Feb. 8 | Epiphany 5, Year A
Isaiah 58:1-9a [9b-12]
Psalm 112:1-9 [10]
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 [13-16]
Matthew 5:13-20
How is it that the community of believers in Jesus Christ can know the truth that seems to be hidden from those who do not believe? Since Jesus is the unique embodiment of God and came and lived openly among humans in a specific period in our history, the mystery of God’s nature should be clearly evident to all. But that is surely not the case, then or now.
The key to the revelation of the truth about God is faith in Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Scripture and not as we would like him to be or think he should be. Then, through faith in Jesus, we open ourselves to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God and the Wisdom of God.
Finite and fallible creatures cannot begin to understand the infinite and infallible God. What creature can comprehend the mind of its creator? The creator must be capable of contemplating in his mind all there is of the creature even before it is created. The creator’s mind must be able to contain the mind of the creature as well as the thoughts necessary to create it.
Our willful arrogance, our sin, also limits our knowledge of God. We speak of the arrogant people in our lives as know-it-alls. They are the ones who think they have no need to listen to others. Our sin nature makes us that way in our relationship with God and results in our living our lives as if there were no God.
The only way the finite creature can know anything about the infinite God is by revelation. Thankfully God, the infinite Creator, reveals himself to each generation of created human beings through his Spirit. The only way the fallible human race can be cured of the sin-blindness that obscures God’s revelation is through the convicting and guiding work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-15). It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that unites believers in Jesus Christ as the Church, because it is only through the Spirit that we can know God and his will. The Spirit also empowers us to live according to God’s will and participate in demonstrating his purpose to the world.
We announce and demonstrate the holy God’s purpose and direction through lives that are radically different—lives that are focused on obeying God. We were created to be agents of change. Even before the Fall, our assigned duty was to spread God’s order (the garden) over chaos (the wilderness of the world). That is the call to subdue and rule over the world that we read about in Genesis 1:28.
But being made in the image of God and subordinate to him, our authority is delegated by him and to be exercised according to his plan—the plan that is revealed to us by the Spirit and the Scriptures. Likewise, God’s people are called to participate in his redemption of the world by witnessing to his steadfast love and mercy shown through his Son, Jesus Christ.
In this world, when something is radically different, it is noticed. There is no way that we can even approximate the eight characteristics of a citizen of God’s kingdom described in the Beatitudes and go unnoticed in this world. We are to be God’s billboards along the highway of life. A billboard that no one sees is nothing but wasted space.
Look It Up: Isaiah 58:6-9a
Think About It: What is the light of the lamp of faith?
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Alley, former rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, teaches anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.
