Epiphany 1
Dear friends in Christ. With the season of Epiphany, the Church is continuing her Christmas celebration—long past the time the world around us has “moved on” to other things. That’s because for us, Christmas is not just a one day “feel good” event; instead for us, Christmas is the celebration of God’s great saving event—He took on also true human flesh and blood to become one of us so that He might be our Savior from sin, death, devil and hell. In the Epiphany season we continue our celebration of the incarnation—God becoming man. In this season of Epiphany we continue to confess and proclaim to a world of darkness the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the light who was coming into the world [Jn. 1.9].
The word Epiphany comes from the Greek New Testament and means manifestation or appearing. Paul, for example, writes to Timothy [2 1.10] about the appearing [the epiphany] of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Epiphany, then, is an Incarnation word: the Son of God appeared in the flesh for sinners, for us men and our salvation.
The Incarnation, when the Son of God took on human flesh and blood, was a quiet, hidden act in the womb of Mary; His birth took place in all quietness, unknown to all except the main people involved. This birth was so quiet, humble and nondescript that through His holy angels God had to announce exactly what was going on, the momentous event, to the shepherds: There is born for you this day…a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Last week, we heard of the coming of the wise men to the toddler Savior. Through the prophecy of the star, preserved for centuries, God revealed the coming, the appearing, of the Son in human flesh. Where there is epiphany, Christ appearing, there is also God revealing.
1. In other words, Christ the Savior, the God-man, must be revealed. And it is God who does the revealing to us. Even though in Jesus the heavenly world has broken into our earthly world, God has appeared in the flesh, incarnation, all this and what it all really means must be revealed to us. We see this so clearly from our text. In the verses before our text is the account of Jesus feeding the 5000. Then the next day, the crowds again track Jesus down and He tells them not to follow Him because He can feed them but because He can give them eternal life. Then comes our text. In our text we see a great back and forth between Jesus and the people but at the end of the chapter we read: From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. The point is clearly this: just because God became man—just because there was incarnation; just because He walked and preached among us, does not mean that all will recognize Jesus as their Savior from sin, death, devil and hell. The incarnation, Christ, must be revealed, otherwise we miss totally who Jesus, the God-man, is.
As we look at our text, we see why Christ must be revealed—even though He’s God in flesh—why it must be revealed to us who He really is. In short, it’s because we wouldn’t get it otherwise. Look at the questions of the crowd. Jesus had just told them not to worry so much about the earthly food—which preserves life for a while—but to concern themselves more with the spiritual food, that He gives them, food that brings eternal life. Their question is: "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Basically, they are asking: What works should we be doing to earn eternal life? That is typical. Left to ourselves and our own devices, we could and would never understand the things of God. That’s all a result of the fall into sin by our first parents. As a result of that fall into sin, we do not and cannot rightly know the things, the way, the will of God. We are spiritually blind and dead; we cannot understand the things of God—just like here when God Himself, Jesus, is speaking to the people. Left to ourselves we, like the crowd, would ask all the wrong questions because we do not and cannot understand the things of God. Not everyone that Jesus preached to believed and received Him. In fact, most rejected Him. That’s why Jesus was betrayed and killed. Again, just because there was Epiphany—Incarnation—did not and does not mean “everybody gets it.”
The crowd certainly understood that Jesus was saying that He is the true God, the long promised Messiah, and that He was calling on them to believe in Him for salvation. So what was their response? "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Their thought was: if you say salvation depends on faith in You, show us a sign to convince us fully. Jesus had just fed them the day before—all of them with just a few fish and loaves of bread.
Today, people around us very well understand that Christians believe that Jesus is the true God and Savior of the world. But many in a sense ask: what makes Jesus better than Allah, Vishnu, etc.? Like the crowds then, many in effect ask Jesus through His Church: So what makes You worthy of faith? It is as if Jesus is a commodity; this a marketplace and what makes your product better than another so I’d want to buy it? What does this show, but corruption of the human heart when it comes to the things of God. Yes, there’s Incarnation—God coming to us in our own flesh and blood, Christmas; yes there’s Epiphany, God appearing; but we cannot rely on our own reason and ability to understand it all. If we do, we will, like the crowds, just get further and further away from Christ.
