March 2, 2025 – The Last Sunday of the Epiphany
Fr. Cal Calhoun
In the Name of God: whose light leads us forth, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is the Last Sunday after the Epiphany! That means several things:
First, the season of Epiphany is at an end. (That is a bit obvious.) This season began with the Feast of the Epiphany, or Feast of Lights, in which we celebrate the coming of the magi to visit the child Jesus. The word epiphany means a new understanding, an Ah-ha! The Ah-ha of the Epiphany is that this Jesus, this holy child, is not just the Messiah for the Jewish people, but that he is a savior for the whole world. In the season of Epiphany we see the glory of God revealed in Jesus in a number of ways. We returned to Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan River, the beginning of his ministry. We heard about his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana. We remember early events in Jesus’ ministry: the calling of the disciples, his early teachings and early miracles. Events meant to reveal Jesus’ glory.
Last week we heard a part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. Some hard, dare I say, commandments? Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Give and expect nothing back in return. Turn the other cheek. Do not judge. Do not condemn. As Mother Mary shared last week, this other-worldly message of Jesus’ love is not a recipe for playing the victim, or being a doormat to bullying or abuse. But rather, Mary told us, the essence of Jesus’ teaching is simply ‘Do not retaliate violence with violence.’ Because Jesus abhors violence in response to evil. But at the same time, Jesus abhors passivity. Jesus is teaching us that there is a different way. In a world that undoubtedly includes bullies, aggressors, evil, and people who wish to do us harm, what Jesus is teaching us is how to be in the world as Love. Active love. And there’s nothing passive about that.
As Mary shared, love like this requires practice, creativity, patience, endurance. It requires every bit of us and as we attempt active love, we will fail again and again and again. Each Sunday, we confess that we haven’t loved God with all our heart and soul and mind, and that we haven’t loved our neighbor as ourselves. In spite of that, God still loves us, and at the end of our time here together, God sends us out to try again. Do better this week!
The primary symbol of Epiphany is light. This season begins with the light from a star, leading the magi and marking the beginning of a new world, a new time, a time when the love of God, made present in Jesus, is revealed in a new way. There is the light from the light-bulb above our heads as we understand anew and again and again, the glory of Jesus, the love of Jesus, what it is that makes Jesus different.
And today, as we wrap up the season of Epiphany, Jesus is transfigured by light. He shines with the brightness of God, as God reveals again Jesus’ glory upon the holy mountain. We hear in the story that Jesus was with Moses and Elijah and they were “speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” And indeed, a few verses later, before the end of this, the ninth chapter of Luke, we are told that Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
The end of the season of Epiphany marks the beginning of Lent. Before we get to Lent, we, here at Good Sam, have a wonderful celebration of the end of Epiphany planned on Tuesday evening. A Mardi Gras celebration of sorts. A wonderful meal, fellowship with these wonderful people, a silent auction, all to raise money for our Youth Mission Trip the first of June. Then, we begin Lent this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, with three services: 7:00AM, 12:00 Noon, and 7:00PM.
In Lent, we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. To the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through Holy Week, to Good Friday and to the foot of the cross. We will remember Jesus’ time in the wilderness. Lent for us is much like a time of wilderness, a time of fasting. This where the tradition of “giving something up for Lent” comes from. Giving something up for Lent is not about losing weight, which is not a bad thing, but giving something up is, in your missing something you really like, to remind you to draw closer to God. Instead of, or along with giving something up, you might try taking something on. Mother Mary will be teaching a Sunday School class taking a close look at the Cross and all that the Cross means to us as Christians. Maybe you schedule more time for morning prayer, maybe you read the Gospel of Luke, a chapter at a time, maybe you volunteer once a week at the VMC?
How will you journey with Jesus to the cross this Lenten season? How will you honor the light of Christ that is within you? And how will you make that light shine forth the love, the love that God has for you? Amen.
Year C – The Last Sunday of the Epiphany – March 2, 2025 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
