Scripture Readings: Nehemiah 8:1–10 | Psalm 19 | 1 Corinthians 12:12–31 | Luke 4:14–21

“And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:20-21).

What’s your story?

We all have a story we live within. Whether we think about it much or not, we all tend to see our world, and our place within it, not simply as a random series of moments and events, but as a story… a narrative that connects all of these moments together… giving them a greater sense of meaning, and direction… and helping us make sense of our pasts, our present, and our future… a sense of where  we’ve come from, and where we’re headed. Of the challenges we’ve faced, the friendships we’ve forged… and the hopes and fears ahead of us.

And we don’t only have our personal stories… we have our communal stories too. The stories that shape our relationships, our families, our neighbourhoods… and our nations. St. Luke’s has a story… a way of understanding where have we come from, and where are we headed now.

We also share in the stories of Southern New Brunswick, the Maritimes, and Canada… as well as all of the other places we’ve lived, and the groups that we have belonged to. 

We all have a story, a way of seeing our world, and our place within it. And right now, a lot of our stories, and those of our neighbours are being shaken up by events far from our home, and by people that we’ve never met… people intent on spreading their own stories about the world… using fear, and prejudice, and selfishness to try to seize as much of the world as they can for themselves.

And it can be really frightening and disheartening when our stories get shaken up… when others challenge the way that we see ourselves and our world… threatening our hopes for the future, and filling our hearts and minds with new uncertainties and worries.

And as unsettling as this can be, we also know it’s nothing new. Bullies and tyrants have always been making use of their own stories to try to crush the wills and intimidate those who might otherwise stand in their way. Propaganda and outright lies have long been spread to reshape how everyday people understand the world, and our place in it… twisting the truth to convince us to just go along with their plans.

For some light reading, I’ve recently been working my way through the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich… an account of how the Nazi Party rose to power, and then eventually fell apart. According to this author, it seems that so much of their so-called success came about through blatant belligerence and outright lies offered again and again until most people either agreed with them, or gave in under the pressure and just went along, trying to appease the insatiable self-centred greed and pride of those driven by their terrible quest for power.

Eighty years later, we might see a few parallels with some current events at work. I don’t think there’s much need to get into specifics, or focus on stoking up fears. I bring this up mainly to make this point: how do we chose not to get swept up by these kinds of stories? To not let them reframe our understanding of our world, and of our place within it?
How do we not give ourselves over to the lies of tyrants on the one hand, or on the other hand, how do we not become so fixated on them, that we spend our days paralyzed by fear, or frantically trying to distract ourselves, and regain some sense of control?

I believe that one of the most important things we can do in times like these is to remember our story! 

To remember that, regardless of all the lies and the threats that the tyrants of today may say, and whatever they may do, we have received truly Good News that they can never undo. Good News that offers to us all a very different vision of our world, and our place within it. The Good News that the Living God alone is Lord of all, and His Good Kingdom will never end.

Our first reading this morning from the book of Nehemiah, takes place at a crucial moment for the people of Judah. They had just recently returned from Exile in Babylon, and had begun rebuilding not only the buildings, and structures of their ancient homeland, but were starting to rebuild their whole way of life as God’s covenant people.

Remember, the people of Judah had lost everything. Decades before the days of Nehemiah, the Kingdom of Judah had been devastated. Most of the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding region had been deported by their proud and powerful neighbouring nation, the Empire of Babylon. The Holy Temple of Yahweh, the Living God had been desecrated and destroyed. Their kingdom and royal line had been overthrown. The Promised Land that God had swore to give to their ancestors had been completely overrun by their enemies. 
 
We might see some more parallels here to many other stories both in the past, and today. Think of Poland in 1939. Or Eastern Ukraine or Gaza today. Places where entire communities have just been wiped away by war. And think about those who continue to make use of outright threats of violence, or other forms of oppression and exploitation to try to gain power for themselves. 

But then, against all expectations, the Empire of Babylon fell… and it fell hard. God did not allow them in their pride and quest for greatness, to carry on forever. They were overthrown suddenly by their neighbours to the East: the armies of the Medes and Persians. Suddenly, the terrible might of Babylon was shattered forever.

