Children of Light - A Sermon on Theophany (2025)

Today is one of the most glorious and awesome days of the entire Church year: the Theophany of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Today Christ — “born secretly in a cave” on the Nativity — now reveals Himself openly on the banks of the River Jordan. Not only does He reveal Himself, but for the first time in history the Holy Trinity itself “was made manifest,” as the troparion of today’s feast proclaims: “for the voice of the Father bore witness… and the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the certainty of the word.” In short, “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations is made manifest” (Col. 1:26) on this great and luminous day.

But to whom, exactly, is this mystery made manifest? For indeed, when Christ humbled Himself under the hand of the Forerunner two thousand years ago, only a certain number of people were there to witness the self-revelation of the Trinity, while the vast majority of mankind remained totally unaware, still “in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Ps. 106:10). The divine self-revelation was not made to kings on their thrones, nor to the rich in their palaces, nor to priests in the Temple, nor to philosophers in their academies. On the contrary, as the troparion says: “To sinners and publicans has Thou revealed Thyself in the greatness of Thy mercy.” It was to ordinary peasants in the deserts of Judaea that the great mystery of the Trinity was first revealed. They were not chosen for their wisdom, nor their learning, nor their power, nor even for their righteousness. It seems to me that they were chosen instead for one simple reason: because they were willing to repent.

Indeed, it was for just such a purpose that St. John the Baptist was sent in advance of the coming of Christ, and of His self-revelation on this day: to call the people of God to repentance. Because without repentance, it is quite simply impossible to see God — even if He is standing right there in front of us, with the heavenly voice of His Father telling us out loud exactly Who He is. Indeed, Holy Scripture tells us that when the voice of God later spoke aloud again (just before the Crucifixion of Christ), only some standing there were able to understand, while others thought they heard the voice of an angel, and still others heard only the indistinct rumblings of thunder (cf. John 12:28-29). We cannot hear what we choose not to hear, and we cannot see that to which we willfully and stubbornly close our own eyes.

God calls out to all of us without exception, and offers freely to everyone the cleansing and illuminating waters of Holy Baptism which He Himself sanctified this day. But He forces no-one. He compels no-one. He gives to each and every one of us a choice: do we wish to behold Him, in all the fullness His divine glory… or do we wish instead to look away? Quite simply: are we willing to repent? Are we willing to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven which is now at hand (cf. Matt. 3:2)?

As Orthodox Christians, we know (though we often forget) that the true meaning of repentance (metanoia) is not simply to feel guilty, nor even to become virtuous. It means, rather, to turn our hearts toward God. Without this divine vision (theoria) of Christ, absolutely nothing else in our religious life has any meaning or worth whatsoever. As St. Seraphim of Sarov said, all of our Christian efforts

are the only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. Mark my words, only good deeds done for Christ's sake brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. All that is not done for Christ's sake, even though it be good, brings neither reward in the future life nor the grace of God in this life.

Of course, as St. Seraphim affirmed our own cooperation with God’s grace remains truly “indispensable.” This is what we have just heard in the Epistle lesson appointed for this feast:

…the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

 

Titus 2:11-13

Why is it that we must “[deny] ungodliness and worldly lusts” and “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world”? So that God will finally be able to stand to look at us? No: so that we will finally be able to look at Him, and behold “that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

Today God has appeared in all His ineffable glory. And though our eyes were blinded by sin and thus incapable of perceiving His divine and transcendent radiance, in His humility and loving-kindness He deigned to be baptized in the River Jordan, sanctifying the waters that now enlighten us with the grace of the Most-Holy Spirit. Only one question remains: are we willing to receive the gift?

And make no mistake: it is a gift that costs everything, the “pearl of great price” for which we must sell all that we have and all that we are (cf. Matt. 13:45-56). As St. Paul says: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

If we have caught even the briefest glimpse of this glory and this newness of life, then — so long as we keep it always before our eyes — every tribulation and suffering and sacrifice will, in that light, be transfigured into nothing less than boundless and ineffable joy — first in this temporal life and even more so in the life of the age to come. As St. Paul says: “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). And as St. James says likewise: "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations” (Jas. 1:2). These are no vain or idle words; rather, they are divine truth, as experienced and born witness to by all the hosts of martyrs and saints.

But if we fall (as we so often do) into the darkness of forgetfulness, then — in the emptiness of life apart from the grace of God — our sufferings will be mere suffering, devoid of meaning and impossible to bear. If our yoke is not easy and our burden is not light (cf. Matt. 11:30), then it is a sure and certain sign that somehow we have forgotten Christ, and are looking at the world through the darkness of our own human perception rather than the light of divine grace. “Wherefore,” like St. Peter, “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth” (2 Pet. 1:12). And so must all of us do, both for ourselves and for one another, every single day of our lives.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let us take all care to neither squander nor forget the joyous and divine illumination which Christ is pouring out upon us all today on the Feast of Lights. Just as we carry home the holy water of Theophany, so too let us carry the remembrance of divine grace with us wheresoever we might go in this life, looking at everything and everyone we encounter in the light of Christ’s mercy and humility and love. Let us rejoice always and in all things — whether bitter or sweet — “speaking to [ourselves] in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19-20), so that our hearts will always remain united with the God Who has revealed Himself to us all on this bright and glorious day. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.