Brought to light

The Epiphany of our Lord

January 6, 2008

Ephesians 3:1-12

"To me . . . this grace was given . . . to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages . . ."

When I was fourteen, I needed glasses. Only, I didn’t know that I needed glasses.

One day, in biology class, as I couldn’t read what Mr. Peterson was writing on the chalkboard, I asked my neighbor, "Can you read that?" The reply that I didn’t want to hear was, "Of course, I can."

Until I had this revelation from my classmate, I didn’t realize that my vision had gradually gotten bad. Without anything against which to measure my vision—I don’t recall when my last eye exam had been—I was happily going around thinking that I was seeing the world, just fine and dandy. But, being completely in the dark regarding my eyesight, I had no idea that I was in the dark.

That’s the problem with ignorance. If you don’t know something, you can’t know what you don’t know.

Sitting toward the back of biology class, I thought that the reason I couldn’t read the chalkboard was simply because of distance, not that there was anything wrong with me.

That’s the way that sin works in us. We say, "I’m only human," because the only standard that we have for human behavior is the one that we see. Unless we learn differently, we don’t know that we should be able to see way better behavior from everyone, including ourselves. Unless we learn differently, we accept our sins. Indeed, we might not even know that we are sinning, or have any idea that a certain thing falls short of the mark which God set by which we are to live.

Just as I needed my classmate’s revelation to learn that my eyesight had gone bad, all humans need a revelation to learn that our entire lives have gone bad. That’s what the Epiphany of our Lord is all about.

An epiphany is a revelation, an unveiling of something that was hidden, but now is brought into the open and made known. The birth of Jesus—God’s eternal Son, yet Mary’s earthly child—was the beginning of God’s making known the way of salvation.

God began the revealing to the nearby Jewish shepherds, as the angels proclaimed Jesus’ birth. Then, God moved the Gentile magi to travel a great distance to locate the One whose star they saw. At the age of thirty, Jesus left home and took up His ministry, and His epiphany took place, in event after event, beginning with His baptism, then moving onto His miracles and teachings, and culminating in His death, resurrection, and return to heaven.

All of this was God’s unveiling of His plan of salvation. And, we humans needed it unveiled because we were completely comfortable living as we were, not having any idea that our vision of God’s standard had gotten so blurry, that we were now living in total darkness.

That’s what Isaiah was talking about, as we heard in the Old Testament: "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples." Then the turn is made to the epiphany: "But the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light . . ."

Now, the Jews, of all people, should not have needed God’s light to be shone upon them. From the beginning of their existence as a nation, God had bathed the light of His love, and His laws, upon Israel.

But, as with one’s vision, over time, Israel’s eyes grew dark to God’s love and laws. Despite God sending prophet after prophet to them, their eyes grew dimmer and dimmer. By the time the Lord Jesus arrived on earth, the Jews were completely blind; they no longer had a right relationship with God. In their spiritual darkness, they got completely turned around. They thought that they saved themselves by how they behaved, rather than God saving them out of His goodness.

That, of course, is where Paul was. Paul was a Pharisee. Paul was going around having Christians killed because Paul thought that Jesus was, at least, a troublemaker and, at worst, a blasphemer against God. It took Jesus coming to Paul—in a blinding light, by the way—to remove Paul from his spiritual darkness.

Paul writes of this in today’s epistle. He says that the mystery of salvation in Christ was made known to him by revelation. There’s that word: revelation. It took a revelation, an unveiling—an epiphany—for Paul to see that about which he was blind.

He tells his audience: "When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ . . . as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit."

Living in spiritual darkness, the salvation of God was a mystery. Being brought into the light, the mystery is revealed.

Doesn’t everyone receive fulfillment when they have the answer to a mystery, whether it is a simple as finding one’s car keys, or as complex as decoding DNA?

You, my friends, have had revealed to you the most important mystery of all. You have been brought from spiritual darkness and into spiritual light. You know that Jesus Christ is the light of the world and, walking in His light, you will never again walk in darkness.

And, isn’t that the dumbest thing to do—to return to darkness?

When I was a high school sophomore with new glasses, I hated them. I tried to get along without wearing them. Of course, when I left them off, I suffered the consequences.

How many of you try to get along without Christ? You think that you can live, just fine and dandy, without Jesus, returning to your old standard of human behavior.

• "Why do I have to go to church?"
• "Where does it say this is wrong?"
• "Who am I to tell anyone they are sinning?"

Despite God bringing you into the light of Christ, having revealed His salvation to you, opening your eyes to Jesus in His baptism of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, enlightening your mind with the Word of Christ in the Bible and sermon and hymns, and feeding you upon the very Light of the World in His Supper, you keep taking off your glasses, thinking you can see clearly in your spiritual blindness.

Have you not been fulfilled, having the answer to the greatest mystery of all time? Yes, you have the answer to the greatest mystery: Who is God; who am I; how can I have eternal life? This has to be way better than finding one’s car keys. It even has to be better than decoding DNA because, even with all of our terrific scientific knowledge, we still die.

But, you have been bathed in the light of Jesus’ Epiphany. You have preached to you what Paul calls "the unsearchable riches of Christ." What are those riches? They are God’s complete, and utterly free forgiveness of sins; salvation from death, devil, and damnation; and eternal life in the coming resurrection—all because of what God worked in His Son, your brother in the flesh, Jesus.

I said, earlier, that the problem with ignorance is, if you don’t know something, you can’t know what you don’t know. You, my friends, know Jesus. You know that He died so that you live. You know how to repent of your sins and fall at God’s mercy, through faith in your Savior, Jesus. This new year, God increase in you the revelation of His Son, that you always have eyes to see the light of His love for you, in Jesus Christ your Lord. Amen.