Hear the words of the Collect for the Second Sunday after Epiphany:

Almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; mercifully hear the supplications of Thy people, and grant us Thy peace all the days of our life.

May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be alway acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. We pray in the Name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Epistle lesson for today from Romans chapter 12 raises some interesting points especially within the context of the Collect prayer when it references that it is “God who doth govern all things in heaven and earth.” One of the first questions that I have heard people ask is “If God is in control of all things why is the world so messed up and evil so prevalent?”

The most direct answer to this question, especially considering the Epistle context of Romans 12, is that it is not God that allows evil, but man who does so. Saint Paul in this passage lays out in a very succinct manner how we are to live our lives within God’s grace. It is because man does not live and behave in this manner that evil abounds.

We can certainly see that this is true when we hear Saint Paul say, “Abhor that which is evil,” because so many today do not run from it, they run to it. Or perhaps where Saint Paul says “in honor preferring one another” when it seems most people prefer only themselves.

An especially pointed observation is how people do not abide by the words of the Apostle when he says, “Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.” In our world today, in a very unfortunate sense, the reaction to the slightest provocation seems to call out for massive revenge. I specifically use the word “revenge” because justice and proportionality are nowhere to be found in revenge and it is never satisfied with the damage that it does, no matter how great that damage is.

It would be all too easy for me to stand up here and point the finger at those who are out in the world, or not Christians, or some other example which we can all too easily find. However, today my first concern is that person that looks back at me in the mirror, who fails all too often in these very areas. My second concern is for those of us within the church, and who also fail all too frequently in these areas as well.

Given this reality, what we must avoid at all costs is letting the human failures of either clergy or laity separate us from our worship of God. Again unfortunately, this happens all too frequently, and we must do our best to point out that it is not God who failed us but man.

I find it interesting, and perhaps that is not the correct word to use, that we are all too willing to point the finger at God and ignore the fact, and again conveniently overlooking the person who looks back at us from the mirror, that it is mankind that is at fault and not God.

Another idea that is widely misunderstood is the concept of God’s control of the world. How many times have we heard people say, or perhaps we have even said it ourselves when something bad happens, “God is in control,” and sort of use it as a platitude or an excuse, for the thing that has happened. We seem to so easily forget that it has been our decisions which have led us to the point where these things occurred.

God’s greatest gift to us, which is also what gets us into the most trouble, is our human free will. God will not interfere with that gift. Ever! It is our human free will which allows evil to abound in the world and in our lives. God will indeed see that His plan of salvation will be carried out, the only question is will we participate in that salvation or not?

Part of the answer to that question is how we respond to the beginning part of the Epistle where Paul talks about the various gifts which God has provided for us. He mentions prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling, showing mercy, and love. These are all gifts of God, and it is up to us to see that we use them in the proper manner, which is the point of all of the previous failures that I have mentioned.

We must ask ourselves the following questions every day. Do we abhor evil in our own lives or allow it? Do we love one another with brotherly love or not? Are we fervent in our serving of God or ourselves? Are we patient in tribulation or lose our tempers at the drop of a hat? Are we generous to others with our worldly goods or just ourselves? Do we bless those that persecute us or curse them?

And lastly, do we judge people by their worldly stature, by what they can do for us, or what they can give us, instead of the fact that they are to be treated as the image of God, their Creator and ours, in whose image we both partake.

These are the challenges which we face every day. These are the questions which we must ask ourselves every day to see if we are failing in any of them.

And in this very roundabout manner we have come to the Gospel lesson for today where our Lord Jesus Christ is baptized in the river Jordan. The key idea which we must take away from this event is humility. John the Baptist humbled himself by baptizing Jesus instead of asking Jesus to baptize him. Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ humbled Himself to take on our humanity rather than to remain in the Godhead in eternity.

If we are to fulfill all of the points which are in the Epistle lesson for today, then we must also humble ourselves to allow the will of God to guide us in our daily lives rather than our human will. It was for just this reason that God gave it to us in the first place and by which He separates the sheep from the goats.

We must all remember that on judgment day the answers which we give to these questions in our lives will determine whether God says to us, “Thy will be done,” and send us into outer darkness. Or whether by our humbly saying to God, “Thy will be done,” that He will welcome us into His Presence.

Amen,

The Very Rev. Canon John Jacobs