The Second Sunday after Epiphany
January 16, 2005
Christ Church, Covington

Sermon by the Rev'd Pamela P. Snare

"When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, 'What are you looking for?' "(John 1:38a)

At a recent dinner where I was present, the question was asked of me, "What is the difference between revelation and epiphany?"

I had to think for a moment. Revelation is when God shows who he is, or shows us something about his plan of salvation, for us and for all people. Revelation may be an event, but it may also be the content or meaning of that event. The scriptures are revelation. They show us, reveal to us who God is and what God has done. Yet not everyone understands or accepts the scriptures as revelation. Not everyone takes them to heart and acts on them.

An epiphany is more like a personal encounter. The word "epiphany" literally means "an appearance." An epiphany may be accompanied by an outward sign, but it may not. One of Webster's definitions of epiphany is: "a moment of sudden intuitive understanding; a flash of insight; a scene or experience that occasions such a moment."

An epiphany not only reveals to us who God is or what God is doing or has done, but it confronts us personally with an insight, a truth. A truth so apparent and compelling that it usually moves us to act upon it, or in response to it. An epiphany is a moment when the light bulb comes on, not only in our heads, but in our hearts. It is an "Aha!" moment.

The star that the wise men saw was an epiphany. They knew they were to follow it in order to find and pay homage to the newly born King of the Jews. The Transfiguration was an epiphany. The disciples knew something beyond their comprehension was present in Jesus.

Jesus' baptism was an epiphany for John the Baptist. He saw the dove descend upon Jesus and he knew. He knew this man was the Lamb of God. He knew this man was the Son of God. The dove was an outward sign; the insight of Jesus' identity and person was an internal, "Aha!" moment - a gift of God.

Notice that John the Baptist does not keep this insight into Jesus' person to himself. His epiphany is not for his own personal edification. It is an insight to be shared; because the epiphany is not just about John's life, or John's relationship with God. It is about Jesus. John's role is to pass along the insight, the truth that has been given to him.

So, the next day, as he is standing with two of his disciples, he makes known to them what has been made known to him. "Look," he says to them, (true to his vocation of diverting attention from himself and directing others toward Jesus), "Here is the Lamb of God!"

John's insight does not fall on deaf ears. These two guys have been following John. They know him. They trust him. They go in the direction he points - to Jesus. The insight, the truth of the epiphany is passed along. There is a kind of succession, or as one writer notes, John starts a chain reaction.

"When Jesus turned and saw them (John's two disciples) following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?"

I believe this question is not just intended for those two disciples who because of John's insight turned and began following Jesus two thousand years ago. I believe this is the question being asked of all of us today - this morning. What are we looking for? What are we looking for in life? What are we looking for in following Jesus?

The biblical scholar, Ray Brown, notes that the Greek verb translated "looking for" has not one, but two meanings. It means both "to seek or search for" and "to want." Thus, a French biblical scholar sees two questions being asked by Jesus. The "surface" question is, "What do you want?" The more profound question is, "What are you searching for?"

If I asked all of us to respond to Jesus' question, by writing down that response on a piece of paper right now, what would you write? Happiness, security, strength, hope, comfort, healing? What do you want? What are you looking for?

I will tell you honestly that as I wrote this sermon and asked this question of myself, it was not immediately apparent to me what I would say.

Most of you know, except perhaps for visitors, that I have just returned from a three month sabbatical in Normandy. The first month I spent in a Benedictine monastery, living with twenty-seven Benedictine sisters, and sharing their schedule and their life. The last two months, Jerry and I lived near the monastery, and I returned every week for spiritual direction and instruction on the Rule of St. Benedict. I also spent a day each week at the Abbey library, reading about the Rule.

My sabbatical was not an epiphany. It was more like a storm of epiphanies - light bulbs flashing so consistently and frequently that Jerry and I simply could not take it all in. We were showered with grace. I have said to some of you that our three month sabbatical was like being wrapped in the arms of God. This morning at the 7:30 eucharist, as we were praying the psalm, the Lord gave me an even more apt description: "Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God! How great your wonders and your plans for us! There is none who can be compared with you. Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! But they are more than I can count." (Ps.40:5-6)

I thought, before I left here, that this sabbatical was a culmination of a long desire I have had to learn about and draw wisdom from the monastic life and practices. I saw, when I was there, that this experience, these epiphanies are not a culmination, but a beginning - a beginning that leads I know not where. What am I looking for? I am looking for how and where the Lord is leading me in the light of this experience. And I have more questions than answers at this moment. It is like having a gift so beautiful that you don't know what to do with it - where to put it - to its best advantage. The one thing you do know is that to put it in the closet because you don't know what to do with it would be the greatest mistake of your life.

What are you looking for? Do you know, can you say? Do you have more questions than answers? Has God been tickling you with epiphanies, moments of insight, but you are not sure what to do with them?

Fear not, you are among at least one fellow seeker. No, excuse me, two, because I know my husband Jerry would also put himself in this category. I can speak for no one else. Contrary to popular opinion, the life of faith is not about having all our doubts and questions answered, resolved for all time. If it were, then it would not be a life of faith, would it? It would not require trust, would it? I read somewhere long ago (so long ago I can no longer remember where), "The life of faith is not a life of certainty, but a life of trust." Any seasoned follower of Jesus will attest to this.

Following Jesus is the beginning of the search, not the end. Do we honestly think that Mary knew what it meant for her and for her life when the angel said, "Behold, you shall bear a son and shall call him Jesus," and she said "Yes"? I suspect she had more questions than answers. I know I would have.

Or what about John the Baptist? Yes, in today's gospel he has an epiphany, "This is the Lamb of God." But then, a few months or a year hence, John is in prison, things have not turned out as he expected, and he's not so sure. He sends some of his disciples to Jesus to ask, "Are you really who I thought you were? Did I make a mistake? Is it someone else God has sent?"

When Jerry and I returned to Louisiana after Christmas, we found waiting for us the end-of-the-year letter that the monastery in Normandy sends out annually. In that letter, the monastery announced to its friends that a young woman, Severine, made the decision last summer to take her first vows at Epiphany to become a member of their community. But that's not the way the letter put it. The letter said, "Last summer, Severine, a young woman who has been coming here regularly, made the decision to join us on Epiphany 2005 in order to search for the Lord with us."

When Jerry and I read that letter the week after Christmas, we were both captured by the phrase: "Cherchez le Seigneur avec nous"- "Search for the Lord with us." We resolved that we want it, in calligraphy, cross-stitch, needlepoint, or some medium, to hang in our home. It took writing this sermon to remind me that is what we are looking for - the joy, the peace, the hope, the hospitality, the generosity, the charity that comes from the Lord - in each day, in each hour, in each person, in good times and in difficulties, regardless of human circumstance, to trust him, to love him, to follow him, here in Covington, here at Christ Church. That is what we are looking for.

What are you looking for? Do you have more questions than answers? Are you not sure where the Lord is leading? That's O.K. So do we have questions. So are we not sure. The important thing is, today the Lord invites us to search for him together. Do you want to look for him at work, at school, at home, at play? In each day, in each hour, in each person? Do we as a community of faith want to look for him together, in every aspect of our common life? In each day, each hour, each person? I hope so. I pray so. He is there already. He is waiting for us.

 

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