Epiphany 3 B
An Epiphany of the World
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
25 January 2015 – Redeemer
Everything looks different in Epiphany. The Wise Men see the King of the World in a poor toddler. The crowds from Jerusalem and Judea receive their salvation in the muddy waters of the Jordan and behold their Savior in Jesus. Last week Nathaniel saw the Christ of God come out of Nazareth – the last place in the world he expected, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
The simplest meaning of Epiphany is that you see something you have never seen before. In the Holy Christian faith this means that parents see sin in their newborn child and see the gift of forgiveness in the waters of baptism. You see Jesus standing behind your pastor and you regard his forgiveness as “in the stead and by the command of Jesus.” To the human eye the Divine Service “church” is simply music, speaking, standing, sitting, eating, washing, listening to some guy in robes mumble on for 15-25 minutes, but to those who have the Epiphany of faith this is heaven on earth. It is holy conversation with our Father. It is Holy Communion with His Son and the church on earth and in heaven. When the Holy Spirit calls us by the Gospel to faith in Jesus Christ we see things differently and not just Jesus or water or the ordained man we call pastor, we see everything differently.
Jonah saw Nineveh differently – once the Lord gave him an Epiphany in the belly of a that big fish. Jonah wanted nothing to do with Nineveh. They weren’t God’s children. They didn’t deserve a chance at repentance. Until God saved Jonah in the belly of that fish Jonah did not see Nineveh as his pulpit to preach God’s repentance and salvation.
Simon and Andrew were fishermen. James and John were sons of Zebedee. Their lives consisted of fishing, family, and father, until they heard Jesus say, “Follow me.” Then they saw all of life differently – they left the sea of Galilee and began to cast the net of God’s Word to catch sinners and to clean their souls with Christ’s forgiveness.
In today’s Epistle, Saint Paul gives the Corinthians an Epiphany about time. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time is very short. How would you react if I wasn’t your preacher, but your doctor, and I said, “Your time, your days are very short.”? Well then, I’d better do all that I can while I can do it. I need to get my bucket list done. I’d better go deep sea diving, take an Alaskan cruise, tour Europe, buy that Dodge Challenger. But that is not the Epiphany Paul wants you to have. This time, the time we live in right now, these days are very short. They are passing away.
But you are not passing away. You believe in Christ. You have been born again from above. God has credited to your account the death of Jesus Christ for your sins. That means His resurrection from the grave is your resurrection. You are not passing away – for you believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Your time is not passing away – in Christ you are alive, and even though you die, yet shall you live. All eternity is before you, but this time – this time here – these days marked by our sin, by evil, by death, and suffering – they are passing away.
This is Saint Paul’s epiphany to us this morning – this appointed time is passing away. Every good gift from above that God has given you to enjoy in this world is passing away. Your marriage is passing away – in heaven you will not be married, for in heaven we will all be united to Christ our heavenly bridegroom. Your earthly families will be no more because God will be our Father, Jesus will be our brother, all the Saints our brothers and sisters. Earth is passing away – the government is passing away. In the resurrection there will be no sin, no reason for God to bear the sword, no reason for Laws and Courts and Judges and Police. The economy is passing away – every treasure you have scrimped and saved and worked for will be gone. What God has in store for you is yours in Christ – it is safe with Him where no thief can steal it and no moth destroy it and no rust corrupt it. Christ has won heavenly treasure for you – forgiveness, life everlasting, deliverance from your enemies, resurrection of your body. You might be glad some of those earthly gifts are passing away – no more governments, no more health insurance, no more funeral homes. But some of those gifts you cannot imagine being without – marriage and family. But do not worry, what God has for you, what He has revealed now by faith will be all the greater when you see it with your own eyes.
What does this Epiphany mean for us? Saint Paul says, “From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.”
Now you are probably still asking, “What does this mean by saying the married should lives as if they are not? Is Paul saying I can have an affair? Can I pretend I’m single and do what I want? What does it mean to have no dealings with the world? Am I supposed to live like a hermit in the woods? Am I supposed to grow all my own food and sew my clothes and not buy goods at the store?
No to all of that. Paul is simply calling you to live in the reality that you are not passing away, but this time is passing away. So when you look at your wife you regard her as one for whom Christ died. You love her as Christ loved the Church. But she is not your life – Christ is. Do not put your hope in your wife, your husband, your children – put your hope in Christ and teach your family to put their hope in Christ because this time is passing away, but He is not.
Let those who mourn live as though they were not mourning. This world is filled with sin, and wickedness, and sorrow, but that is passing away. Our loved ones who have died in faith in Christ are not dead. Do not weep for them. You will see them again. Do not shed tears for all that you have lost in this life, give thanks instead for the life and hope you have in Christ.
Let those who rejoice, live as though they were not rejoicing. God gives us great joy in the gifts of this world – sports, hobbies, fishing, hunting, travel, food, drink, shopping, music, movies, theater, games, learning, reading, and on and on. But we can be blinded by these good gifts – we can seek our happiness in them. Advertisements can become our preachers and activities our sacraments. Fun and pleasure can be our gods. Sports every weekend. Activities every night. Shopping every sale. Happy is the man who is always buying one more gun, tool, gadget. Happy is the teen whose parents keep him busy and entertained – God forbid the boy be bored. But happy is not our god and activity is not a sacrament. These gifts bring great joy, but they are passing away. There is something more important. Jesus didn’t come to make us happy. He came to die for our sins. His joy is in our forgiveness. Our joy is in His forgiveness. Rejoice not in the gifts of this world, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. That may not be as fun as a hunting trip or a video game or a new car, but it will last and those gifts will not. Blessed is the man who has Jesus. Blessed is the teen whose parents have taught him to confess his sins and receive Christ’s forgiveness because then his life won’t pass away.
Today Paul is not giving us an Epiphany about Jesus, he is giving us an Epiphany about the world. It is a straight-forward, simple Epiphany – the present form of this world is passing away. Your hope, your life, your future, your joy, your happiness are not here. They are in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
24 January 2015 anno Domini