The Collect for the First Sunday after The Epiphany
Almighty Lord, we ask You mercifully to receive the prayers of Your people who call upon You; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and may also have grace and power to faithfully fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle, Romans 12:1-5
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
The Holy Gospel of St Luke 2:41-52
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.
42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they travelled on for a day.
Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
Bishop Ian’s Thoughts
Today’s Epistle Reading is taken from St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans Chapter 12, Verses 1-5.
In our Reading St Paul exhorts the Roman Christians to Godly living, as a consequence of their receiving God’s Great Gift of The Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus:
“12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
By conducting their day to day lives as a “living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” they give honour to the Lord Jesus.
Any action that gives praise and honour to the Lord Jesus, and exalts Him above all things, is most pleasing and acceptable to God.
The Roman Christians needed to be taught that the body is not an object whose essence is evil and must be subdued, but rather as a sacred servant of a person’s soul.
This understanding of the body was unique to Christianity and Judaism. In contrast, the Greek, and the great majority of pagan religion’s view of the body, was that it was essentially evil and made of dross, and only served to contain the immortal soul for a limited period until it was liberated by death.
The soul would then merge with the ethereal group of incorporeal spirits to commune with them as unemcumbered intellect.
Also, St Paul is contrasting the ritualistic worship of the Jewish Faith, which was based on external animal sacrifices to please God, and to obtain forgiveness of sins, with the living, day to day, sacrifice of worship and honour, given to the Lord Jesus, by His people whose sins have been dealt with, once and for all, by the Holy Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
St Paul then urges the Roman Church not to join in the practices of this world:
“2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
We must not accept the values of this world and behave according to their dictates.
This was never been more important than in the first Century AD, and regrettably, it is becoming more, and more, important in our present time.
Life, in both the first century AD was, and today, is based on personal gratification by means of sensual pleasure and the greed-driven acquisition of wealth and power, to the detriment and exclusion of all other actions, leading to the total disregard of other people’s welfare.
We who live in the present day now have immoral science, and Hollywood deception, to devise and manufacture ever more sophisticated means to ensnare ordinary men and women into lives of moral debauchery that disregard, and exclude, God’s ethical commandments.
In our present age there is a strong resurgence of occult activity, together with increasing interest in seances, ouija boards, and other overtly satanic worship and practices.
Every major newspaper and women’s magazines have pages devoted to clairvoyants, star gazers, astrology predictions and tarot card readers.
Baphomets (the skull with horns of a goat) which represent Satan and his worship are increasingly appearing in pictures and as ornaments.
There has been an explosive increase in the number of men and women obtaining tattoos, the overwhelming majority of which have satanic significance, and meaning, whether known to recipient or not.
Heavy metal rock music has lubricated the path of Satan as he infiltrates our society through the seduction of young people.
Most worrying is the great number of children who have been lured, by movies, such as the Harry Potter saga and others, into accepting witchcraft and the casting of spells as normal activity.
Also many children have been deceived into experimenting with ouija boards and other satanic paraphernalia, together with the increasing of demonic observances such as Halloween.
St Paul continues by exhorting the Roman Christians to resist the great sin of pride, and its offspring, conceit:
“3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
The Holy Gospel removes any basis for pride by us, as we are saved, and adopted by God, only through the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must assess ourselves on the basis that we, and all God’s chosen people, are saved by grace without any merit found in us, or by any contribution on our part.
Our Epistle Reading concludes with St Paul’s sound teaching which compares the parts of our human body, all of whose functions contribute to the working of the whole body. We as individuals must contribute our skills, and spiritual gifts, to the Godly functioning of our church, which together with all other churches worldwide, is the whole body of the Lord Jesus.
“4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
May God give us grace to regard ourselves as an important part of the Body of the Lord Jesus, and to dedicate ourselves to serving others who are also part of the Lord Jesus’ Body and have, like us, been redeemed by His Holy Gospel. Amen.
Today’s Holy Gospel Reading is taken from the Holy Gospel of St Luke Chapter 2, Verses 41-52.
In this portion of His Holy Gospel St Luke gives us a very precious glimpse of the Lord Jesus as a twelve year old boy, who was being raised in devout family, which kept all the solemn rituals and ceremonies of the Jewish Faith.
“41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.
42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom.”
The Holy Family travelled from Nazareth to Jerusalem in a large caravan made up of many people and animals. This was a common custom in the Lord Jesus’ time as many families were inter-related by birth and, or, marriage.
Often family members would spend part of their journey with different family groups to speak and catch up with the latest news.
Also, there was safety in large numbers as the roads leading to and from Jerusalem were plagued by gangs of robbers.
St Luke describes the homeward journey, after the festival was concluded, and the discovery that the Young Lord Jesus was not with them:
“43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they travelled on for a day.”
Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.
When they failed to locate Him among their fellow caravan travellers His parents returned to Jerusalem and after three days found in the Temple precincts:
“45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”
Far from being a childish nuisance the young Lord Jesus astonished the teachers of the Law, and all who heard his questions. They most certainly knew that this young boy had Divine gifts of understanding and insight into spiritual things.
It is important to note that the young Lord Jesus was not lecturing the scholars, but reverently listening to them and asking respectful questions to learn from their answers and respectfully answering any questions they posed to Him:
“47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”
When Mary and Joseph finally found the young Lord Jesus they were relieved but surprised to find him among such astute company and naturally asked why he had not joined the caravan for the return journey.
Mary’s question to her Son does not necessarily convey anger but was asked to know why He had acted in this manner. The Lord Jesus was a responsible son and would have never hurt or disappointed his earthly parents:
“48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
The young Lord Jesus answered His mother with a question of His own:
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
His parents did not understand the full import of the answer they received. They were not thinking in terms of the message, recorded in the Holy Gospel of St Luke Chapter 1 Verses 26-33, that the Archangel Gabriel gave to Mary when he announced to her that she would be the mother of the Messiah:
“26 God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Mary did not fully comprehend that the Young Lord Jesus was preparing Himself for the Ministry that was inherent in the message of the the Archangel Gabriel.
St Matthew informs us of the Lord Jesus' parents lack of full understanding regarding His actions and His explanation:
“50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.”
The young Lord Jesus, no doubt seeing the concern of His mother readily went with her and Joseph and journeyed back to His home at Nazareth. We are told that He was obedient to His earthly parents.
We are also told that the Lord Jesus grew in wisdom and was well thought of by all who knew Him:
“51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
It is highly likely that there were future family pilgrimages to Jerusalem and most certainly a visit to the Teachers in the Temple forecourts would have on the top of the young Lord Jesus’ list of priorities.
We are told that Mary “treasured all these things in her heart.” Mary came to know that there would come a day when her Son would leave home to begin the work assigned to Him by His Heavenly Father.
It would be another eighteen years before God would call his Son to begin His Ministry.
Throughout His teenage years we can be assured that the Lord Jesus prepared Himself for the call of His Heavenly in Heaven, to begin His Ministry that would eventually lead Him to the Cross of Calvary.
Let us rejoice and thank God that we have been given this rare glimpse of the Lord Jesus as a young child, and that we have been able to see the devotion with which He sought to learn about His Heavenly Father and fellow men, and so prepare Himself to work the Holy Gospel of Salvation, that God had promised to Abraham and his seed, centuries before, and which the Lord Jesus was now in the process of bringing to fulfilment. Amen.
Bishop Ian