A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at
“MARKERS
OF GOD’S PRESENCE IN JESUS CHRIST”
We are working our way
through the season of Epiphany. Epiphany
is a word which comes to us from the Greek, meaning “appearing”. So a key theme of this season of the Church’s
year is a consideration of the ways in which Jesus appears to us, becomes known
to us. Put another way, we could say
that we ask ourselves, “What are the markers that tell us that Jesus is the
Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God?”
Set that question aside for just a
moment, and allow me to make an excursis
into
the meaning of Epiphany. This Feast in
the Church Year (and the season which follows it) also carries another title,
which is “The Manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles”. During this season, we begin by celebrating
(on the Feast of Epiphany itself, that is, January 6th) the visit of
the Magi to the young Jesus, when
they presented gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to him. These were the first Gentiles to recognize
Jesus for who He is, the promised One.
Then, last Sunday, we heard the account of Jesus’ baptism in the River
Jordan by John the baptizer. On that
occasion, as Jesus came up out of the water, the Scripture tells us that the
Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove, and a voice was heard,
saying, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:4 –11)
- On the Feast of Epiphany, we mark the
first occasion of the coming of Gentiles to Christ.
- On the First Sunday after the Epiphany,
we see evidence that God is at work in the person of Jesus Christ as the Holy
Spirit descends, and the voice is heard, saying, “You are my Son….” Here we have evidence of the fullness of the
Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Here is evidence of divine omniscience….God’s power to know all
things. Jesus possesses this power, to
see and to know things that human beings’ limited powers cannot see and cannot
know.
God is at work in the person of
Jesus Christ.
This divine quality will be seen
throughout John’s gospel account….time and again, Jesus will see and will know
things that ordinary human beings cannot know.
Ah….this is a “marker” that tells us
that God is at work here.
And, in case Nathanael (and Philip)
wondered how Jesus could possibly have seen Nathanael under that fig tree,
Jesus confirms that God’s power is at work here by His comment (verse 51),
which says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” (John 1: 51).
What could Jesus’ statement possibly
mean?
The answer lies in the Book of
Genesis, chapter 28, in the account of Jacob’s dream at Bethel…There, Jacob
lies down and dreams that there is a ladder between earth and heaven, and the
angels of God ascend and descend on it (Genesis 28:12). Notice that Jesus uses the same language as
we read in Genesis. Nathanael and Philip
would (most likely) have made the connection.
Then Jacob says this, “Surely the
Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” (Genesis 28:16)
So the meaning of Jesus’ comment
seems clear: Jesus is telling us that
the Lord is present in the person of Jesus Himself, and that He will be the
connection between earth and heaven.
These conclusions seem quite safe to
make, I think.
Well, what application might we make
to our own lives in the 21st century from the encounter between
Jesus and Nathanael? What lesson is
there for us in this incident?
Perhaps this: Jesus Christ remains the One whose divine
wisdom and divine insight continue to enlighten us. When we come into an intimate relationship
with God through Jesus Christ, God’s free gift which we receive by faith, we
become sons and daughters of God, and heirs of God’s promises, made in Jesus
Christ.
(That is the heart of the Christian
faith!)
Once that relationship is
established, we then are guided by God’s wisdom, God’s ability to see into the
future, and to know things that we mere human beings cannot know.
If we allow God’s guiding to be the
foundational principle of our lives, then His will will be done in our lives,
and His will will be done on earth through our actions (as the Lord’s Prayer
says).
Allow me to make a personal
observation as I close: As I reflect on
my own life experience, I can see times when I have followed God’s will,
oftentimes not knowing exactly how each step in my life would unfold. When God’s will was followed, things turned
out much better than if I’d followed my own will and my own desires.
Alas, the opposite is also true in
my own life’s experiences…there have been times when I didn’t follow God’s
will, and the result was either disastrous or less-than-good.
So the lesson to be gleaned here is
that we are called to take time to listen for God’s voice and God’s
leading…..that may mean that we will have to take time away from our own
deliberations and our own desires to wait until God’s leading is clear.
We can trust God’s leading us, as we
continue to follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Thanks be to the God whose wisdom
surpasses our own, and whose will for us brings about more than we can desire
or ask for.
AMEN.
