Epiphany

January 18, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 1:29-42

The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’ –John 1:29-34

My dabbling in genealogy has led me to believe that we are all cousins. That is certainly true of all the descendants of Jacob which both Jesus and John were. I met a person while in graduate school whose husband’s last name was the same as my maternal grandmother’s maiden name. It did not take much comparisons to discern that they were first cousins several times removed. I also think that all people are children of God and thus siblings. Luke 1:36 describes Mary and Elizabeth as related and that they had an important relationship at the beginning of Mary’s pregnancy. John is quoted in the scripture above saying that he did not know Jesus and that is possible also. None of us know all our cousins and while Mary and Elizabeth may have had a relationship before Jesus was born, they may never have seen each other again after that visit.

As we make excursions through the gospels, we find references to events that may not mesh one with the other while they may not contradict either. John may be saying that he did not know that Jesus was the Chosen One until the baptism. Matthew (11:4) and Luke (7:22) both record the story of John being in prison and sending friends to ask Jesus if he were the Messiah. My brother, sister, and I rarely described the same family stories in the same way. Our understandings of events were shaped not only by our age and gender differences but also by our personalities. I would thus be more skeptical of the Bible if everything lined up perfectly because life is never reported that way.

There may be a message in these thoughts for those of us who are called to share the stories of Jesus with those who have not heard them or those who heard them but the stories were not conveyed so that God’s love was shared in a meaningful way. We must be intentional in shaping our message to the needs of the person with whom we are having discussion.

Prayer: Lord, make us mindful of the needs of others as we try to share your love with them. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.