Epiphany 1
Dear friends in Christ. We are in the midst of the Epiphany season. This Epiphany season is really an extending of the Christmas season—but with a difference. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God became man, that the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took on human flesh and blood and became also a true human being born of the virgin Mary. But that took place in all quietness and “secrecy” on that silent, holy night.
But last week we heard that that birth was not to remain secret/ hidden—but that it is meant for the salvation of all people. This week’s Gospel we hear of Jesus’ baptism—when, as Luther says, “Here [Jesus] really begins to be the Christ.” That is, here Jesus begins His public ministry, entering into His work of saving us from our sin, from death and the devil. Although Jesus is the sinless and holy God-man who in and of Himself did not need baptism, which is the washing away of sins and the new birth, Jesus came, took our sins upon Himself, wiped them out and drowned them in the waters of Holy Baptism. Here, with Jesus’ baptism, He already foreshadows His work, including His suffering and death on the cross for the world’s salvation.
That’s the Epiphany here! Remember that “epiphany” means revealing something that is hidden, making it clear and noticeable. What happens here? The virgin’s Son, true man, is revealed also as the true God, the long promised Savior of the world as [Mt 3.16-17]: the Spirit of God descend[s] like a dove and come[s] to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
We need “epiphany,” that is, God has to reveal Himself and the ways He works to us otherwise we’d never figure it out. So, if we do not/ cannot figure out God as His ways, how is it that we are Christians? As we examine our text today, we will see that we are not Christians because of who/ what we are. Instead we are Christians because of what Christ became—for us. And that must be revealed; there must be epiphany!
1. It is clear that we are not Christians because we are better than other people; that we are the “cream of the crop” somehow. What Paul writes in our text about the Corinthian Christians fits all congregations: For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. When it comes to our calling, our conversion, it’s not that any human merit or worth entered into God’s calculations. To be sure, down through the ages there have been many wise, powerful and noble people who were our Lord’s dear Christians. But the Lord does not look and judge like how we look and judge. He calls into His Church some who are wise, powerful, of noble birth—but also many—most—who are not wise, not powerful and of lowly birth. That’s the object lesson—God chooses and brings into His Church all kinds of people.
That means, what? All kinds of people—all people, including you and me—need our Lord Christ and His saving work. That’s why in simple humble ways we will tell the Good News about Jesus to those whom the Lord places in our paths. God comes to people—He came to you and me—in grace and mercy because we need Him. All people need our Lord and the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that He brings; all people need the rescue from sin, death and the devil He provides.
And to make it crystal clear that all people need His grace and mercy, St. Paul says: look around you; do you see all these people around you who have received God’s greatest gifts in Christ of forgiveness of sin, new life, the certainty of heaven, the peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Do you see all those who are so richly blessed in Christ with every heavenly and spiritual blessing? What makes them so worthy? How did they earn/ merit it? They didn’t! For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
Dear Christian, it was solely in grace and mercy that God revealed to us Christ our Savior; worked faith in Him in our hearts. We didn’t earn or deserve it. We weren’t somehow better or more worthy than others. We must be on guard here, because the devil is working with our old sinful self to try to get us to think that somehow maybe we are deserving of God’s favor; that He somehow owes it to us. Here is the warning against self-righteousness, being “holier-than-thou,” which is the stereotype of Christians to many of those outside the faith. Here is the warning against thinking that we are somehow responsible for our salvation. It is detrimental to think that there is something “good” in us which made God choose us. Instead, we—like everyone else—are poor miserable sinners worthy only of God’s wrath and condemnation.
Whereas people look for “worthiness,” God looks at our need. And that’s why His grace is offensive to people. People want to think that they—even in some small way—are responsible for their salvation, for God choosing them, working faith in Christ, bringing them into His Church. The devil works with that old sinful self of ours to get us to think that our salvation is not all God’s work. It can be 99.66% God’s work—but there has to be that little bit of my work—for the Corinthians “wisdom” was a big thing; for others today it may be their “decision” or their godly upbringing or whatever else. If the devil can get us to think that just one little/ insignificant part of our salvation is our work, the result of our worthiness, then he easily gets us to turn away from our Lord’s grace and His saving work in Christ and to put the emphasis on our work—and faith is soon easily lost.