And just as unexpectedly, under the Persians, God’s people in Exile were offered the chance to return home… to go back and rebuild Jerusalem. Not quite the same as before… not with the same level of independence, as they were now part of the Persian Empire. Moving forward, their story had changed. They had been greatly humbled, but lived now with a renewed sense of hope that God had not given up on them.

What happened when the Exiles returned is a pretty long story. But our reading today from Nehemiah tells of one of the incredibly important steps they took: retelling and remembering their story… God’s story.

After centuries of unfaithfulness that led up to the Exile, and then decades of living under the shadow of Babylon, and their proud and idolatrous propaganda… the remnants of Judah needed to be reminded of the truth… they needed to recall the real story of the world, and their place in it. A counter-story to the ones that all those around them were telling: the story of the Living God, and their special role within His hope-filled work in the world.

Nehemiah 8:2-3, “Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.” 

Now the English word “law” here is the word “Torah”, which means not just ‘law’ as in a list of rules… but “teaching” or “instruction”… and it is also the name for the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy… which is not so much a collection of laws as it is a story… a narrative account of how God’s people came to be… a story of how God chose them to be a community shaped by His holiness, goodness, and love… a story of their own repeated failures to stay true to the Lord, and also of His great mercy and forgiveness, and unending faithfulness. 

And it’s a story that pointed forward to the prophets, and to God’s promised Messiah, and His coming Kingdom… a story that held out the hope of all nations Jew and Gentile alike, bound together, not by fear, or pride, or greed, but by the Living God’s saving love.

This was the story that God’s people were called to remember, and to live out, even when everyone else around them thought they were foolish, or mad. This story called them to live faithfully, choosing to stay true to God’s holy ways, even when it meant fighting hard against the cultural currents that kept pushing them the other way.

To be God’s people, they needed to know their story, and to stick to it. To place their hopes and faith in what God was up to, and let this story continue to reshape their vision, and their actions day by day.

And so, the practice of retelling the story of God was passed down over the centuries… developing into the practices of reading Scripture together in synagogue week after week… retelling God’s story so that His people could continue to live it out. To keep their hopes alive, and their fears refocused, and kept in perspective, preserving their faith despite all the stories to by the many Empires that rose and fell all around them.

And several centuries after our reading from Nehemiah, as St. Luke tells it, Jesus of Nazareth comes onto the scene, entering His hometown synagogue, reading the Holy Scriptures, and claiming that the time has finally come for the key part of God’s great story to be fulfilled.

Turning to the Book of Isaiah Chapter 61, Jesus reminds those present of the true hope at the heart of their story: the Good News that God’s deliverance has drawn near, and that His Kingdom has finally come.

Isaiah 61:1-2a,
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, 
because the Lord has anointed me; 
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, 
to bind up the brokenhearted, 
to proclaim liberty to the captives, 
and release to the prisoners; 
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…”
 
These are the first words in St. Luke’s Gospel that Jesus preaches, and they mark the beginning of His public ministry. But shockingly, He claims this word of hope has now been fulfilled. This Good News is not simply talking about some far off future… it is for today! In Him! Jesus places Himself at the centre of God’s story… that He is the fulfillment of God’s promises to rescue God’s people, to bring to them the Good News of God’s salvation… the source of new life to those who seemed powerless, abandoned, and forgotten.

Next week we’ll look a bit closer at this claim, and at the people’s response. For today, it’s enough for us to remember that this is the Good News of our story too! Jesus Christ really is the centre of God’s Story, and in Him, we see the living heart of what the LORD has done, and is doing. 

And it’s a story of saving love, through and through. Setting aside all earthly honour and glory, Jesus Christ, God’s beloved Son humbled Himself. He faced head on the fears and the struggles of His people. He bore their sorrows and pain, and brought help and healing and hope to those sitting in darkness… and freedom to those bound by sin and evil… and He gave up His life at the cross… allowing Himself to be ridiculed, shamed, and brutally tortured to death for all to see… crushed by the power of Rome.

