In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Well
today, this Sunday, today January 5th, we are
at a crossroads. We are on the 12th day of Christmas.
And you can look around and still see some Christmas
decorations here in the church adorning it. are
on the first Sunday of the new year, 2020. And
it is the pre -feast of the baptism of our Lord
and God and Savior Jesus Christ, which was the
reading of this morning's gospel. And we have
all these things here at once with us as we stand
at this crossroads and we celebrate these events.
But there is even another crossroads that we're
at this Sunday. John the Baptist, John the forerunner,
baptizes the Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan
River, and it is a crossroads of the old covenant,
which the prophet, the greatest prophet, John,
is there, and of the New Testament, the new covenant
that we have through Christ, of moving from the
law to grace and mercy. and forgiveness that
we enter into in our own baptisms, just as Christ
was baptized. You know, these are the words spoken
by the prophets about John the forerunner. Behold,
I send my messenger before your face, who will
prepare your way before you, the voice of one
crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of
the Lord. Make his paths straight. And then we
have the words of John about our Lord and God
and Savior, Jesus Christ. From the book of Luke,
chapter 7, it says, For I say to you, among those...
Oh, sorry, wrong one. This is Jesus speaking
of John. For I say to you, among those born of
women, there is not a greater prophet than John
the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom
of God is greater than he. How could that be?
The greatest prophet, John, and yet for each
one of us who enters into the baptismal waters
and then is chrismated with that holy oil and
now somehow We are greater. It's hard to believe.
But it's done through the power of God. That
somehow the Holy Spirit enters us in a way that
changes us that wasn't done before. Because Christ
had not come. Because Christ had not died on
the cross. Had not resurrected, ascended to heaven.
And all these great events that we know have
happened in history as we await for the second
coming of Christ. These things had not happened
for the prophets yet, but now for us they have
happened. And we enter into the church, we enter
into life, we enter into a time where we need
to take the words of the great prophet John and
apply them to ourselves. If you look at the column
here, St. John the Forerunner, it says, Repent
ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He
was speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course,
heaven came with him and comes to us through
Christ and sanctifies us and all our humanity,
everything that we are. John said of Jesus, There
comes one after me who is mightier than I. whose
sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and
loose. I indeed baptize you with water, but he
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And that's
where we are. We have the Holy Spirit to help
us. When we do that first step of repentance,
and we declare that we are going to step away
from the things that have been a part of our
past, that have pulled us away from God, and
that we are now committing ourselves to come
closer to God, and we enter into that life, and
we follow where God leads us, and we are sanctified
and changed and made holy. That's where we need
to be. Let me read to you from the Gospel that
we will read shortly. when we bless the waters
this very day, it came to pass in those days
that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, who
was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately,
coming up from the water, he saw the heavens
parting and the Spirit descending upon him like
a dove. And then a voice came from heaven, You
are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
This was the time, that major crossroad, when
we left the old covenant and we entered into
the new covenant. We left the time of the prophets
and we entered into the ministry of Jesus Christ
who calls his disciples. Shortly after this,
he goes into the wilderness and then he comes
out and calls his disciples. And we begin this
time that we are in now as we await the second
coming of Christ. Well, I couldn't neglect that
this year is 2020. And when I think of that number,
I think of 2020 vision, right? And so how could
we pass this first Sunday of the year and not
say that we need... 2020 spiritual vision. That's
what we need. We have the Holy Spirit to guide
us. All we have to do is listen to God, to follow
the commandments, to walk the life that has 2020
vision, and we can walk in a way that we've never
done before. But we don't sometimes. There are
some people that are in darkness. They are blind.
They don't have any vision. We are a part of
the church. We are here. We're not blind. But
sometimes we can be nearsighted. And sometimes
we can be farsighted. And we don't have 20 -20
vision. Nearsightedness. When we don't see others
because our vision is so close it's looking at
just ourselves. That's a problem. If we are just
thinking about ourselves, how could we ever love
anyone else? And the answer to get rid of your
nearsightedness is to look to God. To take your
eyes off of yourself and to look up to heaven
and to give thanks to God for the salvation that
we have. And the moment that we have thanks in
our heart, then the Holy Spirit is able to really
shine in us. And once God is shining through
us, then we can love others around us and we
have 20 -20 vision. Of course, there's farsightedness
as well, where we're looking off in the future
so much, afraid of what will happen. We're filled
with fear. We've lost our hope. We've lost our
trust in God because we're saying, well, what
if this? What if that? What if the other? I'm
running out of money. I don't know what's going
to happen. Or whatever the problem is. Maybe
I'll never get married. I'll never have children.
I'll never who knows what. You could fill in
the blank. But we're filled with fear instead
of with faith. And the answer to this farsightedness
is once again to put our eyes. on the Lord, and
to, instead of being afraid of the future, be
trusting in God that he's taking us to a wonderful
future, that he's going to bring us to a place
of beauty and eternal life. St. Clement of Rome
says this, So while we are on earth, let us repent.
For we are like clay in a workman's hands. If
a potter makes a vessel and it gets out of shape
or breaks in his hands, he molds it over again.
Similarly, while we are in this world, let us
too repent with our whole heart of the evil we
have done in the flesh so that we may be saved
by the Lord while we have a chance to repent.
By doing the Father's will and keeping the flesh
pure, and by abiding by the Lord's commands,
we shall obtain eternal life. Eternal life. Never
-ending life. Joy in God's presence forever.
Our hearts beaming. How could we not strive for
that? But it requires us now to repent. The Apostle
Paul writes in Titus, the book of Titus, For
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 in the glorious...
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. So now we are here in 2020, and we need
to have that spiritual vision of the 2020 vision.
And all it takes is us saying yes to God. Yes,
I want that. Do you want that vision? Do you
want to see the world? with God's view of the
world? I do. We're at a crossroads. Christmas,
we've got the 12th day of Christmas. Tomorrow,
Theophany, the first Sunday of this new year.
What better time than right now to commit ourselves
to grow and be sanctified and become holy? and
to move forward from this crossroads on the road
carrying the cross. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory
to God.