Worship - St. Andrew Lutheran Church

Epiphanytide

A Reading from 1 Corinthians.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work powerful deeds? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

–1 Corinthians 12:12-31

St. Paul’s poetic chapter on the depth and breadth of love stands at the center of this season’s readings and provides a keystone to hold the remainder of Epiphany and its texts in place. While the lectionary for the second reading throughout this ordinary time provides a sweeping overview of Paul’s wisdom and counsel to the troubled church at Corinth, the gospel texts, for the most part, give us a glimpse into the early ministry of Jesus through Luke’s theological lens. The feasts of the Lord’s baptism, presentation, and transfiguration provide vistas across the season to glance back to Bethlehem’s manger and forward to Calvary’s cross.

There is hope to be found in Paul’s firm but grace-filled letter to a community at odds with itself. We are not the first of the world’s people unable to live in harmony. Using the analogy of the human body (1 Corinthians 12, Epiphany 3C), Paul challenges those who are baptized into the body of Christ to see the wonder and beauty of such a diverse community. His wise body talk plunges us deep into the season of incarnation out of which we have just come. As Jesus’ coming among us so powerfully attests, life in Christ is bodily, connected through our Redeemer to the Creator and the Spirit, to one another, and to creation itself. The Epiphany season holds three festival opportunities for exploring Christ deep-in-the-flesh with us through his own body, baptized, presented, and transfigured.

The overall arc of the season, despite Paul’s call for abiding love, is rife with contradiction and conflict. Jesus’ preaching in Nazareth fills the synagogue with rage (Luke 4:21-30, Epiphany 4C). At the presence of the Lord of hosts, Isaiah’s cry mutates from “I am a man of unclean lips,” to “Send me!” (Isaiah 6:1-8, Epiphany 5C). And Jesus, in this same Sunday’s gospel, invites self-identified sinners to become his inner circle (Luke 5, Epiphany 5C). Echoes of the Magnificat resound through Luke’s version of the beatitudes (6:17-26, Epiphany 6C), where those rich and full are contrasted with the poor and hungry from Mary’s song. Jeremiah gives voice to our devious hearts (17:5-10, Epiphany 6C), yet Jesus calls for those very hearts to be turned in love toward our enemies (Luke 6:27-38, Epiphany 7C).

One might ponder whether the conflicts and contrasts that this sprawling season embodies have their point of reference in the season’s only episode from John’s gospel, as the numbered Sundays of this time open with another illustration of how things change in God’s presence. Is Cana’s wedding story a compass for the journey from our sin-spoiled humanity toward the new creation that lies ahead? Certainly, there are allusions to the first creation story, with the vessels of water, like so many formless voids, waiting for their new creator’s Spirit-filled touch. Some interpreters understand the wedding to take place on the eighth day of John’s gospel, a day which the ancients referred to as the first day of the new creation. (This reference to eight is the liturgical reason many baptismal fonts are octagonal.) What the steward draws out is the good wine, the better wine, a eucharistic sip of that new creation that God offers us in Christ.

To approach the season’s preaching of Christ, incarnate among us to initiate God’s reign, is to honor the manifestation that Epiphany offers. Preaching that points to Jesus’ destination at the cross and in the resurrection is to seal the season’s promise. Amid the present moment of lives in turmoil, isolation, and distress, the promise of Christ is an astonishing contradiction. Through the One made known to mysterious travelers from afar, presented into the arms of the faithful in the temple, baptized by John, and proclaiming a message of beloved belonging for all, we find meaning and hope. The dawn of the new age and our participation in it through our baptism into Christ call us into community where, despite our differences and our despair, we are formed to live with one another and all creation in faith, hope, and—the greatest of these—love.