And yet, God did not abandon His Son to death. Three days later, Christ Jesus rose again from the grave, overthrowing the powers of hell, once and for all. And He still lives! And even now, He reigns alongside the Father. And He will return to set our world right again, once and for all. And when He does, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that He as Lord.

This is where our story’s headed. This is the Good News that we have come to believe: that Jesus Christ alone is Lord. That our Saviour King shall reign forever. And no matter what the vain kingdoms of the earth may say or do, this truth will never fail.

And today, in our own lives, we Christians are called to continue remembering this story, and to stick to it. And in our second reading today from the first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul gives us an important example of what it looks like to live out this story.

St. Paul spent many years travelling about the Eastern Roman Empire, spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ among people who were largely convinced that the tyrant Caesar was Lord, and establishing Church communities where new Christians could begin to live God’s ways together. 

St. Paul worked hard to help these confused Christian communities come to understand the massive implications of the Good News that they had received… and to live out the story of the Risen Christ. 

From his letters, we know that the Church in Corinth was deeply divided. There were filled with factions and infighting… and busy arguing over which party was more spiritual, more important, more powerful, and so on. 

Sadly, these disputes have more that a few modern parallels within the worldwide Church, as many of us Christians today still struggle with the impulse to turn away from each other… to cut ourselves off from each other, and spurn those who are different from us.

And so, one of St. Paul’s tasks was to help them (and us) to see that it is precisely in learning how to love and embrace one another that we are living out the story of Jesus. This is how we share in, and show the world, what the saving love of God looks like, by putting His saving, reconciling love into practice with one another. 

1 Corinthians 12:12-13, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” 

St. Paul goes on to speak about how different members of a body are all still mutually dependent. They may be very different in function, appearance, and even honour, but are all working together in harmony for the benefit of all. 

In our world, so many keep turning against one another… fighting for supremacy, and despising those who are different. But Jesus our Risen Lord has commanded us to follow Him on another way. Which is why we must always remember our story! 

Remember the Good News of what God has done in and through Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to Himself, and to draw all nations together into His eternal Kingdom. 

We are called to remember that God does not show favoritism, but intends to unite all peoples to Himself through His Son Jesus. We are called to remember that the Lord opposes the proud, and lifts up the lowly, and that kingdoms founded on fear, and hatred, and greed can never endure. And that the one Spirit of God can bind us together even despite all our differences.

We remember this story, our story, every week when we gather for worship. When we confess our faith by reciting the Creeds together. When we read the story of Scripture together, as part of our worship gatherings, or as we study the Bible, together or in private. We remember this story when we pray the prayers that Jesus our Lord has given to us… when practice the new way of life that He has opened for us… when we receive the gift of His body and blood in the bread and the wine we share together at His table. 

Our story is Jesus’ story. And so, when we find ourselves shaken by what’s going on in our world, let us remember His story… the Good News of God’s saving love. And whatever challenges we face, today, or in the days to come, thanks be to God we know where His story is headed: and that His Good Kingdom will never end. Amen.

​​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 43:1–7 | Psalm 29 | Acts 8:14–17 | Luke 3:15–22

​“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; 
I have called you by name, you are mine. 
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; 
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; 
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, 
and the flame shall not consume you. 
For I am the Lord your God, 
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:1b-3).

How hard is it to ask for help? 

I guess it depends on the context, doesn’t it? Personally, I know there are lots of times when I can find it pretty easy to ask for help. Like when I’m in an unfamiliar store, and looking for something specific. In that instance, I’d much rather just ask someone else for directions than waste my time wandering around.

Of course, there are other times when asking for help seems a whole lot less easy… like when I think I already know how to do something… or when I want to prove, either to myself or to those around me, that I am capable and strong enough to handle the challenge I’m facing all by myself. That’s when my pride certainly gets in the way of asking for help. 

Or when I simply don’t want anybody else to know what I’m going through… when I am too ashamed to share my struggles… and worried that others will think less of me, or look down on me if I let them know about my weaknesses. That’s when shame stops me from reaching out.

Now we all have our own times when, and reasons why we might find it really hard to ask for help. But the reality is: there are some problems we will face in life that are just too big for us to face alone.

