Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. (St. Matthew viii. 2)
 
        
Epiphanytide is all about the manifestation, showing forth, and revelation of God’s power, wisdom, and love in the life of Jesus Christ. What we read in our Gospel lessons for this season not only reveals historical facts but gives us food for thought in our relationship with the Lord. Christ performed miracles long ago to establish his intention to continue His work with us even now. Of course, His intention has always been the healing, redemption, and salvation of our souls. If the soul is not repaired, we shall not be saved. The repair of the soul makes is right with God for salvation.
        
But the mercy that Christ brings into the world is never to be mistaken as some free heavenly handout. Christ’s mercy comes with conditions precisely because He has made us and respects what He has made. This means that His mercy will only be effective in us if we respond to it and grow it. A mercy that is simply bestowed freely without any expectations is certainly not Divine Mercy but foolish disrespect. Were God in Jesus Christ simply to hand out mercy, the implication would be that God is dealing with irrational children incapable of growing up and into the perfection of their human nature. Rather, Christ treats us as those who are redeemable. To be redeemable means that there is something in us that can be involved in our repair. And for this reason, He invites us to obtain mercy by way of seeking it out, by knocking at the door of His heart, and asking for its healing power.

Prior to today’s healing, Jesus had been preaching on a mountain. The mountain symbolizes the spiritual and heavenly world elevated above the natural and earthly. On the mountain, Jesus had exhorted his listeners to judge not, lest ye be judged. (St. Matthew vii. 1) The Father’s business, revealed to us by His Son, Jesus Christ, is about the repair of the soul that could begin only with self-judgment, with the sinful soul subjecting itself to the high and heavenly judgment, whilst leaving the judgment of others to God. Christ’s point was that we cannot possibly help others out of their sin until God’s Grace heals and repairs our souls. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. (ibid, 5) God’s judgment is necessary for our soul’s repair and we must seek it out.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (ibid, 7,8)
 
Christ calls us into a relationship with God where we are responsible for searching for God’s mercy. Like the Three Wise Men, we must follow the Star. Like Mary and Joseph who have lost Jesus, we must seek Him out. Like Mary, the servants, and Governor of the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee, we must taste the difference between the wine that brings earthly happiness and the nectar of heaven that heals.
        
But Christ’s healing power is meant for those who are sick and need a physician, those who are sinners in need of a Saviour. So, today we read that behold, a leper came and worshiped Him. (ibid, 2) The leper had heard of Jesus’ power to heal. He says, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. (ibid, 3) The leper is sick and needs help. But notice that He respects the will of God in Jesus Christ. If you will it Lord, you can heal me. The leper is sick, desires healing, but knows that it all hinges upon the will of God. Oftentimes those who are sick know that their sickness is sent from God for a deeper dependence upon His mercy. Sickness in body can encourage closeness in spirit with God.
But we do tread that Jesus willed to heal the leper. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (ibid, 4) Christ desires to relieve the sinner of his earthly illness. To the leper’s if thou wilt, Christ respectfully responds, it is my will. The leper’s faithful desire is rewarded with Christ’s generosity. The leper’s respect for Christ’s needful consent is rewarded. A spiritual relationship begins, and God’s mercy is obtained. The leper has played his part in ongoing redemption at Christ’s hands.
        
We would not be wrong to discern that Christ’s healing of the leper came with the fulfillment of some real expectation. The leper, having heard Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, must seek, ask, and knock. The leper has a role to play in his redemption and salvation. He does not find himself the beneficiary of free and cheap Grace. It comes at a cost. He must express his need and desire, knowing that even the healing of his leprosy is no guarantee of his salvation. See thou tell no man. (ibid, 4) Christ did not come chiefly to heal earthly sickness, eradicate poverty, eliminate hunger, or set up an earthly kingdom. Christ came to heal and save man’s soul. Sometimes Christ relieves earthly suffering and sometimes he permits it; in either case, the believer must seek out deeper the soul’s deeper spiritual healing.
        
