The Second Sunday After the Epiphany '23
I. The progression of epiphanies
The lessons for the Christmas and Epiphany seasons reveal Jesus as the Son of God in a chronological progression. Christmas Eve revealed the newborn Son of God to the shepherds. Epiphany revealed the two year old Son of God to the Magi. The First Sunday after the Epiphany revealed the twelve year old Son of God to the doctors in the temple and, disruptively, to Mary and Joseph. The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, reveals the adult Jesus as the Son of God in his baptism.
The baptism of Jesus is the most significant of these epiphanies. It is in every gospel, while the previous revelations appear in one gospel each. The baptism of Jesus is the clearest New Testament picture of the Holy Trinity. The Father’s speaks, the Spirit descends, and Jesus is revealed as the Son of God and Messiah of Israel. It is snapshot in time of the eternal Trinity. “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.”
II. Baptism as revelation
In St. Mark’s account of the baptism, Jesus receives the revelation. Jesus saw the heavens open and the Spirit descend. The Father spoke directly to to him: “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Thus, the baptism of Jesus is both epiphany of Jesus and to Jesus.
This does not mean Jesus didn’t know who he is. The twelve year old Jesus knew his identity well enough to pull rank on his earthly parents. The baptismal affirmation signaled that it was time to begin his ministry. As Isaiah 61 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor . . . to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives.” Jesus began his ministry in the Nazareth synagogue by reading this passage and saying, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21).
In his baptism, Jesus is also revealed as the New Adam, the beginning of a New Humanity. The death that Adam died in Genesis was the loss of the bond of union with God in the Spirit. In his baptism, Jesus is revealed as the One who lives in union with the Father through the Spirit. Thus, Jesus’ baptism is the model for our baptisms. We are baptized literally “into Christ” (Rom. 6:3). Through baptismal gift of the Spirit, we are raised from the death of sin “in Adam” and we are restored to life “in Christ.”
St. Mark’s emphasis that Jesus’ baptism was a revelation to Jesus presents a pattern for our baptismal epiphanies. In baptism, we are given our new and true identity. If we perceive the epiphany of our baptism, we, like Jesus, will see the Holy Spirit descending upon us, and we will hear the Father’s voice, saying, “You are my beloved child.”
Jesus is the model of perfect faith. He received the revelation and got about the business of being the Messiah. We have less than perfect faith. Sometimes we doubt the Father’s love and are reticent to go where the Spirit leads. The very next verse of Mark’s Gospel says that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. Jesus did not resist this prompting of the Spirit (Mark 1: 12-13). In contrast, when the Spirit drives us into trial, we do not always go willingly.
The Bible presents one great moment in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus wrestled with his vocation (Matt. 26:36-46). He said to the Father, “I don’t want to do this. But I will do your will and not my will.” In this submission, Jesus fulfilled the human vocation of faithful obedience through testing that was abdicated by the first humans in the first test in the first garden. The faithfulness of Jesus restored the human destiny to share in God’s glory. Philippians sums it up this way, “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:8-9).
III. The gift of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit
We also have a baptismal vocation. The Spirit descends upon us, makes us members of Christ’s Body, and leads us to participate in the ministry of the church through our gifts. Jesus possesses all spiritual gifts. He bestows these gifts upon the members of his body according to his will. As Psalm 68, quoted in Ephesians 4:8, says, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men." Thus, the epistle today says that, we have “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.” These verses highlight the New Testament teaching that with the baptismal gift of the Spirit we each receive specific “gifts” of the Spirit. Spiritual gifts are the capacity to serve the Body of Christ and others in particular ways. As Ephesians 4:7 says, “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.” And as 1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
God’s gift of salvation and the spiritual gifts he gives to each of us reorient our lives. In our natural fallen state, “in Adam,” apart from Christ, life is oriented around what we can get from others. Sin makes us empty and needy. We take things from others to fill our needs. As we grow into our identity as God’s children, our orientation shifts. Romans 5:5 says, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” The Holy Spirit fills our emptiness and changes us from takers to givers. We grow in our experience of forgiveness, and are able to forgive. Our wounds are healed, and we become agents of healing for others.
IV. Forgetfulness, remembering, and vocation.
If we had perfect faith like Jesus, we would always know who we are and we would always honor God and love others. But our faith in not perfect, so we forget who we are and do not always fulfil the royal law of love (James 2:8). The life of prayer is the discipline of remembering. Through prayer, we return to the experience of our baptism. We reconnect with the Father, in Christ, through the Spirit. We remember who we are.
When we neglect the life of prayer in the Spirit, we forget. The accusing voice of the Evil One drowns out the Father’s voice. The experience of grace is replaced by guilt. Union with God is replaced by a sense of separation from God. We regress from our true identity as gifted and giving children of God and revert to needy and grumbling children of the world.
This is why the Bible constantly calls us to remember. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” precisely because we forget. In the Eucharist, we remember and experience again our baptism. We renew the baptismal privilege of boldly saying, “Our Father.” As Romans 8:15-17 says,
You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
After we remember again our true identity, that we are beloved children of God, and are filled again with the Holy Spirit, we are sent out again to fulfill our baptismal vocation “to do all such good works as God has prepared for us to walk in.” In the words of our epistle,
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. (Rom. 12:9-15).
