January 19, 2014

Linda Murphy

Epiphany 2     John 1:29-42

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Most of us have returned to work, Christmas is a distant memory and our holiday tans are already fading. The church calendar is moving on as well, we have had, Advent, Christmas and now we are in Epiphany, and Lent is still some weeks away.

Epiphany is the season where we focus on the ways in which God is revealed in the world in and through Jesus. Our Scripture readings today speak of our calling to bear witness to this presence in the world to lift up the light that is God’s presence and make this light known to the world.

In the Isaiah text the servant of God says he or she was called from before birth to be a servant in whom God would be glorified to be a light, not just to Israel alone, but to the whole world.

“I will give you as a light to the nations” says God to the servant “that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

The salvation is not for the one who knows the story. It’s for those who are going to hear it wherever they may be. Isaiah the prophet of the Babylonian exile speaks of God’s providential choice to call him or her to this ministry of witness. The servant states frustration with the call. There are those like the servant and the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures who find themselves with a message, one of hope in the midst of hopelessness, crying out for justice where there is injustice. Those who try to change injustice in our own world experience similar frustration as well.

Our reading from the Gospel of John is about revelation, and testimony, in a way that’s very different from last week’s text from Matthew about the Baptism of Jesus. This week, we move from divine words to human testimony, the “fragile and vulnerable testimony” of John the Baptist, who admits that he didn’t even know who Jesus, was at first. John identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God” many have interpreted this as a sacrifice for sin; however some theologians have pointed out that lambs were only used for the Passover sacrifice, which remembers the liberation and deliverance of the people by God. How this liberation and deliverance from alienation happens is the story of the Gospels and the heart of the gospel message. 

This passage, when the crowds listened to John’s “fragile and vulnerable” yet powerful testimony, illustrates the call of the followers of Jesus to listen carefully, live faithfully, and tell the story of what God has done in the midst of their own transformed lives.

In these Epiphany texts, the identity of Jesus as God’s revelation is emphasised.

This season brings with it themes of light and mission. The light of God shines forth through the darkness. With the light comes the revelation to the mission of ministry.

The beginning of Jesus’ ministry brought frustrations experienced in the midst of yielding to the call to ministry. God’s plan is for us as humanity is to participate in the world around us, as Jesus’ ministry exemplifies.

Before I go any further I would like to share my own experience of being called. In fact the idea of being called has always terrified me and I would not be standing in this pulpit today if it hadn’t been for a conversation shared by two of our male clergy many years ago now. The conversation I think went something like, “I think we have the makings of a Deacon in that woman”. When the idea was suggested to me I decided not to say “That’s not for me” something or someone made me explore this possibility. That exploration has transformed my life and the life of my family in so many positive and wonderful ways. However it was unexpected and the years of study did require a lot of commitment that at times found me very frustrated and I wanted to run away from this call. It seemed too hard. Nevertheless here I am doing something I had never envisaged for myself and I feel very privileged to be here. 

Being called to mission is generally seen as a call to ministry in the church; however Jesus didn’t have a church. He was talking about mission that involved making the world and society a better place to live in a fairer and more just way.

Oprah Winfrey says of callings “I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.”

In the last weeks before Christmas when the Mission was so busy assisting those three thousand plus families who needed our help to celebrate Christmas. We had over eighteen hundred wonderful people who just gave up their time and volunteered. Without these volunteers we could not manage to give out all those food parcels and presents to the children. We had netball players, rugby and league players and many others from business people to restaurant wait staff. These people, who decided to help us, were called to give their time and energy to others; this is what a calling to witness can be. Giving testimony and witness doesn’t have to involve grandiose statements on street corners.

This week in the US, Martin Luther King, Jr is remembered, he was a man who answered his calling with his life.  His vision of justice for people of colour in the United States expanded dramatically to include issues of peace and economic justice for all. He knew that the question of rights is a humanity -embracing question. Just as the servant in Isaiah already knew that God’s powerful will for homecoming had no ethnic limitation. Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa to name a few others also answered their calling, and amidst frustration attempted to change and challenge their society and the world. Today those involved with the Living Wage and Child Poverty Campaigns here in New Zealand are answering a calling within themselves for a need that requires to be addressed in our society. 

We have options in how to interpret our calling as baptised Christians to affirm our baptismal vows. Let us discover those truly worthwhile things we feel led to do and be – things we love, that are life affirming and deserve our best and then to commit to them, to give ourselves over fully to them and pursue them with joy.

Jesus says, “The Kingdom is already here; live like you believe it”. John Dominick Crossan writes that when Jesus says that the Kingdom is here, he means something like this: Heal those who are hurting and then eat with those who are healed. And out of the healing and out of the eating will come a new community. (God and Empire 118)

That is what it means to be called. And that is how to make our life count. This is how to live abundantly as if the kingdom of God is here on earth. 

Let us pray

Give us courage,

O God, to live as if your rule and reign really has come

upon us already.

Through Jesus Christ, Our Saviour.

Amen.