The Theophany of God the Holy Trinity, this explicit revelation and manifestation of God as the unity in essence He is—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is revealed to the world that God created and proclaimed by His Word to be “very good”, but which had fallen into sin and despair. Our human nature is renewed by Christ’s Incarnation and we are grafted into that renewed race of Adam by virtue of Christ’s baptism and renewal, the inauguration of new life in Him who is the Life of all by the Holy Spirit through Baptism and Chrismation, the ‘sealing’ of which St. Paul refers to as seen among the first Orthodox Christians in Ephesians 1:13. Truly, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and has visited us through this manifestation of God’s grace and love, through His renewal of us and all creation.
With the sanctification of water, all creation becomes good and pure again because Christ God, the Creator, enters into it and becomes what it first was, returning to its first beauty. It takes on a ‘spiritual’ attribute, that is, it is renewed as a means of communicating God’s grace.
With Christ’s baptism into the waters of the Jordan, this water becomes at that moment and every moment thereafter in the calling into the present of His sanctifying presence by the Holy Spirit (anamnesis), the means of our healing and renewal. Those who partake in faith of this water, are anointed with it and have their houses blessed with it, truly take Christ’s healing into themselves. It is, likewise, this sanctified water of the Jordan which is made present at each baptism by the power, grace, and operation of the Holy Spirit of which we are witnesses this day.
Those who even touched the hem of Christ’s garment were healed, but those who are baptized into Christ and put on Christ through the waters that Christ has made ‘the laver of regeneration’ are made new, are born again, entering the new race of Adam Christ has inaugurated through His Incarnation and personalized for us by our baptism into Christ after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. As we sing this day from Galatians 3:27, “as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” and in II Cor. 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away: behold, all things have become new.” This “new creation” of which St. Paul speaks is the new birth Christ reveals to Nicodemus, saying, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5). We rejoice this day and sing with the angels that another soul, that of little Adelina, has been born anew this day.
This is the Good News, the Gospel of our Lord given to us on this Sunday. This Gospel is an invitation to new life in Christ God and the renewal of our baptism for those already in Christ. And so that this water can have its deifying effect on us, it’s necessary for us to be able to break through the monotony of our often marginal or ‘every day’ existence where God is on the periphery or where we have not yet surrendered ourselves or our passions fully to Him. This faith is manifested in that which is admonished upon us today: that we repent.
Our Gospel today ends with the words of Christ, “‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’.” Why is this message of repentance given to us today? To repent means that we turn back to God with our hearts and minds, with all that we have and all that we are, so that we can move forward in growth in faith and continue to become that for which Christ became incarnate and was baptized to make us: His beloved adopted sons and daughters.
Repentance is not just a one-time experience, but rather the ongoing ‘attitude’ of a faithful Christian. For this reason, the faithful Christian understands that repentance, turning back to Christ continuously in mind and heart, is the ongoing living out of our baptism and Chrismation, the ongoing work and prompting of the Holy Spirit that we respond to with our “Yes” to God and our struggling to say “No” to sin. Without ongoing repentance, without the acknowledgement that we are, as St. Paul says, “working out our salvation with fear and trembling,” not assuming we’ve already ‘arrived,’ we cannot keep the Kingdom of Heaven as the goal of our lives we are still journeying to attain.
For this reason, on this day, we hear the words in the Gospel from Deuteronomy, that “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.” Today, those fulfilled words are offered us as refreshment, renewal, and, in the case of Adelina, as new birth by water and the spirit. But all of us, through our ongoing repentance and the renewal of our baptism, are given the opportunity this day to experience more of our life in God the Holy Trinity, to further our faith, to grow in communion.
The sanctifying, deifying grace-filled presence of Christ meets us in this water through our participation in the Feast itself, our being anointed with this holy water, and the blessing of our homes and dwellings with this sanctified water. Sadly, in America many do not avail themselves of the fullness of this Feast. In Romania, it is a pious practice, for instance, in the first eight days after the Feast, to partake in faith of the sanctified water every day at morning prayers, that this spiritual water may have its deifying, faith strengthening, and healing effect upon us, may minister Christ’s presence to us. But also, that we make a priority in our otherwise busy lives to have our homes blessed with this sanctifying water that there too Christ may be King.
This blessing of our homes requires great faith from us in that we believe that we make it a priority in this otherwise secular culture we fight to be Christians in. We believe that the priest’s blessing by Christ’s command will bring us Christ’s blessing and bring this healing, sanctifying water to us in a unique way that will make a difference for us and our families in protecting and keeping us in Christ and growing us in our communion with Him this year.
Indeed, the Church proclaims that the “central sign” of God’s sanctification of all things through His Theophany to the world is the act of blessing the homes of the faithful.
If we wish to break through any dullness or lukewarmeness in our spiritual lives, if we want to continue to progress in our relationship and communion with God in the coming year, we need the sanctifying and blessing of Christ in our homes. The family, our homes, are considered “a little church” in our Orthodox theology, so how important it is that these ‘little churches’ receive the special prayers and blessing of the Church so that all we hope to achieve in Christ in this new year can be more fully realized by God’s grace.
When the priest comes to bless the house, he not only asks God’s mercy for those who live in the house, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, he drives from it every evil and fills it with Christ’s blessing and the Feast of Theophany is appropriated by us into our homes and dwellings. It’s vital to our spiritual growth and well-being that we make this blessing of our homes a priority. It is my prayer that this blessing with holy water and your partaking of this water will defend you against all the snares of the evil one, will focus you again and again on Christ through active repentance, not just through the season of Theophany but throughout this next year of life. Receive it in faith and repent, knowing that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and has been revealed to us!
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Mission
Sunday After Theophany
8 January 2017
Epistle: Eph. 4:7-13
Gospel: Matt. 4:12-17
