We have
come to the time after the two great feasts of light in the midst of the
darkness of winter. Each year, when the nights are long but beginning to
shorten, when much of the land lies hidden under snow, two great lights shine
in the darkness, and much that was hidden is revealed. I'm speaking of
Christmas – the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ – and Theophany – the baptism
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Really, both of these feasts are theophanies –
because, what is a theophany? A theophany is a manifestation of God. It is God
revealing himself to us – making himself known to us. “The Lord is God, and he
has enlightened us” (Psalm 117/118:27). Theophany is a light shining in the
darkness, a revelation of what was hidden.
Until the
nativity of Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God was hidden. God had already
taken on our human nature in the womb of his mother. God first becomes a
zygote, then an embryo, then a fetus. But as such he is hidden in the womb of his
mother Mary. Only she and Joseph, and John and Elizabeth, know who Jesus is in
the womb. Yes, Mary did know that her
“baby boy is the Lord of all creation” and “would one day rule the nations.”[1] The
archangel Gabriel had revealed it to her and Joseph. And John was a prophet
even before he was born and so he recognized the Lord.
But all
this was like a secret hidden in Mary’s womb. God was already incarnate from
the moment of his conception, but he was hidden in the warm darkness of her
womb until his nativity. And so, his nativity is a theophany of the incarnate
God. Christ is born! God made man is revealed to all! Mary and Joseph see him
for the first time with their eyes of flesh, though with their eyes of faith
they already knew who it was who was dwelling within her and in our world.
Angels announce the birth to local shepherds, who come to the cave and see God
in the flesh in the manger. A star reveals to distant Persian astrologers that
our new King and Lord is born. The whole world experiences this theophany. God
is manifested to the world. Even animals see God in their manger. All creation
experiences this theophany – this light shining in the darkness.
“God is
light and in him, there is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).
Years
pass. The adolescence and youth of Jesus pass. We know almost nothing about
these years. They are sometimes called his hidden years. He who first hid in
the womb of his mother, then hides in Egypt from the wrath of Herod, and then
hides in the obscurity of Nazareth. But that which was hidden will be revealed
at Theophany – that is, at the time of his baptism.
Jesus
comes again to John. He first approached John while they were both unborn and
John, being a prophet of God most high, recognized Jesus even then. By leaping
in his mother's womb, he proclaims to his mother that the unborn Jesus Christ
is Lord (Luke 1:41-43). Now again seeing Jesus coming to him when they are both
men, he proclaims, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”
(John 1:29). Now, this proclamation
is heard by all. Whereas before, only his mother Elizabeth could feel and
understand his hidden prophetic leap. Now, theophany! The Lamb of God is
revealed to all. But still more and greater things are revealed this day.
God is
always Trinity. Before Abraham ever was, Jesus is. Jesus is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He is the Alpha and the Omega. The word of God who is God
is before all ages. And God is always Trinity.
In the
beginning, God created. The ru'ach of
God moved over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light (Gen
1:1-3). There already is the father, the creator, and the ru'ach, the
breath, the wind, the spirit of God, and
the speech, the word, the son of God.
And God
said let us make man in our image and
after our likeness (Gen 1:26). God is always a plurality of persons, always Trinity
and one God, always three and one.
But this
truth of God was hidden. It was not known to the Jews. It was not known even to
Moses. The author of Genesis, who wrote these words in which we see the Trinity, did not know that
God was Trinity. He did not understand his own words in that way. He did not
understand them as we understand
them. Because we have experienced the
theophany of the Trinity. Our eyes have been opened to see the Holy Spirit and
the Word of God who is God where before they were not recognized.
And it
is in the River Jordan when John baptizes Jesus that worship of the Trinity is
revealed. The Father's voice bears witness to our Lord Jesus Christ, calling
him his beloved Son, and again the Spirit moves over the face of the waters. The
Spirit in the form of a dove descends upon him over the River Jordan.[2]
The Trinity is revealed to the world by this second theophany, this second
feast of light shining in the darkness.
Now, today,
after these two feasts of light, Christ begins to preach for the first time,
and his preaching fulfils Isaiah's prophecy, that "the people who sat in
darkness have seen a great light" and that "for those who sat in the
region and shadow of death, light has dawned" (Matt 4:16). His preaching enlightens us, gives light to
our eyes enabling us to see the kingdom of heaven among us in the midst of this
present seeming darkness. His preaching is like a third theophany. If we will
receive it, it manifests God to us, enables us to experience theophany – the
epiphany that God is with us.
Here is
what Jesus preaches: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt
4:17).
This
preaching is a light shining in the darkness.
Maybe we
tend to prefer the second part of this proclamation: the Kingdom of Heaven is
at hand. But the preaching of Jesus teaches us that the key to that kingdom is
repentance. We sit in darkness and the shadow of death as long as we wallow in
our sins. Only when we repent do we see the great light. The real reality –underneath
our experience of darkness – is that this
– here and now – is the Heavenly
Kingdom. This is the kingdom now. We’re already experiencing it, to the extent
that we repent. God is with us – not only
will be, but is. He has been with us all along and through it all, but unless
we repent, his presence is hidden to us. Our eyes are darkened. Repentance opens
our eyes. It is the key to our own theophany – God's theophany to us
personally, his self-manifestation, his self-revelation to us. Without
repentance, our eyes are too blind to see the truth of Christ's presence in
everything and everyone. Therefore, let us repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is
at hand.
