The seasons of the Church’s year all have a story and profound meaning to tell and
Epiphany is such a season that refreshes the mind and fortifies the spirit.
It is a season full of surprises; full of signs and miracles and we our reminded of this with the payer for the 3rd Sunday of in the Epiphany season:
Almighty God whose Son revealed in signs and miracles the wonder of Your saving presence:
We have had the Baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan an extraordinary event made even more extraordinary by the dove descending from above and the voice of God the Father complementing His Son, ‘This is my Son with whom I am well pleased’.
What a wonderful acknowledgement, what better pat on the back could a son have – I’m proud of you my boy; your choice is my choice.
Then imagine the surprise of the stewards at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee – the water turned into wine and so much of it, gallons and gallons when everyone was already drunk.
The new translations of the bible make no bones about it!
The sign of God’s overwhelming generosity so beautifully summed up in Psalm 133:2 ‘It is like the precious ointment that ran down unto the beard: even unto Aaron’s beard and flowed down upon his clothing’
No expense spared from the Lord the giver of Life Himself.
Don’t under estimate the significance of this 1st sign of Jesus by saying it was non-alcoholic wine – this is all about God’s infinite generosity as far as I’m concerned.
God’s grace is freely given, freely received and given in abundance!
The prayer builds up to a climax: ‘the wonder of Your saving presence ‘
All these signs and miracles are for a purpose to reveal the wonder of Your saving presence.
And surely the wonder must be revealed in the Epiphany itself – the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.
The showing forth of the Christ child that He is for everyone, that He is the source of salvation for the whole world!
The symbolic act of the wise men visiting the child Jesus changed the history of mankind.
Christ was born a Jew for the salvation of the Jews as their Messiah and if they had accepted Him they would of kept Him completely to themselves, kept us completely out of the equation.
The Jewish God’s Son was theirs – after all they were God’s chosen people.
But NO that was NOT to be the case, the wise men our representatives from the gentile world shows us quite clearly that Jesus is for all, Jesus is for everyone irrespective of who we are, or what we are!
We can all become children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven.
The wonder shown in the star and the wise men visiting Jesus clearly show’s that God’s saving grace is for everyone.
But there’s a problem, fortunately the prayer better known as the collect gives us the answer.
Renew Your people with Your heavenly grace and in all our weakness sustain us by Your mighty power.
Our problem is our humanity, we have natural and sometimes unnatural instincts that alienate ourselves from God – this is what we call sin.
And so we pray: Renew Your people…
And this is where the greatest sign and miracle of all is in sharing God’s bountiful grace, His everlasting love and his infinite forgiveness.
Do you remember Peter when he asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother – 7 times?
NO said Jesus – 70 times 7!! In other words we must always forgive, just as God forgives us - To err is human to forgive is divine.
The secular world may think that forgiveness is a sign of weakness but we children of God know that forgiveness is a sign of strength and power and is a gift of God’s grace.
The sign of God’s forgiveness and His love for us is shown on the cross that He loves us so much that He gave His Son to die for us.
The miracle is Christ’s victory over death, our final enemy is destroyed by Christ’s glorious Resurrection from the dead.
Death has no sting, the grave has no victory but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God for His Son our Lord Jesus Christ who gives us the victory, surely there can be no greater power here on earth or in heaven and God sustains our moral weakness by his mighty power.
Almighty God whose Son revealed in signs and miracles the wonder of Your saving presence. Renew Your people with Your heavenly grace and in all our weakness sustain us by Your mighty power.
What a wonderful prayer for the wonderful season of Epiphany.