The Good News is, of course, we don’t have to face them alone! We are not simply left to fend for ourselves in this life. Our Saviour stands with us always. 

Today we Christians celebrate the Baptism of the Lord: retelling the story of how Jesus Christ, God’s Son chose to step into our shoes… wade into the waters that threaten to overwhelm us, and share the lot of us sinners… to save us.

The Baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of His earthly ministry… His first steps along the path to become the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. 

But long before Jesus stepped into the Jordan River… long before He was born of Mary… the Living God had been preparing His people for Christ’s arrival... revealing Himself not only as their Almighty Sovereign, but also as their Divine Helper.

The whole story of Scripture depicts Yahweh, the Living God, as the One who longs to rescue the oppressed… to bind up the broken, lift up the lowly, and set the captives free. And all throughout Israel’s story, God proves to be their faithful deliverer. The One who comes to their aid, and who refuses to abandon them, despite their many mistakes… allowing them at times to face the grave consequences of their sins, but at the same time, always eager to step in and show them His mercy and steadfast love.     

And this is the context for our first reading from Isaiah 43. God’s people had been in the Promised Land for several centuries… enjoying God’s great generosity and divine protection from their enemies. But despite this, Israel had also turned away from the Lord in their hearts, and in their daily lives: worshipping idols, perverting justice, oppressing the poor, and refusing to walk in God’s holy ways. Much of the writings of Isaiah make it clear that Israel had made a big mess of things, and so they would have to face some big consequences: Exile was coming. God would allow His unfaithful people to have everything taken from them… their land, their possessions, their communities… and they would have to live as strangers in the land of Babylon.
 
But even so, Isaiah shared the Good News that God would not abandon His people. Far from it. And in today’s reading we hear God’s words of promise, that despite all of their sins, the Lord Himself would deliver them. 

Isaiah 43:1-3, “But now thus says the Lord, 
he who created you, O Jacob, 
he who formed you, O Israel: 
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; 
I have called you by name, you are mine. 
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; 
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; 
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, 
and the flame shall not consume you. 
For I am the Lord your God, 
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

And further down, verses 5-7, 
“Do not fear, for I am with you; 
I will bring your offspring from the east, 
and from the west I will gather you; 
I will say to the north, “Give them up,” 
and to the south, “Do not withhold; 
bring my sons from far away 
and my daughters from the end of the earth— 
everyone who is called by my name, 
whom I created for my glory, 
whom I formed and made.”

With these words, and many more like them, God called His people throughout the Old Testament to trust in Him, and to turn back to Him, even when they’ve completely messed up everything… God Himself would be with them. He would stand by them… and not forsake them. He would come to their rescue. 

And so, many centuries after God’s people returned from Babylon, and tried to rebuild their lives in the land… at the right time, God sent John the Baptist to prepare His people for the arrival of their Saviour King. John’s ministry of baptism at the Jordan River stood as an invitation for God’s people to seek the Lord’s forgiveness… to seek out a new beginning, a fresh start, both as individuals, and as a renewed community.

It was a call to humble themselves. To let go of their pride and acknowledge that they all really needed God’s help. To confess that they could not turn their own stories around alone. That they needed His salvation.

And it was a call to own up to the brokenness of their own lives. To publicly own the fact that they had really messed up and sinned… falling far short of the glory of God, and His holy purposes for His people. It was a call to face their own guilt and shame, and bring themselves honestly before God seeking His mercy.

John was calling God’s people to draw near to the Lord again, and to stop playing games… to show up as themselves… as those in desperate need of help, turning to God with their whole lives in the hopes that He really would save them.

That invitation echoes down to us today as well. In whatever mess we may find ourselves in… in our times of distress and desperation, we too are called to draw near to God… not as we wish we were, but as we are… with our worries and weaknesses… with our mistakes and failures… we are invited to trust, and turn our eyes to the Lord, and to wholeheartedly seek His help.

But as we read on in the Gospel, we find that God offers us so much more than the help we might ever have expected, or dare to ask for… and nothing could really prepare us for the surprising scandal of what happens next. 

For Jesus Christ, God’s perfect, sinless Son, does not just come to the river to pardon and extend forgiveness to those who turned to God in faith. That would be wonderful enough… but He does so much more! 

