Romans 12,1-8. Epiphany I

 Romans 12,1-8   0921

1. Sonntag nach Epiphanias 014

Paul of Thebes, first hermit, ✠ 340

Basil the Great of Caesarea ✠ 379, Gregory of Nazianzus, Patriarch of Constantinople, ✠ 389 and Gregory of Nyssa ✠ 394

10. Januar 2021

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who in mercy has established the Christian home among us: We beseech You so to rule and direct our hearts, so that we may be good examples to children and servants, and not offend them by word or deed, but faithfully teach them to love Your Church and hear Your blessed Word. Give them Your Spirit and grace, so that this seed may bring forth good fruit, so that our home life may conduce to Your glory, honor and praise, to our own improvement and welfare, and give offense to no one.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich) 

2. »I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect. ³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.« 

3. In today’s Gospel pericope we here about 12-year-old Jesus in the temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions (Luke 2,46). Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His understanding and His answers (Luke 2,47). Jesus here fulfills the Scripture, which is 1. Chronicles 29,11, a prayer David prayed at the collection take it up to build the temple: »Behold, now the Lord of lords arrives, and the kingdom, the power and the glory are in His hand.« Jesus arrives in His temple and teaches the teachers. 

4. We are more prone to ignore sound teaching. We prefer to speak rather than to listen. We opt for action instead of hearing. Speaking and acting can lead to disastrous results as the past 12 months have show cased for us, not only in America but by others around the world. Mankind often chaffs at being seated and learning, especially when what they hear goes against the grain of what they believe. We are prone to think more highly of ourselves that we ought to think. The Apostle Paul cautions us against this. He exhorts us to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Paul wants us to be enlightened, but he’s not talking about the sort of Enlightenment from the 18. century, but rather to become enlightened by the Word of God and His will. 

5. Epiphany is about enlightenment and seeing the glory of Yahweh in our midst. Our epiphany is Jesus Christ and he lights our way. Jesus gave Himself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to His Father, on the cross. He became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is our vicarious sacrifice; He died in our place. Paul exhorts us to likewise present ourselves as a living sacrifice which is our proper worship of Jesus. This involves learning at the feet of Jesus through the Holy Scriptures, as well as using our talents and gifts to benefit the Church and our neighbors.  

6. „What Simeon foretold when Jesus was forty days old, Jesus now states unequivocally at age twelve: he is the Son of God and his destiny is in Jerusalem“ (Just 130). That destiny is unfolded in the Gospels. The next time Jesus is in Jerusalem for Passover in Luke’s Gospel is when He will go to the cross and rise from the dead; the cross and resurrection is Jesus’ destiny. 

7. Today’s Gospel pericope concludes by saying: »Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature and in favor with God and man« (Luke 2,52). Epiphany reveals to us that Jesus is the Son of God, our Savior and the Christ. As we learn this, meditate upon it and confess it, we too increase in wisdom, in stature and in favor with God. We are on the path of those first disciples and apostles who needed to learn who Jesus is, what is Messianic destiny is and to proclaim it to the nations. Faith receives the gospel given out in Word and Sacrament, and in receiving believes that we have what Jesus promises us: sin is forgiven, death is overcome in resurrected life and the gates of everlasting life are open wide for us to enter into eternal fellowship with the Triune God.  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher of Your Heavenly Father’s will; pour out Your righteousness upon us so that we remain on the level ground of Your salvation.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Just, Arthur A., Jr. Luke 1:1––9:50. Copyright © 1996 Concordia Publishing House.