Of course, mercy is given by God through Jesus Christ and has expectations. See thou tell not man. (idem) The leper has been given an opportunity to work out his salvation with fear and trembling, not with boasting and vain glory. St. Paul says this morning, be not wise in your own conceits. (Romans xii. 16) God’s wisdom alone suffices for our healing and redemption. The leper is cleansed of his disease but must not take this as a free pass to settle old scores. He might have had a great deal of resentment, bitterness, and anger at all those who refused to come near him to help him in time of need. Recompense to no man evil for evil. (ibid, 17) God’s mercy comes with the expectation that it should grow in the human soul as an unmerited gift of goodness and love. The leper has much work to do. Having been healed of his leprosy, he now must begin the hard work of seeking out God in Jesus Christ for his soul’s repair. The body is healed but the soul is still sinful and in need of that medicine that comes down from above. Epiphany reveals to the leper his problem, Christ’s initial solution, and then the greater need for spiritual healing and redemption. Our souls must continue to supplicate mercy to repair the sickened soul. So we pray:
Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth they right hand to help and defend us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Amen.
©wjsmartin
 
 
        
                                                                                         
                                   
        
 
  

 
You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty that is superior
to reason, by entering into a state in which the Divine Essence
is communicated unto you."
(Enneads: Plotinus)
         
Illumination and enlightenment are the themes of Epiphanytide. Επιϕανια is the Greek word for Epiphany, and it means manifestation, revelation, showing, or shining forth. For Christians, Epiphany reveals God’s love, wisdom, and power in the life of Jesus Christ – the Divine Life alive in the humanity of Jesus and calling us Home to our Heavenly Father. It is like the sun that enables the eyes to see and to understand. Epiphany’s illumination enables our eyes to move from Christ’s humanity to His Divinity.  This illumination or enlightenment gives us knowledge but then also the desire for its power to repair and redeem us. The vision of God in Jesus Christ has power that rewards our desire with what is superior to reason.

Yet the light through which Christ reveals God’s life to us is not easily apprehended. If it could be, reason would understand it perhaps as swiftly as it assents to the proposition that two plus two makes four. But, as Plotinus reminds us, a faculty greater than reason is needed to apprehend God, discover His presence in Jesus the Man, and embrace His will. That faculty is called faith. Faith alone believes what it cannot prove and does not yet know. Take the example of the first moments of attraction to another. When a man is first drawn to a woman who arrests his attention, he is drawn to her both externally and visibly. He is intrigued with wonder. We might say that he has faith in something mysterious waiting to be discovered and known in his further pursuit of the woman. His faith believes that there is something worth finding out, knowing, and loving. His faith seeks to know and have what is above and beyond his reason.

God works in the same way. He calls us forward to search Him out with faith. Our faith believes there is someone to know and love. What is waiting to be discovered is the mysterious nature of God that is greater than our reason. We can find Him only if our faith believes in and trusts what can reward our curiosity and interest. If all that there is to know about Him were revealed externally, visibly, and instantaneously to the human mind, there would be no place for a faith that follows and a love that grows.   

In Epiphanytide, our faith believes that God is at work in Jesus Christ. We seek to know and love Him. Yet on the first three Sundays in Epiphany, we feel a degree of confusion. In our Epiphany readings, our faith follows but often misses the mark. We have not yet reached understanding. The Wise Men ask Where is He that is born king of the Jews? We have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him, (St. Matthew 2. 2) They believe that they should find their king clothed in lace, lying on soft pillows, surrounded by gold in a palace at Jerusalem. Their faith must be corrected and adjusted to God’s wisdom if they are to find where He is because of wbo He is.
 Last Sunday we found that Joseph and Mary’s faith had failed also. Their weak and earthly faith believed one thing when they should have known another. And so, they lost their son. They hurried back to Jerusalem because they believed that He was lost, no doubt in some dark alley having been beaten by thugs. They sought Him out with more fear than faith and then were sore amazed with where they found Him and with what He was doing. Their faith was so weak that it took them three days to find Him. When they found Him, their fallen natures did all the talking. Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us, behold thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing. (St. Luke 2. 48) Negligence and incompetence are forever justifying themselves. His answer: Why is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business? (Ibid, 49) Mary and Joseph understood not the saying which He spake unto them. (Ibid, 50) Mary’s weak and foolish faith was rebuked. In response, She kept all these sayings in her heart. (Ibid, 51). 