He steps into the waters Himself. Jesus identifies Himself fully with those who had turned their backs on God, and rejected His holy ways. Jesus wades into their messed up circumstances and chooses to make them His own. He doesn’t stand by while His people and His world struggle to stay afloat… in His baptism, Jesus binds Himself to those who are drowning, doomed, and completely dependent on the mercy of God alone to deliver them.

And John doesn’t miss the point, or the scandal of it all, which is why in St. Matthew’s account, John is so confused by Jesus’s actions.  John knows that Jesus doesn’t need to turn Himself around to be at one with God like everyone else… and that in fact, it’s John himself that needs to be set free by God’s Messiah… the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

But Jesus knows that this is how God’s great deliverance will be made complete: by binding Himself completely to sinners, so that they can be saved in and through Him.

And Jesus is right! This is God’s will for His beloved Son. And as Christ is baptized, John sees “the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22).

In this moment of public humility, but also incredible compassion and grace, stepping into the place of us sinners, Jesus is fully in line with the heart of His Father in Heaven, and filled with the Holy Spirit. The Living God, the Triune Lord is completely on the same page: choosing to be bound to our broken world, to become it’s blessed Saviour.  

Of course, Jesus’ baptism is just the beginning of this great act of deliverance… a journey that would lead to the crisis of the cross, where Christ joins Himself not only to desperate sinners seeking forgiveness, but to those already condemned to die… to be plunged into the depths of the grave for their sins… to become like them, lifeless, and completely powerless to rescue themselves. At the cross, Jesus binds Himself to us all, to our world at its very worst… choosing to lay down His life… to die bound to us… so that we might be raise up with Him.

Jesus trusted that His Father’s saving love was far more powerful even than death, and that His Father would not abandon Him, but would raise Him up again.

And the Good News of the Resurrection is that Jesus was right! After three days in the grave, God the Father raised up His Son as the new beginning of a New Creation… no longer susceptible to sin and death… but set free forever.

And this is the New Life that Jesus had opened up for us, and offers to us all in His name: to share in His death to sin, and also to share in His glorious New Life, now and forever.

And in light of Jesus’ baptism… His act of love, binding Himself to us in the waters of the Jordan River, and ultimately at the cross… our own baptisms bind us to Him in faith… as our tangible response to what He has already done for us at the cross to save us, and to unite us to Him, and to all God’s people, creating a renewed community, committed to living here and now as His beloved children.

This is not possible for us all on our own. But it is possible by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, working in us to bring about God’s new life, and helping us to walk in His ways… binding us to Jesus, and setting us free in Him.

The practice of baptism for disciples of Jesus today is not simply something that we do ourselves… sort of a religious rite of passage… something we just go through, because that’s what’s expected of us. Baptism is a gift for God’s people… inviting us to be open to God’s life-giving Spirit, once and for all… to spend all our days trusting in what Jesus has done for us at the cross, and in the mercy and saving love of the One who is now our Heavenly Father as well.

In a moment, we will have the chance to respond to all this by affirming our faith using the Baptismal Covenant, found on page 158 of the Book of Alternative Services… reaffirming our wholehearted commitment to the One who bound Himself to us in mercy and love.

And in the days to come, may we believe that even in our deepest struggles and trials, God will not leave us alone… He has bound Himself to us, so that we might be rescued in Him.

May we trust that what Jesus has done for us is far more powerful than all of the messes and mistakes we have made, and that in Him, God really has come to bring us the help we all really need.

May our lives reflect this wonderful reality. May these not be merely words that we repeat, but by the Holy Spirit’s help, may we continue to be transformed by this Good News. 

May we be set free from the pride and shame that keep us from seeking help to live God’s way in the world. 

And may the saving love Jesus, shared with us when we were at our very worst, turn our lives around, so that we can share His saving love with those in our lives. Amen.

This week we commemorate the Baptism of the Lord, when Jesus Christ stepped into the Jordan River, joined Himself to sinners seeking God's mercy, and was in that moment affirmed as the beloved Son of God.

