Epiphany

Jan 4 - 10

Isaiah, Ezekiel, Luke, Romans

Where is Jesus? For Mary and Joseph, this question becomes increasingly frantic as their search for him moves through the family caravan, and then back toward Jerusalem. Like most parents, they are shuddering at the possibility that they may never find Jesus at all.

It is a telling picture of the state of our own faith. We lose track of our Lord, and it seems as though he is hidden from our sight. We desperately search the places where he is not, and when we can’t find him, we echo Isaiah’s lament that God has hidden himself from us. 

But it turns out that God is not the one doing the wandering. Our search ends in his Father’s house – not a manmade temple, shrine, or idol, but in the temple of Jesus’ body, broken for our sins and raised again for our salvation. That is where he remains while we drift in confusion.

What does God do with such fickle hearts? By a string of prophets and apostles stretched across centuries and deeply woven into his divine purpose, he reveals himself in his Word. His epiphany is a cut to the heart with a razor-sharp call to repentance, followed by a torrent of forgiveness and purity in his holy baptism that makes us his own and stays our distracted hearts. It is the good news that our Lord will not hide from us, or from anyone. In the belly of Ezekiel, on the lips of John the Baptist, and in the pages of Paul’s letters, he shows us that his grace is as deep and evident as our unrighteousness.

Where is Jesus? There is no need to ask. We can always find him where he has promised to be. As we continue on our journey home, may he always find us faithful to him!

Baptism of Our Lord

Jan 11 - 17

Ezekiel, Romans

“I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” John the Baptist is incredulous at Jesus’ request. Baptism is for penitent sinners. Why would the sinless Son of God need to be baptized?

Part of the answer comes from this week’s readings in Ezekiel, where the LORD condemns the wicked shepherds in Israel whose unfaithfulness is so brazen that even unbelievers mock their lack of zeal. He will indeed scatter those shepherds, but he will also do something much greater. He himself will shepherd his people. Jesus approaches John for baptism not because he needs it, but because he, the Messiah, will fulfill all righteousness before his Father. Holy and blameless, the Good Shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep.

And we, the sheep, certainly need him. As our flesh militates against the Holy Spirit working within us, we are torn between the two. We echo St. Paul’s frustrated cry: “Wretched man that I am, who will resuce me from this body of death?”

But we know the answer: it is the shepherd, who was not baptized for his own good, but for ours. With him the Father is pleased, and in our baptism, the one who fulfilled all righteousness makes us righteous. The one who suffered suffers with us. His resurrection becomes our resurrection, and after the struggle is over, we will share in his glory.

So, there is no need for us to pause at Jesus’ baptism, either. To do so would be to question the unmatched grace and love he has for us. Instead, secure in our own baptism, we can confess our sins, receive true forgiveness, and, confident in the glory to come, remain in his fold.