Quiet, You Two, It’s Both

Readings:
Isaiah 42:1-9
Acts 10:34-43
Matthew 3:13-17

Audio sermon link: https://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/422/FF14E288-6C9D-B6CE-B557-8B3B56A62C29.mp3

The season of Epiphany continues, the season in which we celebrate light, revelation, manifestation, the light of God come into the world. We see because of God’s illuminating our way.

Epiphany truly is a moment of realization, the light bulb going on over one’s head, the true AHA moment.

Yet that truth is often hard to understand. It’s a baby, but it’s God; He’s human, yet He’s divine. How do we make sense of this?

Was Jesus divine, but came to us in a recognizable disguise? It may be too degrading to think of a truly divine being in only human terms. Or was he human, but a truly special, holy human.

I’m sorry for the analogy, but it reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live commercial in which Chevy Chase saves the day when two housewives are arguing, “It’s a floor wax. No it’s a dessert topping!” and Chevy interrupts with “Quiet, you two. It’s both!”

Perhaps a more palatable metaphor is an ongoing philosophical discussion in the realm of physics, that of the nature of light. Perhaps this is a more telling metaphor for Epiphany, a season of light. Physicists have constructed theories of light and light travel that are based on both the particle and wave natures of light. In certain undeniable experiments, light behaves exactly as if it were made up of discrete particles much like billiard balls. In other experiments, light forms patterns remarkably similar to those observed in fluid waves. Scientists have been unsatisfied wholly with either theory as neither, alone, can explain all the observed phenomena nor can either alone explain the nature of light in its entirety.

Very much, as Pastor Mohn points out, like the scripture stories of Jesus, neither of these hypotheses is enough, on its own, to, as she put it, account for all the truisms (I loved that expression!). Much like the hypotheses about the physical nature of light, just because an explanation is easy does not mean it’s right; just because it fits neatly in a little box does not mean it offers us the whole truth.

Cut to airport story: your flight’s delayed and they make an announcement over the PA. People rush to the attendant’s desk to inquire about the details and then there’s that one person who skirts the line and perches themselves at the side of the desk, expecting a personal audience with der Fuhrer. Our response? Often it’s “Who do you think you are? You’re no different than us! Who does this person think they are?”

In Jesus’ baptism today, the message is clear: He does not think he’s above it all. He will bear the weight of the tension between the human and the divine … all the way to the cross. He neither requests nor expects any special detour around security, any first class upgrades, no skirting lines with Him. Where the rest of us are quietly awaiting news of when the delayed flight will arrive or next depart, here He is, among us, in the crowd. Jesus is found with the weary traveler, where ever people are tired and hungry, where there is sin and brokenness. God’s heart is with those who struggle and we are called to be in this place with them as well.

For sure, if we do, we will experience discomfort. But this is where God is to be found.

The security we seek is an illusion. Brokenness is innate to humanity. We can not escape it; avoiding it is a folly.

God is carrying us into dark places … and filling them with light, meaning, hope. His place is never exclusive – Members Only. It is always and entirely inclusive.

His is a Big, Big House … with lots and lots of room;
with a big, big table, with lots and lots of food.

With Epiphany comes the realization that God means business … and, most of all, that business is the business of everyone!