Jesus just doesn’t show up on the scene and expect everyone to know and understand Who He is and What He does. Here we think back to Christmas. Through the angel, God announced His birth to the shepherds; by the star He announced His birth and led the wise men to the newborn King. Here, because of the crowd’s natural inborn inability to understand the things of God, Jesus doesn’t just come but He reveals Himself, as to who He really is, by His miracle and preaching; He reveals Himself to them and us by His holy word. That is His great grace to us.
The crowd seemingly thought little of His miracle of feeding them—He only fed 5000, whereas Moses fed the whole nation for 40 years. But Jesus corrects them and teaches them: "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world". Jesus reminds them that the manna came from God, not Moses; and the manna is not the true bread from heaven. The manna preserved earthly life for a time, but the people all did eventually die; it was not useful for salvation, for eternal life.
In a very gentle, loving way, by His word Jesus is revealing Himself to the crowd. He is saying He is the genuine bread of God. The genuine bread of God does not fall down like manna. Instead in great love the true Bread of God came down from heaven in flesh and a servant’s form to be the Savior of the world. Salvation had come in the Person of Jesus Christ. Far greater than the bread, the manna that God gave at the time of Moses, which sustained people temporarily, is Jesus the Genuine Bread from heaven who brought salvation to all people.
So today, in His holy word Jesus reveals Himself to us as to who He really is. There He revealed to us that He is the true God who became true man; there He reveals that He is our Savior; there He reveals that He is our life and salvation. Not only in His word does Jesus reveal Himself to us, tell us about Himself—His Person and work—but in His word He also gives us the very blessings and benefits He brought about for us with His coming, His suffering and death.
2. The glorious thing about this is that His word in which He reveals Himself to us and gives the blessings and benefits He won for us on the cross is not just some dead letter on a page or a sound that we hear; but the Holy Spirit is at work in the word to create faith in our heart to receive Jesus as He reveals Himself to us and gives us forgiveness and life. Remember, on our own we cannot understand the things of God; we cannot receive them. We would be like the crowds that day and merely look for our heaven on earth.
But Jesus’ Epiphany, Jesus revealing Himself to us cannot be without effect on our lives. His coming to/ for us and His revealing Himself to us in His Word calls on us to receive Him and His saving work; to feast on Him, the Bread of Life. It calls for a work—the work of faith: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. Faith is a work we do; we do the trusting and the relying on Christ. It is a work that God demands of us, but faith is also a work that God works in us. Only the Holy Spirit at work in the word—be it the word we hear or the visible word of the sacraments—opens our mind and heart to understand the Scripture and to listen to the word, to rightly hear and receive as Jesus reveals Himself to us in the word.
And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life”. Jesus, the Bread of Life is there. He and the blessings of forgiveness and life stand as a certain fact—a certainty to which faith clings. Faith always looks outside of self to Christ who has come; to Christ and His completed, saving work for us. Faith always looks to the word of Christ in the absolution: I forgive you all your sin; it looks to what Christ has done and promised us in holy Baptism; it looks to Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament and receives them with the certainty of the forgiveness of sins.
Just like the crowds that day, many today reject Jesus as He reveals Himself to them: But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. But, dear Christian, we are directed to the promise of His grace as Jesus calls to us/ promises us, “He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst”. Here is His gracious call and invitation and may His promise find faith mightily at work in our hearts to receive Jesus and His work; faith to feast on Jesus, the Bread of Life. As we in faith come to Jesus, that means that we trust in Him as our Savior; it means that in faith we go to Him in true sorrow over our sin to receive His blessings. He is the Bread of Life who gives life to the world. There is no spiritual need that He has not filled. Are you full of guilt? Christ has paid for that sin. Are you thinking God is far off? In Christ you are reconciled to Him. Are you anxious? In Christ you have peace as you are in His dear loving hands and He is working all things for your spiritual good. As we in faith feast on Jesus, the Bread of Life, we have constant rest, enduring peace and eternal joy of soul!
When we do that glorious work of faith, then we are turning the focus away from ourselves and toward Christ, toward the Holy Triune God. As we in faith go to the Lord, trusting His work and promise, we are certain that He will welcome and receive us! All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. Our gracious Triune God wants to show us mercy and delights in showing us mercy. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. To carry out His mercy, the Father sent His Son; in mercy on us poor sinners, the Son took on human flesh and blood, became Incarnate, appeared—Epiphany; and in mercy the Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to us in the word and sacrament and brought us to know and trust in Him as our Savior.
So the end result of all this? Our eternal salvation! This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. INJ Amen