Epiphany Sunday Sermon: A Ha! Epiphany Moments (Slides removed)

John 1: 1-18 (NRSV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.  He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Tomorrow is Epiphany. In the church calendar, it is the day after the 12^th day of Christmas, and it is the day the Magi arrived at the stable.

Epiphany is kind of a cool word. (First slide) When I looked it up in the dictionary, the first definition was about the festival commemorating the 3 kings, the Magi, following the star to find Jesus.

 The second definition is “a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something  in a new or very clear way.” (Second slide)

An epiphany is an A Ha! moment – that moment when the light bulb above your head goes on!

When I went looking for a picture for this, most everybody looked really smiley and happy about the light bulb above their heads. But this guy had the most appropriate expression, I thought – it looks like he’s saying, “WHOA…..”

(leave it on)

Our scripture reading from the gospel of John this morning describes several A Ha moments, or epiphanies, about God.

It is introducing Jesus to us in a way that is completely different than the other gospels.

Here we don’t get the down-to-earth, sentimental view of his birth, with angels and shepherds and a cute little baby – not even the Magi….

But instead John gives us a cosmic view. John’s view connects us back to Genesis, and it shows how we did not recognize God in Jesus. It also describes our new birth – our rebirth – as children of God; and it shows how the unseeable God was revealed to us, as up close and personal as possible.  We will look briefly at each of these.

(In the Beginning Slide)

Right from the start, this passage points us back to the first verses of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and the creation story. Let’s consider the connections between these prologues.

They are both referring to “the beginning”. In other words, John starts out by telling us not about Jesus’ birth on earth, but about Jesus’ existence as God and with God, right from the start.

Jesus Christ, the Word, the living Word, was in the beginning, with God. In fact, the Word was God. I don’t know about you, but it gives me goosebumps when we can take that and look at Genesis, where in the midst of the initial chaos and darkness, it is God’s Word, when God said – Let there be light – that created the light. God’s Word, spoken in the darkness, brings forth light, as told in Genesis. And then in John, we see that the Word was God, was in the beginning with God, and that all things came into being through him. Without him not one thing came into being.  And what has come into being in him was life, the light of all people, shining in the darkness, so that the darkness cannot overcome it.

You know how you sometimes get to the end of a jigsaw puzzle and find that one or a few pieces are missing? And then after you hunt under the table and in the box, or maybe when you are sweeping a day or two later, you find it? And that feeling of putting that last piece in place, so that the whole picture is complete? That is the sort of A Ha moment that John offers us here. The Word, there from the beginning, spoken at the beginning, brings the light that shines in the darkness. Brings new life.

(Next slide)

The next A Ha point in this text comes mostly because of the irony in it. Here on earth, walking among us, is the creator of all things on earth, and yet the world did not know him.  His people did not accept him. The gospel of Mark is all about how those closest to Jesus never really figured it out, and it was only the demons who recognized him for who he truly was. This is a sad irony, isn’t it? That even God coming face to face with humanity did not help humanity to truly know and accept God being revealed in this way.

(Next slide)

Now here’s a major A Ha moment in this text. John does not spend any time telling us about Jesus’ birth. His focus has been on Jesus having been around since the beginning. What John tells us about, instead, is our birth, how we have been given the power  to become children of God. All who receive him, who crack open the door of our lives, who acknowledge the light that flows in through the cracks in our messy lives, all those are born of God. This birth is set apart from our human birth; it’s not of blood or the will of the flesh, but of God. New birth. New life. Not ordinary life.

(Next slide)

Then there is what may be the ultimate A Ha moment, as John describes to us the way God is revealed to us in Jesus. Let’s read this passage as it is translated in The Message by Eugene Peterson – “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made God plain as day.”

In Jesus, as we see him in the stories about him, as we consider him walking among people, as we imagine him, flesh-and-blood-and-God, moving into our neighborhood, for that is what he has done, both historically and eternally – in Jesus we see God face to face. The God who no one can survive seeing – the God who is beyond all our descriptions and comprehension – this God who desires to be in real relationship with us, came to us in flesh and blood so we could see God as plain as day.

This God in Jesus Christ, who still comes to us as we come to this table, this God made known to us in the breaking of this bread and the sharing of this cup, this God of all the A Ha moments that the Holy Spirit brings to us if we have eyes to see and ears to hear – this God says to us today, Come to the table, share in the body of Christ.