Second Sunday after Epiphany

It is always an astounding, profound experience for me when I am able to see someone, someone I may have known for quite some time, for who he or she really is. To see the person’s true self for the first time. Often it’s a very negative experience because who the person is turns out to be dark and sometimes even evil. But at other times you see a person and it is nothing less that serendipitous glory. Maybe it’s a friend who shows
courage in a difficult situation, or one of your children who speaks up for a just cause or someone who dares to imagine and dream what others think is impossible. When it happens you realize that this is more than just them being courageous or noble in that moment, this is who they are, deep within themselves it is inextricably woven into their identity.

I was thinking earlier this week of what that moment must have been like for the parents of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I’m sure they were pleased that he was an ordained pastor, that
he had pursued graduate studies beyond seminary and was a doctor of philosophy, nice to have a professor, pastor in the family. But you know that at some point they saw more than just that. They realized that their Martin was more than just a teacher or a preacher. That he would in fact prophetically turn the world upside down for the cause of racial and economic justice because it was simply who he was. And you know it was wonderful for them to see and realize, but I suspect it also took their breath away.

I’m sure it was that way for John the Baptist as well. Jesus was his cousin, their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, were close, so they’d grown up together. He’d known Jesus his entire life and maybe Jesus was a bit kinder in response to John’s eccentric behavior and dress. John thought he knew his cousin Jesus, but something had changed, since he plunged Jesus into the waters of Jordan, just like he’d done the others, but this time it was
different and John tells his disciples about the difference and it’s like he sees Jesus for the first time. John tells them that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, the Spirit came down like a dove and it stayed on Jesus and that’s why when John sees Jesus coming a few days later he cries out, “Behold, here is the Lamb of God....I didn’t recognize him before but God said that the one on whom you see the Holy Spirit descend and stay, he is the one
who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, he is the Son of God.” John thought Jesus was just his cousin, but he realizes that Jesus is the Messiah, and it’s wonderful and it takes his breath away.

And then a few days later John is standing with Andrew and another of his disciples, and he sees Jesus and again he cries out, “Look, here is the Lamb of God.” And this time, at least these two disciples get it, they don’t necessarily understand but they realize that this is important and so they follow Jesus, this teacher who their teacher calls the Lamb of God. And I guess they were pretty obvious as they follow, maybe they have these inquisitive, searching looks on their faces, because scripture says that Jesus turns around and faces them and he asks them “What...are you looking for?” Now, that’s really a profound
question. Sometimes I wonder, if maybe instead of beginning the service with the opening words, “Blessed be God Father Son and Holy Spirit,” What if instead I just faced everyone and said, “What are you looking for?” Hmm.

When Jesus asks Andrew and the other disciple what they’re looking for, maybe it startles them and they don’t quite know what to say because they actually say, “Uh.. where’re you
staying?” Here they are face to face with the Son of God and they seem to want to know whether he’s at the Ritz Carlton downtown, or the La Quinta Inn at the airport. Regardless, Jesus simply accepts the question and says ‘Come and see.” And they do. They go with Jesus and see where he’s staying and they stay with him the rest of the day. And then Andrew seeks out and finds his brother, Simon, and says, “We’ve found the Messiah.
Really we have, come and see, I’ll take you to him” And when Andrew brings his brother to Jesus, Jesus looks at him and sees Simon’s true self, sees him in a way no one else does. Jesus sees Simon for who he really is and for who he is going to be and what he’s going to do and it is so powerful that Jesus has to give him a new name that will signify it all. Jesus says, “Ok, I know you’re Simon, son of John, but from now on we’re going to call you “Cephas,” which means Peter or Rock, because you are and you’re going to be a rock.”

I think that that is part of why week after week we gather here in community, to see the true selves in one other. We gather here and experience the love of God lived out and expressed relationally as we connect with one another. And when we are able to open our hearts fully, God’s Grace slips in and opens our eyes to that great epiphany, that vision of each other as God is able to see us instead of how the world sees each one of us. It is

an epiphany, a manifestation of God’s creative power that enables us to envision a different world into reality where God’s justice rolls down like a river, and the oppressed are lifted up, and the imprisoned are released. AMEN.

The Rev. Dennis Campbell