The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Jan. 20, 2008
BCP: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm40:1-10; 1 Cor. 1:1-9; John 1:29-41
RCL: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-12; 1 Cor. 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
On bookshelves, alongside all the heavy commentaries on the Gospel of John, belongs a thinner volume titled Readings from St. John’s Gospel. This book, by Archbishop William Temple, has jewels throughout its pages. One of the more famous ones is his comment of Andrew bringing Peter to Christ: “Who shall say that Peter himself did more for His Lord than Andrew who brought Peter to Him?”
So it is with effective evangelism. This focus on evangelism, however, does present a problem. We shower so much attention on bringing friends and family to Jesus that we lose sight of the larger picture. That would be our participation in God’s global plan of world evangelization.
John the Baptist had it right. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Unfortunately, what he said became such a cliché that we miss its intended meaning. He didn’t say that he took away our sin, or the sin of Christians, or the sin of the world we know. He died for all the sins of the entire population of the whole world.
Isaiah had it right, and Christopher Columbus believed him. The admiral took seriously that God had people in “the coastlands.” He believed his voyage would bring Christianity to them.
Paul had it right. The Jews in Psidian Antioch had refused him permission to address gentiles in their synagogue (Acts 13:14-52). He was faced with choosing to evangelize the Jews or to teach pagan gentiles. At that point Paul quoted—actually he paraphrased — the climax of the Second Servant Song of Isaiah (Isaiah 49:6). Today a paraphrase might go like this: “It is too small a thing that we merely evangelize our neighborhood, or plant yet one more church in the newest housing development. God calls us to go to the nations whom the Church has avoided. That would be places like Yemen and Myanmar. He died for their sins too, you know!”
The collect for the day has it right. We Christians are to be so radiant that our light will shine “to the ends of the earth.” Today those places are not so far away. They come to us in news, travels, and students. National Geographic this month highlights the world’s largest Muslim country — Indonesia. The Anglican Communion touches most of the non-Christian world. Connections from us can lead to connections among them.
Archbishop William Temple said of John 1:36: “They will follow Jesus because of
what they heard another say.”
Look It Up
After every concert, U2 sings Psalm 40. Is this not what David calls for — that the church be radiant?
Think About It
Is there a “strange” nation to which you or someone in your congregation have ties? How could you begin to make significant connections?
Next Sunday
The Third Sunday After the Epiphany, Jan. 27, 2008
BCP: Amos 3:1-8; Psalm139:1-17 or 139:1-11; 1 Cor. 1:10-17;Matt. 4:12-23
RCL: Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 5-13; 1 Cor. 1:10-18; Matt. 4:12-23
