SECOND SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY
JAN 16, 2022
FR. PHIL EBERHART
SHINE ! LET JESUS SHINE!
Epiphany is about the showing forth
of light – it’s about “shining!” Last
week I talked about both fragrance and light – we are being called to be both
in our world, and specifically in our neighborhood.
Yesterday’s Texas standoff at a
local synagogue seems to highlight the need for us to stand strong with our neighbors
against antisemitism. That is why you
see an Israeli flag on our pole under the American flag. We want our message to be clear.
This morning I want to talk about
light … and about mirrors.
Jesus is the LIGHT and we are the
mirror!
In John’s gospel Jesus is talking
to the disciples before his death, as they are walking to the Garden of
Gesthemane in fact. As they walk through
the local vineyards on the hillside east across the Kidron Valley from the Temple
mount in Jerusalem, Jesus is pointing out a reality they are all familiar
with. Vines and branches; grapes and
wine.
In Jn 15 we speaks to our need for
intimate attachment – Jesus calls it “abiding in the vine.” I want to make His point here this morning,
when He said “apart from Me you can do nothing!”
The effectiveness – even the usefulness
– of a mirror is entirely dependent upon a couple things – its orientation
(which way it’s pointed) and its clarity (is it clean? That affects the reflection).
Oriented toward the Light!
Friends, we have to have our own
faces fixed on Jesus in order to be the reflective surfaces that He needs for
His ministry today to illumine the World!
Paul, in talking about this, put it
this way:
2 Cor 3:18 And
all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though
reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one
degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
The Passion reads:
18 We can all draw close to him with the veil removed
from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly
reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into
his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And
this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
For us, having the veil removed,
actually emphasizes the fact that we are “face to face.” Over and over throughout the Old Testament,
from the Aaronic Blessing to a multitude of other references we are told that
God wants to be FACE TO FACE with us – to see us for who we are and for us to
see Him in His fullness and glory!
It is our position when we are Face
to face with Jesus that allows us to become (be transformed or transfigured –
the Greek word is “metamorphosis.”) Our
transformation is preceded by our being trans-fixed by his glory! John said it in one of his later letters:
1 Jn 3:3 Look with wonder at
the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has
called us and made us his very own beloved children.[a] The reason the world doesn’t recognize
who we are is that they didn’t recognize him.[b] 2 Beloved, we are
God’s children right now; however, it is not yet apparent what we will become.
But we do know that when it[c] is finally made visible,[d] we will be just like him, for we will
see him as he truly is. 3 And all who focus their hope on
him will always be purifying[e] themselves,[f] just as Jesus is pure.[g]
There’s gonna be a lot of shinin’
goin’ on! And that is just the plan.
This is all part of the Master’s
Masterplan! When you heard that God has
a “wonderful plan for your life” – this is it!
WE WILL BE JUST LIKE HIM!
Any mirror that reflects, will reflect
perfectly what it “sees.” What it is
oriented towards it reflects in all its glory.
So let us orient our lives so that we are “face to face” with Jesus!
But that “perfect reflection” is
also based on purity! How clean is your
mirror? If the mirror has spots on it or
dirt or fingerprints it cannot do its appointed job! Likewise, our lives are only a clear
reflection of Jesus when our character – when our mirror – is clean – pure.
Now you need to know that I’m not
trying to send you on a “sin hunt.” BUT when you notice spots or grime on the mirror, it’s
a good thing to do some cleansing work.
Are there things in your life that seem to be getting in the way of a
clear reflection of Jesus to others?
Fear? Personal habits? Sinful behaviors?
There is another place that talks
about a mirror in Scripture. James tells
us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We talk a lot about The Hand illustration –
Hear, Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest!
But all of those are of no value if they don’t sink down into our Heart,
out to our Hands and down to our Feet!
James 1:21-25
21 So this is why we abandon everything morally impure[q] and all forms of
wicked conduct.[r] Instead, with a sensitive spirit[s] we absorb God’s Word,
which has been implanted within our nature, for the Word of Life has power to
continually deliver us.[t]
22 Don’t
just listen to the Word of Truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence
of self-deception. So always let his Word become like poetry written and
fulfilled by your life![u]
23 If
you listen to the Word and don’t live out the message you hear, you become like
the person who looks in the mirror of the Word to discover the reflection of
his face in the beginning.[v] 24 You perceive how
God sees you in the mirror of the Word,[w] but
then you go out and forget[x] your
divine origin. 25 But
those who set their gaze deeply into the perfecting law of liberty[y] are
fascinated by and respond to the truth they hear and are strengthened by
it—they experience God’s blessing in all that they do![z]
In the very next verse James goes
on to warn his hearers that
26 If someone believes they have a relationship with God but
fails to guard his words then his heart is drifting away and his religion is
shallow and empty.
Our culture in America for a long
time has approached faith as a kind of “hobby.” Now it has become a matter of life or death,
-- of eternal life and eternal death, for us and for others!
Friends, if we are the reflection
of Jesus in the world, as He said in
Matt 5:17 it may be time for us to do a “reflection check.”
Jesus is the Light of the
World. We all believe that. But it’s another step to understand that His
light is only reflected to the world through our actions.
Jesus said it best as I referenced
a moment ago:
“Let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good words and give glory to your Father, who is in
heaven.”
The source of our transformation
comes from Christ’s glory, and the destination we are brought to is more glory.
The transforming glory is the result of gazing upon the beauty and splendor of
Jesus Christ. We become transfixed by His
glory and then are transformed/transfigured into His image by that glory.
I’m reminded of an old song that we
sang over Val’s mom as she went to be with Jesus – her sisters were with her
mom and we were on the phone on her pillow that night singing this song:
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
look full in His wonderful face
and the things of earth
will grow strangely dim,
in the light of His glory and grace!”
Sing it with me…
Let’s pray together as we did last week:
87. For Participation in the Peace of God (BCP 2019, P. 672)
In the Tradition of Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your
peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is error, truth;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may
seek
not so much to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
