In Series C, the three readings for the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, are Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and John 2:1-11. Chosen to analyze this coming Sunday is John 2:11, “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”

This true event of Jesus changing 180 gallons of water into the best wine is a great example of how the true purpose of this passage can get lost in trying to figure out certain questions of doctrine. This passage has been used to argue whether God permits us to drink wine or only grape juice, whether or not Mary is sinless and how this passage shows why we should pray to her and also a principle of life that one should give out the bad first and then later give out the best. Ridiculous. While these themes can be discussed on the basis of other passages, none of these themes are why the Holy Spirit inspired John to remember this event among all the other events that could not be contained in all the books of the world (John 21:25).

What then is the purpose of this passage? Part of the answer is that it is a primary text used for Epiphany. Epiphany reminds us of God’s way of revealing and disclosing the Person and Work of Jesus. Last week’s Baptism of our Lord was that He is seen as the Son of God. This week’s emphasis is Jesus as manifesting His glory which is the glory of God Himself. Jesus is more than the Son of Man; He is more than the promised Messiah; He is more than Savior; He is indeed God Himself!

One way to bring in a Law and Gospel theme would be to accuse the hearers of not believing how God uses the plain things of this world to accomplish the impossible. For example, this event demonstrates how Jesus as God changed simple water into wine which from a physics point of view takes the energy of an atomic bomb. But this is the same One Who raised a dead Lazarus simply by speaking a word. For the comfort of the hearers, this is also the One Who through the power of the Holy Spirit takes simple water and creates a new heart and new spirit within an infant.

Baptism, therefore is not only an important theme for the Baptism of our Lord, but it is also a significant theme in regard to Jesus’ use of water to make wine. It is of some interest that the rabbis in Jesus’ day conjectured that the fruit Eve and Adam ate was that of the fruit of the grape. How interesting is that the fruit which was traditionally part of the Fall of human beings into sin is also the fruit of Jesus’ first miracle as He begins to usher in the Kingdom of God.

Every passage of Scripture according to John himself is to “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” That is not the subject of just interpretation using the principle of Scripture interprets Scripture, but also the subject of application which takes place through the distinctions of Law and Gospel. During this entire Epiphany season, the goal of every Bible study and sermon should be to give glory to Jesus because He Himself is God indeed!

For the Baptism of our Lord festival in Series C of readings, the three passages are Isaiah 43:1-7; Romans 6:1-11 and Luke 3:15-22. The text to prepare for a sermon will be Isaiah 43:3, “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

The word Epiphany in the Greek language means a manifestation or appearance. The Church uses the term to refer as to how the holy Scriptures manifest Jesus the man from Nazareth. While the date could be January 6 or January 19 depending on the calendar system used, it primarily focuses on the coming of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus some time after the family left the stable and now resided in a home. The significant item mentioned in that visit is that the Wise Men worshipped the Child. This demonstrates their understanding that He was indeed God Himself.

While for many Christians who have heard the Biblical accounts of Jesus again and again, we often assume that the Old Testament made it clear that the Messiah would be God Himself. But that certainly was not obvious to the majority of Jews living at the time of Jesus. Indeed, the Messiah would be the promised Son of Man but that he would be God Himself was not taught. It is a fact that once we read the New Testament, we now interpret the Old Testament books with new eyeglasses and see passages that are indeed read as the promised Messiah would be God Himself.

If interested in a longer presentation of the Epiphany appearances of Jesus go to www.lawgospel.com and click on Radio to hear our explanation of the Epiphany of Jesus on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s broadcasts.

One such passage is in today’s readings from Isaiah 43. Verse 1 is God the LORD revealing that He created Jacob and formed Israel. Verse 3 even reveals that “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” There is nowhere in the Old Testament that God reassigns the task of being Savior to either a created angel or created human being. No, God Himself is our Savior. Thus, when Jesus is born, the Church refers to it as the incarnation of the Son of God. John the Baptizer himself speaks of Jesus as the One in Whose hand is the winnowing fan and that He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17). When one looks up this reference in Isaiah and Jeremiah, it is clear that God is the One Who does this work.

The goal of this sermon would be to concentrate on the Epiphany or appearing of Jesus not only as the Son of Man as promised; not only as the Messiah as promised, but specifically as God Himself becoming incarnate to fulfill His promises of salvation that He made through the prophets. 1 Corinthians, chapter 3 makes clear that those of us living in the times of the New Testament are learning about God in a way that was not clear to those who came before us. The Corinthians’ passage makes specific note of the Gentiles also being part of God’s holy people without any distinction between Jew and Gentile.

But among the greatest of revelation and insight made clearly known to New Testament believers, is that the Messiah is none other than God Himself. This is a most comforting revelation because it means we can pray to the man Jesus because He is also God and in His humanity is omnipresent, all knowing and all merciful and gracious. He indeed is the proper mediator between God and man because He is both God and man. Christians today need to be aware of how radical was such a notion to many of the Jews at the time of Jesus that the Messiah was more than a super Son of Man–He was and is God Himself!

For a fuller examination of the Epiphany appearances of Jesus as God, go to www.lawgospel.com and click the Radio button to hear the Monday through Wednesday broadcasts of Law and Gospel.