THE GOOD NEWS HAS APPEARED

THE GOOD NEWS HAS APPEARED

Fr Luke A Veronis

“The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We hear these words today, on the Sunday before Theophany because the Church wants to place before us a powerful and timely proclamation. These words aren’t simply an introduction to a Gospel of Mark. They are a declaration that something utterly new has entered human history. God has appeared to the world!

Think about that – God has appeared to the world! This is precisely what the Feast of Epiphany, or better called Theophany, is all about. The feast we celebrate on Tuesday is not merely about water, or a ritual blessing, or even the baptism of Jesus alone. It is about God revealing Himself, stepping openly into the life of the world. At the Jordan River, heaven is opened. The Father’s voice is heard. The Holy Spirit descends. And Christ stands in the waters, not because He needs repentance, but because He has come to take our life upon Himself. He sanctifies the dirty waters of the world.

This moment marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Until now, Christ lived in Nazareth quietly, hidden, obedient to his parents. Now, however, He appears. And when God appears, everything changes. The Good News is no longer whispered in promises and prophecies but proclaimed loudly in the flesh.

Notice something else, as well. The Good News does not begin with a sermon, a command, or even a miracle. It begins with God entering the waters of our broken world. Before Christ asks anything of us, He goes down into the depths with us. That is the beginning of the Good News.

Think about this as we reflect on the Epistle reading we heard, which offers us words both sober and challenging. Saint Paul writes at the end of his life, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” The Apostle Paul endured much unjust suffering in his life. At times he was weary and faced exhaustion. These final words of the great Apostle reflect  not the words of someone who drifted through life carelessly or unconsciously. They are the words of someone who specifically lived with vigilance, purpose, and faithfulness until the very end of his life. He never offered these words in the middle of his life, content and sure of himself. Only at the end could he say, “I have finished the race and I have kept the faith.”

That is why these readings are placed together today. On the one hand, we hear of God’s glorious appearance in the world. On the other, we hear a reminder that faith is a race, a lifelong journey that must be run intentionally and with purpose.

Saint Paul does not say, “I started the race,” or “I meant well.” He says, “I finished.” And that should cause each of us to pause and reflect, especially as we stand at the beginning of a New Year.

Because if we are honest, it is very easy to drift. It is so easy to get tired and put our spiritual struggle on pause. How many times are we tempted to take it easy and put our faith on the backburner.

Remember, most people do not abandon the faith suddenly or dramatically. It usually happens quietly. Prayer becomes occasional not daily. Attending Divine Liturgy on Sundays, the Day of the Lord, becomes optional not weekly. Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays because non-existent. The Gospel becomes one voice among many that influence our lives. Slowly, almost without noticing, Christ moves from the center of our life to the margins.

That is why today is a call to wake up. The appearance of God in Theophany also calls us to reappear to God, to re-center our lives around Him, to place Him at the heart of our life and to renew our commitment to this lifelong race of faith.

It’s beautiful that we celebrate Epiphany in the month of January when we have so many beautiful saints to show us what this life of faith looks like.

Just this past week, on January 2, we celebrated the memory of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, one of my childhood favorite saints who lived with extraordinary awareness of God’s presence. He lived in solitude in the Russian forests of Sarov until around 65 years old, when he finally opened up his doors to welcome people from all over Russia. And when he greeted them, his first words to everyone were, “My joy, Christ is risen!” Not only during the Pascha, but all year long. For Saint Seraphim, the Good News of the Risen Christ who appeared to the world was not a concept or idea but a lived reality that filled Him with joy and grace.

One of the best known teachings of Saint Seraphim is his simple yet profound statement, “Acquire the Spirit of peace and thousands around you will be saved.” Notice the active command to “Acquire.” We must run the race of faith. We must be intentional every day. We must take care not to drift away unconsciously. We never assume holiness will happen automatically, but we “work out our salvation” every day, struggling to open our hearts to the Spirit of God.

Saint Seraphim spent years in prayer, fasting, and struggle, not because God was absent but precisely because God appeared to the world and to him personally, and in return St Seraphim wanted to respond to that appearance by offering his entire life.

We see this so beautifully in the other popular saints we celebrate throughout January - Saint Basil the Great, Saint Timothy the Apostle, Saint Anastasios the Persian, Saint Anthony the Great, St Ephraim the Syrian, Saints John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian, and all the others. Each one, in a different way, kept their eyes fixed on Christ and ran the race with perseverance until the very end of their lives.

The Feast of Theophany reminds us, just as Christmas proclaimed, that God has not remained distant. He has entered the murky waters of our world and sanctified them. He has appeared on earth and opened the gates of heavens.

The question now is how do we respond? As we begin another New Year, the Church does not ask us for grand resolutions but for something much deeper: Faithfulness; Vigilance; Purpose. A conscious decision to place Jesus Christ at the center of our lives again and again, every day until the end of our lives.

Run the race, not perfectly but with faithfulness and perseverance. When we fall, get up quickly. When we drift, become conscious and return back home. When we grow tired, remember that the One who appeared at the Jordan River invites us to come and join Him.

The Good News of Jesus Christ is not just that God appeared once long ago. He continues to appear to us in the life of the Church, in the Holy Sacraments, in our daily reading of Divine Scriptures, and in the quiet turning of our hearts back to Him.

May this coming feast of Theophany renew us. May this New Year be a year of vigilance and faith. And may we, like Saint Paul, be humbly say at the end of our journey, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

A Blessed Theophany to all!