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1/17/21 - 2nd Sunday after Epiphany - 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 - Called By The Gospel
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The Season
The Epiphany season focuses on the theme of Jesus revealing himself to us as God and Savior. At the same time the readings present us with a real conundrum. The conundrum is that he hides the manifestations of his deity, so that his glory remains a secret and a mystery, even while he is revealing it. The theme present in all of the Epiphany readings is: He shows his hidden glory to those he calls.


The Sunday
It is in the Word that we hear the call of God that has in it the secret power of God to give what he commands. He commands: Believe! and the Word creates faith. He says, Follow me! and the Word creates the desire and the ability to follow him.

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First Lesson: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
The call of God to Samuel initially required no work on Samuel’s part. But like the call in the gospel lesson it implies a following that is not going to be easy. If Nathanael and the other disciples will follow Jesus who seems like nothing to reason and to the eyes, they will all need to listen carefully to that Word. Otherwise the difficulties to come will overcome them. Thus as Mary gave us a model of submission in Advent, so Samuel does in Epiphany: Speak, for your servant is listening! That remains the first and most important part of following. How many when confronted by difficulty in the Word or in life would rather say, Listen Lord, for your servant is speaking? But this is one of the amazing things in Jesus’ call to us: It creates a willingness to say: I don’t know what is coming and what you will require of me; but whatever it is, I want to listen to you and to follow you! If someone else asked that of you, you would call him a fool for seeking a promise to follow when you don’t know the road or the cost of the journey.



Second Lesson: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
The call to faith was glorious in grace and in the power to accomplish its intended purpose. It is the sanctifying work of the Spirit in the Word that calls and creates faith. The call remains glorious when it is translated into the life that follows faith. For that life always has its source, its inspiration, its direction, its strength to persevere in the Word. Just think of it: the Word gives us a share in the glory of Christ and the strength to remain steadfast to the end. But, again, it is all hidden except to the eyes of faith in those whom he has called.


Gospel: John 1:43-51
There is always a miraculous element in the call of Jesus. For anyone looking at him on the basis of appearance or reason will say what Nathanael said and turn away. In Nathanael’s case Jesus read from a distance the thoughts of Nathanael and then promised even more wondrous things; he promised that Nathanael with the eyes of faith would see heaven opened and Jesus as the ladder to heaven in fulfillment of Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28. But it is all invisible to reason and to the naked eye. Nathanael was astonished by what he saw in Jesus’ demonstration of omniscience, but he believed on the basis of a promise whose fulfillment was shrouded in the future and would never be visible to the human eye. Anyone who thinks that God is far and distant should consider that if he believes the gospel, it is because God is near at hand. He worked and still sustains that faith each moment by his glorious Word.



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