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 60:1–6 | Psalm 72 | Ephesians 3:1–12 | Matthew 2:1–12

"Arise, shine; for your light has come, 
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 
For darkness shall cover the earth, 
and thick darkness the peoples; 
but the Lord will arise upon you, 
and his glory will appear over you. 
Nations shall come to your light, 
and kings to the brightness of your dawn." (Isaiah 60:1-3).

Happy Epiphany everyone!

The season of Christmas has come to a close, and now the Church turns to the next chapter of Christ’s story: to the joyful revelation that Yahweh, the Living God, is not only determined to be the God of Israel, but the God of all the earth… the divine sovereign of the Gentiles too.

Today we proclaim the Good News that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is both Israel’s Messiah and the Lord of All, drawing all peoples to Himself, and to one another in His name. 

Two thousand some odd years on, this may not seem like that big of a deal to us. After all, we Christians have, from very early on, seen the Gospel of Jesus as a having worldwide implications. But if we sit with this claim for a while, in the light of both our own circumstances in the world, and the story of Scripture, the surprising message of Epiphany may begin to shake us up. 

I mean, how often do we really reflect on the idea that the Living God is not content with just one people or nation… one little corner of the world… and instead to believe that God is actually after all of us?

Not in the sense of what we could call colonialism… the process of one country or empire deciding that it’s their right and duty to simply take over other peoples and nations… forcing others to serve the empire’s interests against their will. But, rather in the sense that the Lord cares deeply for the true wellbeing of the world that He has made… and that He longs for His estranged but still beloved creatures made in His image to be reunited… reconciled both to Him, and to one another… and willingly making incredible and costly sacrifices to make that possible. 

This vision of God’s worldwide concern… God’s cosmic Kingdom… stands in such contrast with the kinds of ‘kings’ and ‘emperors’ who are throwing their weight around the Earth today.

More and more it seems, those who are rising to power these days are intentionally pulling back from any sense of international co-operation, and mutual responsibility... empowered by stirring up suspicions, fears, and hatred of others, instead of pursuing justice and peace for all. 

This is no surprise, I suppose. After all, insecure tyrants have always tended to lash out against anyone… even the most vulnerable and lowly, in order to preserve their own power.

But Epiphany reminds us that our Saviour Jesus Christ chose to become both vulnerable and lowly in order to bring about God’s good Kingdom… laying down all Earthly power and glory, to rescue the world that He loves.

The story of Epiphany is told in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 2. We hear that strangers from the East, non-Jewish scholars and astrologers, see a new star in the sky, and set out after it, seeking to honour the newly born King of Israel. 

In some ways, this episode might be a surprising story for St. Matthew to include in his Gospel, which spends a lot of time focussing on Jesus as Israel’s Messiah… the fulfillment of God’s promises to His covenant people to rescue them from their oppressors, and to bring about God’s holy reign at last.  

But even though St. Matthew clearly wants us his readers to believe that Jesus truly is Israel’s Messiah, He also wants us to see from the start that God’s Kingdom is much greater than we might have imagined… and that what God was doing in and through Jesus might be centred on Israel at first, but would one day come to encompass all nations, to the very ends of creation!

And even though we tend to think of the Old Testament story as basically Israel’s story, from the start it’s a the story of the Living God’s work to rescue and be reunited with His world. 

The people of Israel, Abraham and Sarah’s descendants, were of course chosen to play a pivotal role in God’s great rescue plan… but this was not because of their own elevated status or moral perfection. No, the Scriptures make clear that God loves to choose the least likely… the lowly, and vulnerable, to be lifted up… defying all expectations of what is possible to draw humanity back to Himself.

And St. Matthew’s account of this episode in Jesus’ life highlights this contrast between our ways and God’s ways… between our sense of how the world really works, and what God alone can and will do to bring about His Kingdom.
 
In Matthew Chapter 2 verse 1 we’re told that the magi, or wise men, arrive from the East and head straight to the capital city, Jerusalem, expecting to find the newborn king within the local centre of power, in Herod’s royal court. But King Herod is caught off guard by their visit. He saw himself as the sovereign over those lands, at least, as long as the Emperor in Rome could be appeased. 

