The Sunday before Theophany; 2 Timothy 4:5-8, St. Mark 1:1-8
This is the Sunday before Theophany, when we remember St. John and his ministry, and how he prepared the world for the God-man Jesus Christ through his ministry of repentance.
History of Saint John.
Saint John the Baptist was the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth (the two saints who, along with Joachim and Anna, adorn the back walls of our nave). Zachariah was a Jewish priest; Elizabeth was the cousin of the Birthgiver of God, Mary. You will remember that when Mary, in her third month of pregnancy, visited Elizabeth, the child in her womb – John the Baptist – leapt in her womb. You may not remember what came next.
The Angel Gabriel had prophesied to Zachariah while he was serving in the temple that John would “… be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (St. Luke 1:13b-17)
But the road to the fulfillment of this prophecy would not be easy. Last week, we heard how, when John was still quite young, the wise men came and alerted Herod of the Messiah’s birth. Since they refused to identify the Christ-child, Herod decided to kill all the boy children ages two or younger. This would have included John. As a result, Elizabeth took John and hid in the wilderness. When soldiers came to the temple to question Zachariah about his son, Zachariah refused to tell him and was martyred there between the temple and the altar (St. Luke 11:51). Tradition says that Elizabeth died soon thereafter and that John grew up in the wilderness and remained there until he began his ministry of repentance, “preparing the way of the Lord”.
The Promise of Theophany
I have shared with you my love for Theophany. It is the realization of mankind’s proper relationship with creation. From the time of the Fall until then, man had been unable and unwilling to live up to his high calling. Creation responded to him as God ordained, but because of the accumulation of sin, it responded as much to his sin as to his goodness. Christ had no sin, so He was a blessing to nature. His purity was so great that corruption and evil could not abide His presence. We see this in the hymnography of Theophany, most notably in the oft repeated Psalm verse; “the Jordan was driven back”(114:5). All the wickedness in the water fled from Jesus’ presence and the water itself became holy. Through Christ, we are able to do the same. We are to join His holy body and to bring healing and blessings to this broken world.
The Need for Repentance
But first we have to listen to John. First we have to prepare. And the way to Christ begins with repentance.
Why? Because if we act in the world without shedding our sin, the blessings we bring to the world are always tainted. We are as much a curse as we are a balm. Why? Another story may help.
Disease Kills, Despite the Bearer’s Intent
In 19th century Vienna, child mortality was high. Doctors did their best, but their actions were ofter ineffective. In fact, their help was so dubious that some claimed that babies died from fright at their approach. Ignaz Semmelweis did a study and found that doctors who washed their hands before delivering babies were more effective. Hand-washing was correlated with infant survival. That means that doctors who did not wash their hands were actually doing harm. It seems obvious to us now, but it wasn’t then. Some were even offended by the suggestion that gentlemen doctors were somehow unclean and needed to wash their hands. But they were wrong. No matter how good their training was, no matter how good their intentions, if they did not wash their hands, they were going to do harm.
It is the same for us. We have tremendous power to change the world around us. With our money, with our time, with our love. But as long as we are tainted by the disease of sin, we are a danger even to those we seek to help.
This is why the message of St. John the Baptist continues to resonate today; “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” The Kingdom of God is within you. Repent. Wash your soul, and let God’s healing mercy work through you.
