Epiphany 1, Year B
January 8, 2006
Christ Church, Covington
“And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well
pleased” (Mk 1:11).
We start this morning with a scene from ancient history: Alexander the Great,
King of Macedon and conqueror of the known world, caps his achievements on the
battlefield with an improbable wedding ceremony. The rite is gargantuan, on a
Sung Yung Moon-scale, as Alexander and his chief associates and over ten
thousand of his soldiers are wedded to Persian, Median, and Asiatic brides from
the conquered territories. East meets West in an act of imperial consolidation.
Alexander’s purpose is to bind together defeated peoples and ancient enemies
into a new unity, a new polity: a dream of universal empire. It’s a compelling
dream, inspiring and misleading the human race in equal portions. History is
littered with the resulting construction and its wreckage.
Alexander’s wedding in the conquered Persian capital is just a vivid instance of
a perennial human longing, for integration, reconciliation, and a new beginning;
what we might call “wholeness”. Indulge me in a large theme today. The theme is
not just found in imperial aspirations, but deeper in the human psyche as well.
Psychoanalysis, as conceived by Freud, attempts the integration of the
unconscious and repressed self into the conscious and coherent ego. His
erstwhile associate Jung described neurosis as “self-division”, and the role of
therapy in letting the division come to consciousness and be overcome.
Integration, reconciliation, and a new beginning: again, the themes of
“wholeness”. Bringing the discordant into harmony, establishing universal law
and reason, and making a fresh start. Human beings seek completion and
connection, a re-ordering of the self and the world we live in. These themes are
writ large in every way, not only in human history but in the human psyche as
well.
So what has this got to do with what we’re doing today? We celebrate Jesus’
baptism: not simply the beginning of his public ministry, but also the
revelation of the glory of God and God’s longing for us. The themes of
integration, reconciliation, and a new beginning are at the heart of God’s
coming into the world in Jesus Christ. The Messiah comes to bring all peoples
together [“a light to the nations” (Is. 42:6)], to reconcile and to heal [“to
open the eyes that are blind” (Is. 42:7)], to establish justice and universal
law [“and the coastlands shall wait for his law” (Is. 42:4)]. But above all,
Jesus Christ is revealed in order that humanity and God might be brought
together: in his own Person, both divine and human, so that we can become the
persons we are supposed to be. “You are my Son, the beloved”, words addressed to
the human race, to Jesus’ brothers and sisters. All of human history and our own
self-understanding witnesses to this longing we have, for reconciliation and a
new start. Human beings were made for union with God.
So look around for the signs of what God is doing in your life, both within
yourself and outside. We live in a world of transition, in the midst of which we
strive for connection and completion. We strive for new beginnings. Perhaps your
“New Year’s Resolution” is already forgotten; if so, start over! God is seeking
a new beginning for you, reconciliation and integration into the life of God.
This morning we need look no further than Baptism and the Holy Eucharist: means
of grace God’s given you for realizing this union, for allowing your true self
to be re-ordered and put back together again in an integrated whole. We take
away from church this morning the powerful sign that our longing for union and a
new beginning finds its completion with God, who brings authentic healing,
reconciliation, and wholeness.
John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.
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