So, Herod hears of this new child king only as a serious threat to his authority… a challenge to his own power… and from his own experts, he learns that God’s promised Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Ironically, Herod believes just enough to trust the prophecies about where God’s chosen King would come from, but not enough to bend his knee and offer up his allegiance. 

How many today are still towing Herod’s line? Believing just enough to recognize that Jesus is the One sent from God, but not enough to actually change our ways and offer Him all He is due?
 
Back to Matthew Chapter 2, King Herod tells the magi to go to Bethlehem, find the child, and then let him know where this newborn King can be found… so that he too may worship Him… or so he claims.

The wise men go, and find Jesus, not among the wealthy or glamourous, or powerful… but among the common folk… the poor and seemingly insignificant ones. Jesus, the Son of God had become wholly unremarkable… that is, apart from the witness of the star shining high above the holy family’s home… recognizable only to those with eyes to see.

And as St. Matthew tells it, these strangers, these Gentiles, these non-Jews see, and they believe. They don’t know the whole story yet, far from it… but they know that this is the One that they’ve been searching for.

So they respond: They give Him gifts, and worship Him, and return home without a word to King Herod, serving as a first glimpse of how the whole world will one day search for and find their Saviour, and bow their knees to this One who was once a little boy born in Bethlehem.

And this is how God’s Saviour King comes into the world… His world: mistrusted and rejected by the ones who claim to be faithful, but selfishly cling to power… and honoured by strangers and outsiders… drawing near those who are far off, and dwelling with the poor and lowly… entering into the truly dark and dangerous circumstances of our world to save us. 

St. Matthew’s Gospel goes on after our reading today to recount how King Herod, enraged that the magi would defy his plans to get rid of Jesus, orders the execution of all the boys born in Bethlehem two years old and under.
Sit with the horror of that for a minute. Just a minute. Give thought to those innocent toddlers and infants. These truly vulnerable ones… and their families… Herod’s own subjects… put to death just because of one man’s selfish ambition… out of his fear of surrendering control.

Maybe in some ways, this brutal, self-centred desperation calls to mind some of the decisions made by leaders across our world today… those who seem willing to burn the world down… to abandon or brutalize their neighbours… and even sacrifice the lives of their own people, if they think it’s in their own interests.

But Epiphany reminds us that Jesus the Messiah, God’s Son, and our world’s Saviour King, is so unlike the leaders of the Earth. He came in complete humility, and deep compassion for the lowly. He brought God’s light into the darkest places, setting free those bound by shame, and illness, and brokenness of every kind. He gave His life at the cross, not only to rescue His friends and followers… or even simply His own covenant people… but to bring God’s forgiveness and New Life even to His enemies… even to you and me.

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Saviour King gave His life in love, once and for all, to save us all! So that all who turn to Him in faith may share in His eternal life.

And we who believe and follow Him today, are tasked with sharing this Good News… with passing on the story of Jesus, and all that He has done to the world all around us, and living out the story of His Kingdom in our daily lives.

The truth of Epiphany, that Jesus Christ has come to be the Saviour King of all the Earth, calls us all, like the magi all those years ago, to offer our own responses: we too are summoned to lay down what we have… our allegiance… our choices… our lives at His feet, and so to honour Him not only with our words, but with all we do.
 
So if Jesus our Saviour King drew near to and brought help and hope to strangers and the lowly, what are we to do?

If Jesus our Saviour King rejected the ways of selfishness and pride, and the worship of power, what are we to do?

If Jesus our Saviour King gave His life in love, not just for those who were closest to Him, but for those farthest away… for even those who hated and rejected Him… how are we called to share His holy saving love with our world? With those both near and far?

Jesus our Saviour King will come again, and before Him every knee will bow, from the lowest to the highest. So, with the Holy Spirit’s help, may we live today as lights shining in the dark, showing the world around us even a glimpse of what God’s good Kingdom of self-giving love really looks like, so that they too might come to see and believe. Amen.​

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Epiphany, when we commemorate the Good News that Jesus Christ God's Son has come not only to be the Saviour of one nation, but for all the peoples of the Earth.

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here: