The God Who Came Down Upon Us: An Epiphany Sermon

“The God Who Came Down Upon Us”
Exodus 33:18-23; John 14:6-7

Introduction: The whole message of the gospel is that Jesus was sent by God from heaven that we may know who God is and where we might find him. In Jesus, God came down to us. This, in short, is the Christian meaning of Epiphany, today being the third Sunday after Epiphany.

But there are other stories of God’s epiphany in the Old Testament, like the one with Moses. The text from the Book of Exodus tells us the story of Moses’ meeting with God. Moses set up a tent at the foot of Mt. Horeb, some distance from where the people were encamped. He called it the “tent of meeting.” Whenever Moses went inside the tent a pillar of cloud would come down and linger at the entrance. All that the people could see was the pillar of cloud. It is said that there “the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” But it is more likely that Moses could only hear God’s voice because in verse 18 Moses finally said, “Now show me your glory,” to which God replied, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” So God led Moses to rock nearby where God would pass by. God would cover Moses eyes with his hand as he passed and removed it to allow Moses to see but only his back, for his “face must not be seen.” Some scholars say that Chapter 33 is a composite of two different traditions: one says that God spoke to Moses face to face, while the other says otherwise.

At any rate, the biblical tradition as a whole affirms that God’s holiness is beyond anyone’s approach. God appears behind a thick cloud or in a burning bush as in Moses’ experience. God’s presence has to be mediated by someone who is intimately known to God. In the Old Testament, the one person considered close to God is Moses. And yet in this epiphany Moses was allowed to see only God’s back, not his face. Moses’ fleeting glimpse of God or rather of his back is the sufficient basis for the entire Mosaic Law. The implication, from a Christian point of view, is that the Law comes not from knowing God face to face but from the sight of only his back. The Mosaic Law only represents Moses’ view of God’s back.

The core content of the Law of Moses is God’s justice. God demands of us nothing less than justice in our relationship with one another. In its positive meaning, justice demands that everyone is able to enjoy the abundance of nature and the benefits of human productivity. In its negative or retributive sense, everyone must be made to account and pay for his/her wrongdoings. The Law must apply equally to all, including the Ampatuans and Jason Ivler. A mother’s unconditional love is admirable but in the end she must yield to the demands of justice. God’s justice as expressed in the Mosaic Law is harsh and uncompromising. But for the victims of injustice, it is comforting and satisfies their thirst for justice. Without the law, human relations and community life won’t be possible. In God’s design, the law in its positive and negative senses is the glue that holds society together. Injustice that is left uncorrected destroys the very fabric of God’s creation.

But justice does not speak all of God; it’s based on a glimpse of God’s back. There is something greater that justice cannot accomplish or create from itself. Something totally new has been accomplished by Jesus Christ. While Moses only saw the back of God, Jesus has seen the very glory of God. He saw the truth about God, not just part of the truth but the whole truth of God. This truth includes God’s justice and more. As part of the whole truth, justice acquires a new dimension of meaning and demands new forms of faithfulness to it. Suddenly, mere compliance to the demands of justice becomes inadequate and incomplete. In view of the whole truth, followers of Jesus see God differently and are invited to a new and different path of obedience.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus claims to be the very face, nay the very presence of God to the people. “From now on,” he says, “you do know God and have seen him.” Jesus demonstrated to the disciples who God is and showed them how to find him. This claim proved very offensive to the faithful Jews, which led to his untimely condemnation and crucifixion. But here is the twist: his death by execution proved to be the revelation of God’s truth for sinful humankind.

While the Law of Moses presents God as Judge before whom everyone must give an accounting of his/her life, Jesus shows God as Victim of injustice, the ransom and sacrifice on behalf of world. Jesus was God falsely accused, unjustly condemned, tortured and crucified. This is a shocking truth that has absolutely nothing in common with all religions, including Judaism. It is a violent assault on the intellect and nullifies all the wisdom of philosophy. But this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, not Jesus the Christ or messiah who was foretold by the Old Testament prophets but Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God. [That’s why I still prefer to call the Bible as the Old Testament and the New Testament, rather than Older Testament and Newer Testament, which implies a single testimony of two parts.]

The stories and parables of Jesus are great for spiritual and moral edification. But so are many others in other religions/communities of faith. Jesus’ sayings are good for inspirational speech and homilies but the world has known more moving speakers. Perhaps that’s the reason why Paul, who was a Jewish scholar and a learned student of pagan literature, didn’t care much about Jesus’ stories and speeches. For Paul, only one message matters: Christ crucified. “For I resolved,” Paul writes to the Corinthians, “to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). God’s humiliation in Jesus Christ is the one truth that can save the world from sin and its consequence, death. For an individual person and for human commnities, it is a choice between life or death, between salvation and damnation. Why and how?

The gospel is an announcement and a call to respond. By itself it has no power of salvation. As Paul said in his Letter to the Romans, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” I put the stress on the last part of the statement, “who believes.” It is by believing in the gospel that one may obtain salvation. Faith implies obedience in discipleship. In other words, the gospel of a crucified God challenges us to respond one way or another.

The gospel is addressed to people who are authors and perpetrators of injustice, who delight in unjust practices, who mock their victims. The gospel tells them: “Every time you abuse someone, every time you violate their rights, every time you inflict violence on the small and helpless – you are abusing, violating, and inflicting violence on God himself because God has taken their place and bears their suffering.” If you are this kind of people, how will to respond to it? If you persist in sinning, that is, keep on doing injustice then you are already condemned under the law of justice. But if you believe in the gospel and repent, that is, do justice then you will be forgiven and receive God’s mercy. Which will it be, the way of life or the way of death?

The gospel is also addressed to the victims of powers, the disadvantaged and marginalized, the broken hearted and hopeless. To this kind of people the gospel tells them: “every time you suffer abuse and violence in the hands of wicked people, when you are systematically denied food, shelter, medicine and education, every time people accuse you falsely and violate your human rights – God is with you, God takes every blow that hits your body, God takes all insults and slanders thrown at you, God bears your every pain and is there with you in your darkest moments of doubt and despair.” If you belong to this category of people, how will you respond to the gospel? Will you laugh at this incredible announcement and let your mind continue to be gripped by the religion of your tormentors? Will you feel fortunate of God’s company in your suffering but continue to wallow in helplessness and passivity in the hope of a reward in the afterlife? This kind of response to the gospel is a form of sinning.

For some people, the announcement of God’s full solidarity in their suffering awakens them from the slumber of ignorance, arouses their passion for justice, enflames their love for freedom, quickens their hope for a new life, and emboldens them to take up the cross to challenge the powers of this world. For them, the gospel is truly liberating. Those who see God only as judge would simply wait for time of the last judgment when the wicked will be separated from the just. But others who discover that God is also the victim of injustice will rise with righteousness anger not only to save themselves but also to vindicate God who made his epiphany with them in their suffering.

Conclusion: The church celebrates the epiphany of God who has come to us as a victim of the world’s sinfulness. The gospel forces us to locate our position in the equation of God’s justice and compels us to do what needs to be done. What will it be, the way of life or the way of death?