Jesus is the Wisdom of God that is not self-evidently known or understood immediately. Jesus is also the Power of God who comes to transform the world. In today’s Gospel, some years later, Mary, having kept Jesus’ sayings in her heart, believes that, finally, she knows Her Son. Today she is with Him at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. The wedding party has run out of wine. She remembers the prophecy of the Angel Gabriel concerning Jesus. She knows and remembers the Divine wisdom in her twelve-year-old son when he rebuked her for her unbelief and ignorance. Now she believes that she knows Him. She will enlist His Divine power to furnish a marriage with added bliss. She tugs at his toga and says, Son, they have no wine. (St. John, ii. 3)She is a good Jewish mother and will not be embarrassed by her Son’s lack of response to an urgent need.  The Mother believes that Her Son can overcome every earthly need. She thinks that He should do so. Surely, He can use His Divine Power to forestall looming embarrassment for the bridegroom, his family, and herself.

But Jesus rebukes Mary. Woman what have I to do with thee, or Woman, what does this have to do with Me and thee? (Ibid, 3) The rebuke is needed because her faith is, as George MacDonald writes, unripe and unfeatured. This faith, working with her ignorance and her fancy, led her to expect the great things of the world from him. (George MacDonald, The Miracles of our Lord.)  Jesus rebuked his mother in the temple and will do likewise here. Mine hour has not yet come. (Ibid, 4) Jesus is calling Mary to consider a faculty far greater than reason. (Idem) He wants her to believe that He has not come into the world to turn water into wine in order to save men from earthly shame. Rather, He will turn water into wine as a sign that He alone can make what is common into something extraordinary and something earthly into something heavenly. He will turn water into wine as He turns sin into righteousness and death into new life. 

Mary believes that Jesus is the Son of the most high God. His rebuke is just and good. She steps back into heavenly formation: Whatsoever He says, do it. (Ibid, 5) Mary must trust in Jesus’ knowledge, initiative, and timing. Jesus commands the wedding staff to fill the waterpots with water. (Ibid, 7) Jesus continues:

Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (Ibid, 8-10) 
 
Jesus’ nature and mission must be discovered by men who can taste the difference. God and His Son never enforce virtue. Most men will drink the wine and get more drunk, not knowing what has transpired. The governor of the feast, however, is situated spiritually to sense what has happened. The governor of the feast, responsible as ever for both the encouragement of happiness and its potential spoilation, was in command of his senses. It is for the governor’s benefit that the miracle is performed. The ground of his soul is ripe for conversion.

Of course, today’s miracle is a sign and symbol of what Christ always intends to do with us. If we are in search of miraculous earthly solutions to earthly deficiencies, we are far too drunk on earthly things to see how Christ the Light longs to bring new spiritual wine into our fallen lives in this holy season of Epiphany. Christ Jesus is the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Cor. i. 24) He comes to put new wine into new bottles. (St. Mark ii. 22) The Blessed Virgin Mary had to learn not to provoke her Son to action until His hour had come. The Governor, too, we will notice, did not send the servants out to purchase more wine. As far as we know, he might have thought that the guests had already had quite enough and needed no more. The Governor’s earthly prudence was ripe for discovering who Jesus was and where He dwelt.

