Homily For The Second Sunday after Epiphany 2026

Today marks the Second Sunday in Epiphany - a season of the manifestation of light - the light of Christ in various forms - at first the light of the star to the Gentile Magi on Epiphany.  Last Sunday it was the light of the wisdom of Christ - the living sacrifice, the light to the scribes in the Temple at age 12.  It is fitting that the first two windows in our new series feature these two sequential events in Epiphany. This Sunday - the manifestation of the light of God is revealed in Our Lord’s Baptism.

Before these manifestations, silence had characterized the period between Malachi and the first Chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel.  Idolatry had been banished from Israel but God’s presence in the glory cloud was absent from the Temple.  No word of God had been given through the prophets for 400 years.  

Then the light began to dawn: new hope had been given in the testimony of the Annunciation to Mary - that of the Virgin receiving confirmation in the pregnancy of elderly Elizabeth - mother of John the Baptizer.  Then we have the word of God through Anna, Simeon, Zacharias, the voice of the angels, the testimony of the shepherds, the presence of the Magi, the wisdom of Jesus in the Temple.  All these things Mary treasured in her heart.  This revelation was known only to a small group.  The wisdom of Jesus in the Temple was manifest to an intimate gathering.  Now, it was spreading in the form of light and sound to all who were gathered at the riverside of John’s Baptism. 

For the Epiphany of this Sunday, wasn’t a private event; it was so very public that it announced that the Messiah had come.  The growing glow of light was suddenly replaced by the bursting forth of the Son of Righteousness.  

Our Gospel from today is from the opening verses of St. Mark’s Gospel where we read, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, Rome had its version of the Gospel - first rate infrastructure, relative peace and security.  The good news of Caesar’s Gospel featured power, prestige and the opulence of the city of Rome. The birth of Caesar Augustus was celebrated as the Gospel, the good news. For the Roman world, Augustus was viewed as a god and his birth ‘signaled the beginning of Good News for the world.  For the Roman world, the term evangelion, or Gospel appears in the plural - indicating one good tiding among many others.   For Mark and the other NT writers, evangelion, or Gospel, only appears in the singular - the good news of God in Jesus Christ for there is no other. The Gospel, the good news in the Greco-Roman world centered on military or political supremacy;  

in the Old Testament, particularly in the prophet Isaiah, good news concerned freedom from bondage - a final inbreaking of God into the world for His ultimate saving act.  For instance we read in Isaiah 52, 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; That bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; That saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!  

We read in Isaiah 61 - The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;  He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,  To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all that mourn; 

After announcing the new Gospel of Jesus Christ, St. Mark introduces the ministry of John the Baptist.   The preaching and baptism of John served as the forerunner and as an herald - announcing Messiah’s coming. 

 It was the vocation of John the Baptist to announce the need for repentance - a change of heart, a turning from self toward God.  His manner of life reminded people of the prophet Elijah - the clothing of camel’s hair, the food of locusts and honey.  Moreover, his message was reminiscent of the greatest of the old testament prophets - repent, prepare your hearts to receive the Lord when he comes.  Repent of your sins and receive cleansing through baptism.  His ministry in the wilderness called to mind Israel’s earlier pilgrimage from Egypt to the Promised Land - the wilderness represented a place of preparation and repentance. 

The role of the messenger is to direct the hearer toward the King as he comes.  If one does a survey of art concerning John the Baptist, one would discover a consistent theme of him pointing not to himself, but to another.  While John the Baptist may be in the foreground, he will be directing the viewers attention to a small figure on the horizon - the Lord Jesus Christ.   

Pointing to Jesus acknowledging his greatness and holiness.  John the Baptist speaks about Christ’s superiority - John the greatest of the prophets, according to our Lord, said he was not worthy to handle the dusty, dirty feet of the Messiah.  Moreover, Christ’s baptism was described, according to other Gospel writers, as taking place so that all may be fulfilled, that there be nothing wanting, missing from our salvation through Him. 

Glory amidst humiliation.  We read that John the Baptist refused to baptize Jesus - acknowledging that the Baptizer needed the service of Jesus.  He said Jesus should wash him rather than John baptize Jesus.  Yet, Jesus submitted to the baptism of repentance - repentance that was unnecessary in terms of washing away sin, because Jesus was the only person to live who never had any need to repent. Yet, he was baptized for a witness for us.  He obeyed God with complete consistency.  Unmatched integrity.  He knew that He was the Son of God.  He knew that He must always be about his father’s business.  Yet, his father’s business called for the royal son to take the role of a slave. In regards to this obedience, God testified to his pleasure in His son.  

We read that as Christ was baptized, as Jesus took the lower place of humility, the heavens opened up.  Literally, the heavens were rent.   In the Old Testament, the opening of the heavens was a signal, a guidepost, that divine revelation was about to take place. For roughly 400 years, God has been silent.  From Malachi until Luke 1, there was no revelation, no word from God for His people. Now, after a period of silence, not only is God speaking - he comes down and takes the form of a servant in Jesus Christ. God will save his people and in doing so.  All three persons of the Trinity celebrate.  We have the voice of the Father delighting in the obedient Son.  He is not just pleased, but well pleased, completely pleased with the Son. This calls to mind the deep love that Abraham had for Isaac.  

Remember in Genesis 22, God mentions over and over again  - take thy son, thine only son, the son whom thou lovest.  God provided a sacrifice in lieu of the beloved Isaac.  The pleasure of the Father in this beloved Son was in his willingness to be both a living sacrifice fulfilling the requirements of the Law and also the true Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world.  

 In addition to the voice of the Father, St. Mark tells us of the descent of the Holy Spirit that He descends with light and in the form of a dove. Signalling new creation – for the spirit moved on the face of the waters in the early stages of creation and as the dove from the Ark communicated new creation by bringing the olive branch to Noah.   

We have the fundamental unity of the Godhead - harmony in the redemption promised to the Fathers and now being initiated in the ministry of Jesus Christ the Son.  

Jesus Christ the well beloved, obedient Son who performs on behalf of all Israel the righteousness that Israel as a nation failed to offer to God.  Jesus Christ passes through the waters and then is led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, signalling a new and more complete exodus and marking new creation through the Incarnate Son.    

So, as we consider what we have read, what we have heard of Jesus Christ, what can we take away from today’s Gospel?  The purpose of the light of the Gospel is that we might believe.  That we might trust, not in the facts of Christ coming, but also in Jesus the eternal Son of God.  Trusting, serving the true King.  This is the purpose of all revelation -  God gives light, he shows forth evidence of his presence and we are drawn into obedient fellowship with Him.  

God was not satisfied to give us just the Law, as glorious as it was,  instead he sent forth his Son who embodied fellowship with God the Father - whose righteousness beckons us to enter into the same fellowship with God through our adoption as sons.   As it has been said, “The whole Christian gospel could be summed up in this point: that when the living God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it’s true: God looks at us, and says, ‘You are my dear, dear child; I’m delighted with you.’

This should completely re-orient our attitudes toward obedience to God’s commands, to God’s will.  It is not a commandment for the sake of oppression, of slavish service; it is a call to walk in obedient sonship, in true fellowship with the God whose service is perfect freedom.  

Hear this sentence again with your own name at the start:  “You are my dear, dear child; I am delighted with you”, and reflect quietly on God saying that to you, both at your baptism and every day since.