Readings:
Sermon:
This second Sunday of epiphany will be Bishop Hugh’s first Sunday with us in the Diocese of Worcester after his welcome and installation service on 17th January. However old or young we are this is a momentous moment for the people of this diocese. It’s been a long wait, but now he has officially arrived.
Along with many others I have been praying the following prayer
"Gracious and loving God, we thank you for calling your servant Hugh to be Bishop of Worcester; sustain him by your love, strengthen him in faith, encourage him in hope, and grant him the needful gifts of grace; that through his ministry among us we may live and grow as Kingdom People sharing faith, hope and love in Jesus' name. Amen."
These ideas of waiting, expectation, call and arrival are prominent in the gospel today.
John saw Jesus and declared – ‘here is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’.
High expectations indeed – a long looked for Messiah found.
John was baptising in faith that the Messiah would come, and a heavenly sign, described as the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, confirmed who that Messiah was i.e. Jesus.
The next day, when John is with two of his disciples, Andrew and one other, Jesus appears again, casually walking past them…....John repeats ‘this is the Son of God’ Now John is telling the others…look…..
The response he gets from Jesus is interesting….
Jesus doesn’t set out a strategy or game plan in these early encounters about what it is to be the anointed one…but instead he poses a question – ‘what are you looking for?’
And extends an invitation – ‘come and see’
In those simple phrases He acknowledges all that has been and all that is hoped for. His first action is an open question showing curiosity about their expectations
Is second is a generous gift of his time…spending the whole day with them.
His final action is to name Peter…seeing who he truly is in God’s eyes.
So now there is Jesus, who is joined by John, Andrew, his brother Peter and one other disciple………All have found the Messiah.
The rest of John’s gospel is a revealing of just what that means; how Jesus defies the set expectations of what a Messiah should be and how he fulfils the mission to take away the sin of the world. It reveals the ‘how’ of the light withstands the darkness of the world he has come to and is not known by.
So on this Sunday, as I consider the encounter when the first disciples are called and Jesus is recognised, I find great wisdom in the approach Jesus took to meeting others for the first time.
- Curiosity,
- Spending time with them
- Seeing who they truly are in God’s eyes.
May this be our guide for all new encounters this Epiphany season.
Amen.
Questions:
- In praying for Bishop Hugh what are you expecting from his ministry among us?
- What are the gifts of the past to give thanks for, and what might the gifts for the future needed for each one of us to live and grow in faith hope and love in the name of Jesus be?