First Lutheran Church

January 8, 2023 + The Baptism of Christ (A)

The Journey to Epiphany

Pastor Greg Ronning 

“I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey.”

This past Thursday the church celebrated the last day of Christmas, the Twelfth day of Christmas.  And on Friday we celebrated the Day of Epiphany, the day we remember the journey of the Wisemen to pay homage to the infant Jesus.  We are now officially in the season of Epiphany! 

The word Epiphany has its roots in the Greek language, literally translated as “an appearing” or “manifestation.”We often think of an “epiphany” as “a moment when you suddenlyfeel that you understand, or suddenlybecomeconscious of, something that is very important to you.”One of those precious “aha” moments of clarity.

However, we need to be careful, because at its core, Epiphany isn’t only all about having those wonderful“aha” moments, revelations, discernment, clarity, and all the answers.  Epiphany can take us there, but only if we begin where Epiphany begins, withhard questions, with discontentment, with struggles, - with those “disruptions” caused by the Spirit.  Epiphany is not about finding easy answers, it’s about finding the courage to ask the hard questions of life, it’s about taking a road less traveled, to that distressed place where true Epiphany happens.

So it is that we begin, on the First Sunday in Epiphany, with “The Baptism of Jesus.”A story about someone who is asking hard questions, thosereally big questions, someone who is not satisfied with his place in life, someone whose life is feelingunsettled, someone wrestling with foundational questions, ultimately someone desperate enough to take that road less traveled, someone who is compelled to leave home and makea difficultjourney out into the wilderness. Our Gospel begins, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan” (Matthew 3:13)

Why does Jesus make the difficult journey from Galilee to the Jordan River?What compelled him to walk some 60 miles, a journey that will take three or four days?And why out to the very edges of Jewish Civilization? And why at the age of 30? What were the questions he was wrestling with?  What was going on in his life?  What was not going on in his life?

We really don’t know much about the life of Jesus up to this point.  We know the birth story, we know the family fled to Egypt to avoid persecution and then returned to live in Nazareth. We know that Jesus at the age of twelve spent a few days in the temple sitting among the teachers listening and asking questions.And we know that he eventually grew up to be a carpenter like his father Joseph, - that’s about it. Lukesums up all those in between yearswith just a few verses.  Luke tells us thatJesus was obedient to his parents, that he grew up and became strong, and that he increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor.

And “then,” for some unknown reason, Jesus travels from Galilee to the Jordan River.  We are not told why, we don’t know if he had a dream telling him to go there, we don’t know if some event, good or bad, triggered the trip.All we know is that suddenly, at the age of thirty, Jesus is on his way to see John the Baptist.

I don’t know about you, but I find myself wondering what’s going on in between the lines of this story.  What did the scriptures skip over?  All of which activates my holy imagination, causing me to wonder, what’s going on?Could it be that was Jesus experiencing a midlife crisis? 

We are reminded that while we might think being thirty years old is young, in the time of Jesus thirty was perhaps more like being fifty or even sixty. In those days children that lived past the age of ten, (only 40% of the population) wereexpected to live, depending on their economic realities, till about fifty years of age.So, Jesus was more than half the way there!

So perhaps Jesus, suddenly woke up one day in the second half of his life, asking the same questions that many of us have asked?(The questionsthat those of you under forty will ask in another ten to fifteen years!)It is not uncommon to become emotionally and spiritually unsettled in the middle of life.  It’s not uncommon to wrestle with renewed questions of identity and vocation, the haunting questions of mortality, the heretical questions of faith, the existential questions of the soul that arise when the “ego” finally loosens up, and the true self, your soul, slips in and demands to be heard. 

Did Jesus the carpenter finally reach that moment where he knew deep down that he was more than just a carpenter? Did Jesus finally reach that time where he needed to engage in something deeper and more meaningful? Did Jesus finally reach that point where the things of this world ceased to matter, and the things of the kingdom became his ultimate concern?  At the ripe old age of thirty, did Jesus have a feeling that his destiny was still out there waiting to be lived?

Some people don’t like to imagine such a human Jesus, but I love it when we stumble upon a truly human Jesus.A Jesus we can relate to, a Jesus who wrestles with life just like we do, a Jesus who has occupied the same uncomfortable places that we do, a Jesus who has more questions than answers, a Jesus desperately longing and hoping for some kind of an epiphany.

This is where I am able to find myself entering into the gospel this Sunday, this is the place where I can begin to hear the good news, this is where I am inspired and filled with some hope.I find comfort in a Jesus who doesn’t have it all figured out yet, because I don’t have it all figured out yet!  I find peace in a Jesus who needs an epiphany, because I could surely use some kind of, any kind of, epiphany.

No matter where we are in life, in the first half of life trying to faithfully create our life, or in the second half of life trying to faithfully live out the life we have created in a new and different way, or somewhere transitioning between the two, Jesus has been there and thus is with us now. 

Not with us in a magical way, but in a way that might guide us, encourage us,and embolden us;to set aside our fears, engage the more difficult questions and moments in life,to take the road less traveled that leads away from the familiar and comfortable; and in doing so, discover the places where the“aha moments” of faith happen.

This is what is modeled for us in today’s Gospel; the faith practices, the journey,the road, - that lead us into epiphany.

Jesus’ life is disrupted by the Spirit, compelling him to do the work of the soul.  Work that is not easy, the battle between the false self and the true self, the battle between convention and the extra-ordinary, the battle between the voice of over cautious safety and that voice that is your deepest intuitive relationship with yourself. Work that can be troubling and depressing, work that feels reckless, work that raises the level of anxiety so much so that most people will never dare to engage in it. This is the work that Jesus must do, and it is the work we are being called to do.  Let us not be afraid, let us trust in grace, let us be kind to each other and ourselves.  We are not alone in this demanding work, we have each other, and we have Jesus, the one who has gone been there before us.

The Work of the Soul once engaged eventually takes Jesus on a journey.  Note that Jesus is not sent to Jerusalem but instead on a long and hard journey from Galilee to the wilderness region of the Jordan River.  Jesus is not sent to priests wearing fine linen but to a wild man dressed in camel’s hair, eating locusts and wild honey.  Soul Work is best done away from home, away from the familiar, away from convention, away from the way things are; because soul work is about making all things new.  Jesus must leave home to find his epiphany.   We too must make this kind of demanding journey, away from home, away from our Jerusalem, and deep into the unfamiliar. Jesus walks sixty miles to meet John the Baptist, and each step, is a step in our shoes, making the same kind of journey possible for us.

And finally, there is the moment of Epiphany.  Jesus humbles himself and is baptized by John.  The heavens open up, the Spirit descends like a dove, and a voice from heaven declares, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”And Jesus’ life begins again.  Strengthened in his beloved identity, and more certain of his calling, he enters deeper into the wilderness to be prepared for his mission, his public ministry; a life of teaching, a life of reaching out to others, a life that will lead to death, and a life that will rise up in resurrection.

This is the faith of Jesus, the same faith that each of us has been given in Christ. Faith that engages the hard questions, faith that risks a journey into the desert wilderness, and faith that always finds the waters of baptism.And so too, an epiphany awaits each of us at the end of the journey we are making even now, an“aha moment” that will strengthen us in our identity and our calling, in the time and place where we need it the most the word of God awaits each of us,“You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

In this season, may Christ be our guiding light, the source of our faith, our inspiration and hope, and our strength for the journey.

“I will be, I will be, I will be strength for the journey.”

Amen