What happens? God alone does not get the credit/ praise/ honor for what is truly and only His work—our salvation. Yes, God’s grace and His salvation are not given because who/ what we are—only except that we are all unworthy sinners, worthy of and deserving only His wrath and condemnation. As we recognize that we are poor miserable sinners and yet, without any merit or worthiness God has in Christ showered every heavenly and spiritual blessing on us, how then we thank and praise Him! God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
And, thinking today about our Lord’s baptism, what more wonderful way than baptism, can God use to show us that He uses what is low and despised in the world… to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God? In holy baptism He uses simple, humble common water, joins His word to it and through it washes away sin, creates faith, connects with Christ, gives new life, and gives us every heavenly and spiritual blessing. He has chosen us poor sinners and given us the fullness of heavenly blessing by simple water with the word.
2. How is it, then, that we are Christians if it is not because of who we are? We are Christians because of what Christ became. Because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Precisely here there must be epiphany—God revealing, making clear.
Because of the power and grace of God—not because of any worthiness on our part—we are now in Christ Jesus, that is, through faith—that very faith that baptism works in us—we are now connected to Christ; we are now in Him; we are now His dear Christians and heirs of eternal life! So yes, in baptism faith is created and connects us with Christ and His death and resurrection [Rom. 6. 1-6].
But even who Jesus is and does—that, too, must be revealed to us, made manifest to us, just like it was at His baptism when the Holy Spirit came upon Him visibly like a dove and the Father said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” As Paul writes in our text: Jesus became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. God’s plan for our salvation was unfurled in Christ; in Jesus we see divine wisdom at work bringing about our salvation—forgiveness of sin and reconciliation of the sinful, condemned human race with God. Jesus is the revelation, the epiphany, of God’s wisdom; divine wisdom carried out! With His conception and birth, we see that the holy God became also a true man and by this He placed Himself under to holy law of God in order to keep it/ obey it. If anyone is to get into heaven, God’s holy Law must be kept; but we’re sinners; we can’t! But in God’s wisdom—Christ! He became true man and conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, free from the stain and taint of original sin Jesus obeyed for us the holy Law of God already from conception—the first moment of life—and throughout His life lived a holy/ sinless life so that the holy Law of God would be kept. Now that the Law has been obeyed perfectly, heaven can be opened to us.
But what about our sin that earn and deserve us nothing but God’s wrath and condemnation? Here too the wisdom of God is revealed in Christ. Jesus went to the cross loaded down with every sin of every single person ever to live; and there on the cross He was punished for each and every one of those sins. God’s wrath over our sin has been appeased. Now our sins no longer stand. They are forgiven in Christ; still dead and buried in His tomb as He rose from the dead. Now, in Christ, the wisdom of God has been made manifest: He both kept the holy Law of God for us and suffered the consequence of God over our sin—reconciling the whole sinful human race to the holy God and opening heaven to us.
Jesus, the wisdom of God revealed, is our righteousness because He [Jn 1.29] is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His perfect keeping of the Law is credited to us. No matter how sinful and unworthy we may be, we are, in Christ, righteous before God. Our baptism connects us to Jesus and His holiness; His righteousness is given us in baptism.
Jesus, the wisdom of God revealed, is also our sanctification, our holiness, because He not only kept all the commandments for us and through baptism gives us that holiness, but in baptism He gives us the Holy Spirit who renews us, rules us, and guides us into a life of faith and good works. Yes, we will still sin—and grievously at times—but led and empowered by the Holy Spirit we recognize and sorrow over that sin and return to our baptism, that is, once again reclaim, by faith, the forgiveness He has given us there.
Our salvation is certain because Jesus, the wisdom of God revealed, is our redemption. Not only did He pay the price for our sin by suffering and dying on the cross, but because He did that He rescued us from eternal damnation in hell, the just reward for our sin. In the Blessed Sacrament He gives us the proof of it and the blessing of it—the forgiveness of sin—as He gives us with the bread and wine His very body and blood. By His work of redemption for us on the cross we can be certain of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. He strengthens us in that certainty in the sacrament, giving us a foretaste of the heavenly feast when we will be with our Lord in heaven in both soul and body.
How/ why are we Christians? Because of who and what we are? Hardly! We are Christians because of what Jesus became—our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. In Jesus the divine wisdom of God in bringing us salvation is revealed so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” Jesus is our salvation! A blessed Epiphany indeed! INJ Amen.