Come March 1st the season of Epiphany will have run its course in the liturgical calendar of the church. March 1st will be the official kick-off of the season of Lent. At that point we will move away from an emphasis of recognizing the Holy into a season of preparation and repentance for the celebration of Easter. Though it is still only a couple of weeks away, there is still plenty of time for discovering the Holy in the world around us and in our lives.
Now remember, an epiphany is a moment of awareness . . . typically of the Holy kind. Lots of people refer to epiphanies as an “aha” moment. A moment in which a sudden awareness of a truth or presence comes upon us and opens a whole new way of understanding. Thankfully these are not confined to the weeks of the church year we refer to as Epiphany. They can happen at any time in our lives and on our journeys.
I imagine we all have our own stories of epiphanies . . . of “aha” moments. Some of those moments have been fairly mild in their impact upon our lives . . . some have come down upon us like a sledgehammer. Some have made us make subtle changes in our lives . . . others have made stop, take notice, and completely change direction. It is those sledgehammer moments that we remember best. Those are what I call “come to Jesus”’ moments.
“Come to Jesus”” moments can simply mean that moment when one chooses to accept Jesus and follow him. It can be a moment of epiphany, enlightenment, or intuition regarding the truth of a matter. It can be a point in time when fundamental priorities and/or beliefs are challenged, reassessed, or reaffirmed. Or it could be any moment or meeting in which a frank, often unpleasant, conversation is held to bring to light and/or resolve some issue at hand. Whatever it is, it grabs our attention and demands an action or reaction.
I can remember one of those moments growing up.
here was a big kid . . . huge kid . . . on the school bus. His name was Billy, and he was in my grade. He was a bully, and everyone was scared of him. While riding the bus one day Billy kept picking on one of the younger kids on the bus. So, I told him to knock it off. Of course, this drew his attention to me. He gladly switched from the little kid to antagonizing me. He would flick my ears with his fingers. He would slap my head. Pretty difficult stuff to ignore.
Then I snapped. I had enough. I told him it was me and him when we got off the bus. Enough was enough. Of course, I could not believe those words had slipped out of my mouth. From that point on I sweated buckets . . . sweated buckets because Billy was twice as big as I was, and he was going to kill me. My only hope was that I would get the first punch in.
Which I did . . . big mistake!
Billy had braces and when I punched him in the mouth he began to bleed. It just made him angrier. He got me in a headlock and proceeded to punch the daylight out of me. I saw stars. And then, he stopped . . . dropped me . . . and, declared the fight a “draw”. Now I don’t know what Billy thought a draw was, but to me it was saying there was no real winner . . . that it was a tie. My aching face did not feel like we had come to a draw. But . . . hey! Who was I to argue? I took my draw and thanked God I wasn’t dead.
This was a “come to Jesus” moment for me. On one hand I figured that by the time Billy got done pounding me I would be meeting Jesus up on some cloud. Of course, it didn’t happen. Where the real “come to Jesus” moment came was as I was walking home, licking my wounds, and I realized that I had actually stood up to a bully. The reward for that was that Billy never picked on me again . . . nor did other bullies pick on me. I am not sure if it was because they thought I was brave or crazy. Whatever . . . I learned the power of standing up for oneself and others no matter what the cost.
The Apostle Paul tells us in our reading this morning about the fact that he had a “come to Jesus” moment and it changed his life forever. He mentions how he was one of the worse enemies of Jesus and his followers . . . how he persecuted them, and then he met Jesus. It changed him . . . changed his focus . . . changed his life.
Paul also shares in our reading how the other apostles had encountered Jesus after the crucifixion. He tells of others . . . large groups . . . had encountered him. Each and every one had a “come to Jesus” moment. A moment that changed their lives forever. And these moments are what made them believe . . . that made them share . . . or as Paul says, “. . . this is what we preach, and this is what you believe.”
Even though the focus of this passage of scripture is on the truth of the resurrection as witnessed by so many, I think we need to understand from where the apostle is coming. Paul is telling us that we all have those moments in our lives in which we encounter the Holy . . . those moments when we realize the truth . . . those moments when we come to meet Jesus. It is these moments that touch us, change us, and point us in the direction to go. These are the moments that open our eyes and our hearts to the living Jesus and his desire to establish the Kingdom of God. And it is these moments that become the foundation of our stories . . . the stories we share. That become the basis of our invitation to others to step into relationship with God.
Though the season of Epiphany focuses on these moments of discovering the Holy, we are coming to realize that they are not confined to a period of time. They are all around us. They are all around us because God surrounds us like the air that we breathe. There is no escaping God. Because of these there is always the potential to discover the Holy . . . always opportunities to seeing the Holy and what God desires.
The apostle understood this, and he rejoiced in that Holy presence. It was what gave him his voice.
“Come to Jesus” moments are more than just meeting Jesus and accepting him as our personal savior. “Come to Jesus” moments are also those moments when we suddenly come upon the Holy where we least expected it. They are moments when we discover the “truth” . . . discover God’s will. They are moments when we move beyond what we believe to believe something new and different than we did before. They are moments when we pull back the curtains and discover what has been hiding back there holding us captive for so many years. It is that conversation that challenges what we believe . . . what we say . . . and shows us that we are wrong.
Too often that phrase . . . “come to Jesus” . . . is seen as something
negative and to be avoided. Yet, according to the apostle those “come to Jesus” moments are opportunities . . . opportunities to grow in one’s faith. They are necessary because it is through those that we grow closer to who God created us to and closer to the God who created us. In reading the gospels we witness many such moments in the life of Jesus . . . though he did not call them “come to me” moments. We witnessed those moments when he discovered the Holy, revealed a truth, challenged a falsehood, took on corruption, injustice, and did put up with bullies. We saw him live God’s will when it went against the politically correct of his time . . . when he stood with those that everyone else rejected.
Those are the moments of faith. Those are what helps us to grow closer to God. Those are what change the course and helps us to establish the Kingdom of God. And those are the moments that make us who God created us to be. May you discover those “come to Jesus” moments in your life. May you discover the blessing that they are. They are all around us . . . open your eyes . . . open your hearts. After all, God is with us. Always with us. Amen.
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