Jesus insists, Mine hour is not yet come. (Ibid) For now, He might provide earthly wine or not. Whatsoever He says, we must do it. We must believe in order to know. His Hour does not yet come until He acts, and we interpret. God in Jesus Christ never neglects our prayers but answers them as He will and when He will. With St. Paul this morning, we must discover that Christ knows the gifts of each man in relation to His mercy. Mary’s gift of discerning His power must be adjusted to His timing. The servants’ gift of serving must offer what they can in human terms –water or nature’s substance. The governor offers the gift of his sobriety. Jesus responds with His intention to perfect them all.

We believe that Jesus saves the best wine until last. Mary, the servants, and the governor will discern the difference. The marriage feast had run out of wine. Have we run out of wine? Have we been depleted of earthly things that can promise no lasting happiness? Until we have, Jesus’ provision of wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee will not point to anything more than earthly mirth. With the governor of the feast, may our minds and senses be ready for the Epiphany season’s revelation of the spiritual conversion that Christ intends to bring about in us.
 
Amen. 
©wjsmartin

 
O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people 
who call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things
 they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Collect Ep. I)
 
In Christmas Tide, we directed our mind’s eye to the new birth of Jesus Christ in our hearts and souls. Now in Epiphany Tide, our eyes are opening as Christ the Light enlightens us to the character of the new life which God desires for us. Epiphany comes to us from the Greek word epiphaneia, and it means manifestation, revelation, or shining forth. In the East, Epiphany is called Theophany, meaning the vision of God. So, this season is all about contemplating the Light of God, which is the manifestation or shining forth of His vision for us in Jesus Christ. In Christ the Light, then, we are called to discover the pattern for human life that promises to redeem and save us. 
         
On the feast of Epiphany, the vision of God in Jesus Christ was revealed to Gentile Magi, or Wise Men from the East. Today, we find Him in the Temple at Jerusalem. We know nothing of the period between Jesus’ infancy and His sudden appearance in the Temple at the age of twelve, and then between today’s manifestation and the beginning of His adult ministry. St. Luke, alone, chooses to record a singular event from Jesus’ childhood. Yet, what is revealed and shines forth today is an epiphany that helps us to follow Jesus back to His Father’s Kingdom. Today’s revelation teaches us about the need for a youthful preoccupation with the business of our Heavenly Father.
         
So we read that Jesus’ 

parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. (St. Luke ii. 41-43) 
 
St. Luke is in the habit of identifying Joseph by his first name since he was the foster father but not natural father of Jesus. Jesus’ natural Father is God. The Holy Family had traveled up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When they began to make their journey home, Joseph and Mary did not realize that Jesus was missing. Ancient Jewish families traveled as a tribe and thus the entourage would have been large. The adults often entrusted their young ones to older cousins and friends as they traveled. So, as Mary and Joseph traveled home with the adults, they trusted that Jesus was with the extended family.

Joseph and Mary thought that they knew where Jesus was. But, as we know, it turns out that they did not. They did not know where he was physically. As it turns out, they did not know where he was spiritually either.  Where someone is spiritually is of utmost importance in revealing and shining forth to us the state of Jesus’ soul and the character of His spirit. Joseph and Mary did not yet understand where Jesus Christ must always be inwardly and spiritually.
         
A whole day passed before Mary and Joseph realized Jesus’ absence. We read: But they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.  And when they found Him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. (Ibid, 44,45) Jesus’ parents were concerned about His physical whereabouts. Perhaps He had been attacked, beaten, hurt, or wounded. Perhaps He had managed to get Himself lost. Surely if their Son was to be great…called the Son of the Highest…the heir of…the throne of His father David (St. Luke i. 32), they could not afford to lose Him. But then again, if they had had more faith and trust in God, they wouldn’t have worried.
         
