The Epiphany of Baptism

Today, we’re going to blend the Epiphany of Christ and the Baptism of Christ, two different days in the church year, but closely related, and just a couple or few days apart, and combining them we’re left with our sermon title, the Epiphany of Baptism.

An epiphany is a revelation; it’s like an “aha” moment… Now I get it!

I remember in high school – biology class – teacher describing diffusion and osmosis… The light bulb going on… that makes sense…

Psalm 139 We are fearfully and wonderfully made…

Something that was previously unknown to us, or hidden, or not understandable, when we see it or come to understand it, that’s like an epiphany.

Another example is if you’ve only met someone on the phone or by letter or email, and then you see the person face-to-face. So that’s what you look like.

Or, if you’re expecting a baby, a child or a grandchild, and then the baby is born, and, if you didn’t know the baby’s gender, you find out if it’s a boy or a girl, and you see the baby’s face at last; it’s a wonderful revelation, to see your baby that first time, a sort of epiphany.

When you’ve been struggling to understand something, especially something you need to know, and you finally understand it, how does that make you feel? 

It’s a good feeling. Those “aha” moments are pleasant, even euphoric. We’re happy and at peace. The anxiety of not knowing or waiting to see, is gone. There’s a sense of fulfillment that comes with the epiphany of understanding or seeing something at last.

Jesus is the great Epiphany. There’s no better feeling than knowing him as he truly is.

Literally Epiphany means “appearance or manifestation”.

Jesus was the appearing of the Messiah after centuries of waiting and wondering.

People had been waiting for the Messiah, but not entirely understanding what he would be like. By the time he came, there were a number of mistaken notions that had developed about him.   

Many, perhaps most had come to see the promised Messiah as a political Savior.

But he came to earth, he appeared, an Epiphany from heaven, and the face of the Messiah was seen at last.

Isaiah prophesied that there would be nothing spectacular about his appearance.

We sing the song, Beautiful Savior, but that refers to the beauty of his holiness, and his divinity, not his physical appearance.

If we could see Jesus today the way he looked when he walked on earth 2000 years ago, we might be disappointed at his appearance. But that’s only because we don’t always judge beauty in the right way here on earth.

But in heaven, we’ll judge beauty by the holiness of it, and the love; we won’t have this Hollywood, or conventional, perception of beauty. We’ll see beauty the way God sees it.

When the Messiah came, the beauty of that Epiphany from heaven was in the character and the nature of the man.

God revealed who he truly is in the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Not a political king, not a mere celebrity, or popular personality, but a servant of God, as Isaiah prophesied in our Old Testament today, Behold my servant, whom I uphold.

And his ministry revealed who he was, and what he was like, and what his mission was: not a political mission, but a spiritual mission.

A political mission or economic mission or worldly mission, were too small things for God’s only Son; he came on a mission, not to change our lives just for this world, but ALSO to change us for the next world, to change us forever.

Misunderstanding Jesus is something we still do today. People may have a certain conception or stereotype of Christianity, or Christ, or God, but once they come to believe, and as they learn more from God’s Word, they realize they had misunderstood the gospel.

Lee Strobel…

Our mission statement is to know Christ and make Him known. This is a kind of Epiphany statement.

As we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, and enlightenment of the gospel, we grow to know Jesus better, and understand his Word more clearly, so that we can more clearly share Christ and His love with others. So that the gospel may be an epiphany that changes their lives too.  

Now where does baptism fit in to this? That’s how this Epiphany of Christ, which happened in history, and is revealed in the Gospels, comes into our lives.

First, the Baptism of Christ. It was the first thing he did to start his ministry. Not for the washing away of his sin, but for the epiphany of it, to show himself as God’s Son.

That’s why in our gospel reading, John objects to baptizing Jesus. He says, “You’re holy; You should be baptizing me.”  But Jesus told him to go ahead and do it “to fulfill all righteousness”; to reveal him as holy Son of God.

Our gospel says, ¹⁶ And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, Behold, my servant whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights. When Jesus was baptized the Father said, This is my son with whom I am very pleased.

Behold, I will put my Spirit on him. The Spirit to descended on Jesus in the form of a dove.

By doing these things, God made it known that Jesus was no self-appointed prophet. He was sent by God to be the Savior of the world; and more than that, he was the very Son of God from heaven.

This fits into the whole narrative of the gospel in Scripture. It’s presented as not a just another man-made religion, but the real thing from God Himself.

God goes through great lengths to show us the authenticity of the gospel -- through the miraculous events of Jesus birth, through the events his baptism, the opening of heaven, the descending of the Spirit, and the voice of the Father; though his miracles, which our readings focus on these Sundays after Epiphany; through Jesus being so careful to fulfill all the prophecies about the Messiah; and finally through the miracles of his resurrection, his ascension, and his sending the Holy Spirt to his disciples at Pentecost.

All these events in his life make it clear that Jesus is the authentic Messiah and the true Son of God, and so the Gospel, the good news about Jesus, is the authentic way of life.

These things have always been important to know, but now more than ever, in this age of skepticism and secularism. God has the answers to the questions we may have about the authenticity of the Gospel and the true Divinity of Christ.

God doesn’t hide this from the world; he has manifested it, made it known, an epiphany from him to us, so that we might know Him and make Him known.

Another thing the Baptism of Christ does is to provide an example for us to be baptized, so that Christ is made known to us, not just in our minds, but also in our hearts, where the Holy Spirit comes to live and abide in us. Baptism makes the Epiphany of Christ, ours!

The Epiphany of Christ is an objective thing; it happened in history. Your baptism makes the Gospel a personal epiphany. It gives you the power to say, “Aha!”, that’s who Jesus is; that’s what he does in my life.

Last Sunday we talked about living the new year in the name of Jesus. We might also say, live this new year in the Epiphany of Jesus.

Make it your goal to know him better, to see him more clearly in His Word, so that he may be more clearly seen through you, through your faith and your love; through your words and actions.

Continue to be amazed by Jesus and all that he is and does in your life. There are new “ahas”, things that will amaze you, that he wants to do in your life throughout this new year.

May the Epiphany of Christ be your joy to live by in 2017; and may the Epiphany of His peace, guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, the great Epiphany. Amen.