrated his power over nature, over life and death, over human beings and over demons and the Devil himself.
It is important, during Epiphanytide, to hold in the front of our minds the reason why Jesus was born as a human baby, and grew up as a human person, who was also fully God. God had communicated with the people he had made, from the very beginning. God had made all creation, and he had given the people he had created very clear instructions. If you read the Old Testament, you will notice how clear and complete God's instructions and laws are. But, as time went on, the people began to fall away from a strict observance of God's laws. For some of them, it might have been laziness. For others, it might have been lack of interest. Still others might have wanted to "do their own thing." And some, as we read through much of the Old Testament, wanted to be like their neighbors or friends, who did not know God and did not keep God's laws.
Over the years, God punished the people who broke his laws. But that did not work very well. For a short time after Israel was defeated in a battle, or after a drought or famine, the people would observe the laws, but sooner or later they would drift away from their observances again. God sent prophets to remind people and give them "pep talks" but this also did not work too well. It was easy to ignore the sermons the prophets preached...any teenager and any parent knows that! It was easy to simply walk away from the prophets. And some folks even chased the prophets out of town or tried to kill them, when their preaching became too uncomfortable to listen to.
Finally, God came himself, as God the Son, Jesus, to show the people in a hands-on way how to live according to God's laws, and how to understand God's master plan for everyone. But, of course, most people did not know that Jesus is God the Son. So he had to prove to the people that he was, and is, God. He needed to demonstrate that he had all the power of God, and that he could use it as God himself was known to use his power. The miracles we will be reading about amounted to a credibility test, or a proclamation of Jesus' true identity. And, of course, a lot of people didn't catch on. They simply thought that it was magic, or that their eyes and ears were fooling them, or maybe their minds were so strongly stubborn that they simply refused to believe what they saw and heard.
It is fairly clear, I think, that the Old Testament is full of epiphanies, the showing-forth of God's identity and power in different ways. The Gospels consist of many stories of the various epiphanies of Jesus, the times he proved his identity and power through doing miracles. And the rest of the New Testament tells how the leaders of the early Church proved that they were truly filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to do God's work in the world.
That power is still at work in the world today. The power of God, acting through the Holy Spirit, is all around us. We all know that the Bible says that God is everywhere, and we cannot find any place where God is not. We remember that when Jesus left the disciples and returned to heaven, he promised that he would always be with us, through the Holy Spirit who would continue to live with us and guide us. And if we are truly Christians, we will take these promises very seriously.
Each of us has been given the Holy Spirit at our baptism, confirmation, and, if we are ordained, at our ordination. In each giving of the Holy Spirit, we are given the Spirit's powers for specific uses and tasks. You might want to read the Baptismal, Confirmation and Ordination services in your Prayer Book to help you understand this better. But the fact remains that the Holy Spirit is still very much present in the Church, and we still hear about miracles occurring that demonstrate the presence and power of the Spirit among Christians.
I would like to suggest a kind of informal Epiphanytide observance that you could do. It does not require any materials or any
commitment of time, money or duties. What I would suggest is that every day during Epiphanytide, you try to be alert and aware to see how God is showing his power to you that day. It might be something as simple as noticing that the sun has risen again this morning; it might be something as complicated as a person who was desperately sick getting well even when the doctor had told us that was not likely to happen. It might be a letter from a friend you had not heard from for years. It might be a new baby in the family. It might be some teenager's record-breaking performance at an athletic event, or an inspiring sermon you have heard, or a book or magazine article that really "hit home" with you. It could be something like the fact that the pre-Christmas snowstorm in the Denver area did not result in any deaths at all, or it could be your Christmas amaryllis had a huge number of extraordinarily lovely flowers. God shows himself to us in many different ways, and one of the reasons the Church gives us the season of Epiphany is to help us become aware of the many ways in which God shows himself to us. Why not concentrate on looking for proofs of God's presence and power among us, and giving thanks for his faithfulness in dwelling with us at all times and in all places?
Amen.