As we learn, Jesus, even at the tender age of 12, was not lost. Mary and Joseph returned to Jerusalem and spent three days trying to find their child. Evidently, they were looking in the wrong places. They did not know His whereabouts, because they had not discerned who Jesus is and where He is always spiritually. Finally, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. (Idem, 46, 47) Jesus was where a young Jewish boy who was searching for God’s will would be. But Jesus was far more conscientious than most boys his age would have been. After all, He would be called the Son of the Most High. (Idem)To learn of His great vocation, He humbled Himself before the rabbis and theologians in the temple in order to discover His future mission and ministry. He would listen. But he would also question. They would be astounded at the wisdom and stature that informed His character. In Christ, the Doctors of the Temple began to see where this unknown boy from an obscure family and insignificant village dwelt truly and spiritually.
         
The doctors were fascinated with his questions. Mary and Joseph were amazed to find their son with them, but their astonishment did not quell their frustration. Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. (Ibid, 48) Mary and Joseph did not understand that where He was physically was all-important for where He is always spiritually. He chastises them gently but firmly. How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? (Ibid, 49) In other words, Why were you seeking me? Did you not know that I must be involved with my Heavenly Father’s business first and foremost? Joseph and Mary understood not the word, which He spake to them. (Ibid, 50: Wycliffe) They who were willing to entrust Him to the care of His cousins could not entrust Him to the care of God. And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but His mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. (Ibid, 51,52)
         
Who is Jesus? Where is Jesus? And where are we in relation to Him? Jesus is always about His Father's business. Where is He physically? is the wrong question to ask. His question to the Doctors of the Temple and to us is: Where are you spiritually? The same question was implied in His answer to His mother: Why did you seek me? For you should know where I am at all times and for eternity! That His parents did not understand His answer is part and parcel of every man’s need to discover who Jesus is and where we ought to find Him. Wherever He is, Jesus is always with our Heavenly Father. Jesus doesn’t move; we do! He is where He has always been, with the Father and doing the Father’s work. He was with God from before all beginnings, as the Creative Word through whom all things were made. (St. John i. 3) He was with God from the moment of conception until His Ascension to the Father, disclosing the Father’s will as the Redemptive Word made Flesh busily working out our salvation. He is with God today in our Gospel lesson, preferring to entrust His life to our Heavenly Father’s business rather than to hurry back to meet the expectations of His earthly parents. He longs for us to see that where He is reveals who He is. (St. John xiv. 3)
         
So where are we spiritually today? Have we left Jesus behind, or have we lost Him? We cannot have lost Him if we have never found Him! And we can never find Him if we are not seeking and searching for Him, like Mary and Joseph. An acquaintance recently told me that he did not get much out of the Christian religion. I responded: How could you? You have never looked for God, let alone His Son, Jesus Christ! You are too busy with other business! If you seek and search for Truth, you will find it. If you look, you will discover that Jesus Christ is the Epiphany of God, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In Jesus, you will find an Epiphany of the way back to God, and the truth of who He is by the life He leads. In the human life of God’s own Son, we find an Epiphany of the Man who is caught up in His Father’s business for the salvation of all others!
Oswald Chambers asks: 

Are you so identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that all things come from His hands? Is the Eternal Child in you living in the Father’s house? Are the graces of His ministering life working out through you in your home, in your business, in your domestic circle? (My Utmost: Aug. 7) 
 
Christ wants us to search for God to discover that we are His children. Christ wants the Father’s Business to become our business! Christ wants our chief occupation to be taken up with God and His desire to bring us back to Himself forever!
         
Dear friends, today let us see that the business of the young Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem is His relationship with the Father. Jesus wants us to join Him in a youthful contemplation, study, and interrogation of God. Our Father’s business is our salvation. It requires being transformed by the renewing of our minds to find in Christ what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God (Romans, xii. 2) for us. The twelve-year-old Christ, who refused to be conformed to this world (idem), is the model and pattern for the life we are to lead. This Epiphany, let us embrace His youthful disposition and habit, that where He is, we might be also. (St. John xiv. 3)  
Amen.
©wjsmartin