The day of the Epiphany was only last Wednesday so
we are celebrating both the visit of the Wise Men and Jesus Baptism this
morning. At first glance there doesn’t
seem to be much of a connection between the two events other than both being
events in Jesus life that are recorded in Holy Scripture. However, if we explore both events I believe there
is a connection between them that should be explored. Both events deal with Jesus’ identity.
The Epiphany in which the three wise men or Magi
come to pay homage to the infant Jesus reveals to the world who Jesus is. The Magi are astrologers—the scientists of
their day. They have seen the evidence
that a king of the Jews has been born and have come to worship him. They are Gentiles; representatives from the
non-Jewish world who have come to acknowledge him as king. They bring him gifts of gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. Now these are not the gifts you would usually bring to a child but
they know this is not a usual baby.
These gifts are portentous; there reveal the path that Jesus will
follow.
The gift of gold is appropriate for honouring a
king. It was valuable in Jesus’ time as it is in our time. Gold is used in the crown of a king and
signifies him as the king of the Jews. The
frankincense or incense was traditionally used in worship dating back to the
Tabernacle in the exodus. It is given by
the Wise Men who acknowledge Jesus’ holy/priestly nature. Finally we have Myrrh. This is an essential ingredient in Holy
anointing oil which is used in the anointing of both kings and priests. It was also used to anoint and embalm the
dead and so it foretells that he will be
a willing sacrifice for us and for the world.
Here we have the Gentile world coming to acknowledge Jesus and proclaim
that he is and will be king, prophet, priest and the Pascal Lamb. The Magi—the representatives of the Gentile
world have identified who he is for the world.
The baptism is another time when there is
identification. In the account of the
baptism we hear of the voice from heaven saying, “You are my Son, the
beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus is identified as the Beloved son of God the Father. Therefore in the baptism and the Epiphany we
have Jesus identified by earth and heaven.
He is the Beloved son of the most high God; the king of the Jews and the
high priest who will be the willing sacrifice who will redeem the world.
Baptism can
be understood as that entrance into the body of Christ. It identifies us as Christians, members of
the body of Christ when we are baptised in the name of the Triune God—Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. That identifies us
as people who are in relationship with other members of Christ’s Church. But is also identifies us as people who are
in relationship with God.
David J. Lose, the president of Lutheran
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia addresses the idea of baptism as
identification for each of us:
Baptism teaches us who we are – God’s beloved children
– and confers upon us the promise of God’s unconditional regard. In an era when
so many of the traditional elements of identity-construction have been
diminished – we change jobs and careers with frequency, most of us have
multiple residences rather than grown up and live in a single community, fewer
families remain intact – there is a craving to figure out just who we are. In
response to this craving and need, baptism reminds us that we discover who
we are in relation to whose we are, God’s beloved children. We belong
to God’s family, and baptism is a tangible sign of that.
Baptism, then, is wholly God’s work that we may have
confidence that no matter how often we fall short or fail, nothing that we do,
or fail to do, can remove the identity that God conveys as a gift. Our
relationship with God, that is, is the one relationship in life we can’t
screw up precisely because we did not establish it. We can neglect this
relationship, we can deny it, run away from it, ignore it, but we cannot
destroy it, for God loves us too deeply and completely to ever let us go.
Again, in an age when so many relationships are fragile or tattered, it may
come as good news that this primary relationship remains solid and intact no
matter what. In fact, trusting that this relationship is in God’s hands, we are
freed to give ourselves wholly and completely to the other important
relationships in our lives.
All that is
reassuring as well as challenging. It is
reassuring because we know that God is always there for us whether we realize
or acknowledge it. It is challenging
because of the responsibility that each of us has to respond to God and maintain
our part of that relationship with God just as it is a responsibility to
maintain any relationship we have. We
have to hold up our part of the relationship and not neglect it. We do that by doing just what you are doing
today; gathering as the body of Christ in Christ’s name to worship God. But
that alone is not enough. We need to do
our part daily to strengthen and deepen that relationship through prayer and
reading of scripture. We also are called
to be the people God and the body of Christ in the world—to let them know that we
are Christians by our love. To give back
to God a part of what is God’s in our care for all of God’s creation. We are called to love the world; to love our
neighbours as God has loved us and continues to love us. Amen
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