DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Sunday,
January 7, 2007 Tone 5 Synaxis of the Forerunner John
9th Royal Hour; 13th Vigil Theophany: Isaiah 49:8-15
Epistle: Acts 19:1-8 Gospel: St. John 1:29-34
Types of Baptism ~ A
Covenant of the Nations: Isaiah 49:8-15 LXX, especially vs. 8: “Thus says the Lord, In an
acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I succored
you: and I have formed you, and given you for a covenant of the nations, to
establish the earth....” The Nativity Canon
invites the Faithful to “cry unto the Son, born of the Father before the ages
without change, Christ our God Who hath been Incarnate in these last days of
the Virgin, without seed, shouting, O Thou Who hath elevated our state, Thou
art holy, O Lord.”
In this plea, the Church
joins the Prophet Isaiah - who spoke centuries before the Lord Jesus was
conceived in the Virgin’s womb - and invites us to heed God the Father’s
declaration that God the Son would elevate “our state” and have “mercy on His
People” (Is. 49:13 LXX) through the work of God the Holy Spirit. Conversely, the words of our Heavenly
Father spoken through Isaiah bring us back down to earth where, in an
acceptable time - the day of salvation - God the Son was formed in the womb and
given to us as a covenant for the nations to establish the earth within the
reign of the Kingdom of God (vs. 8).
What does our Father in
Heaven want us to understand through His Prophet’s voice? He desires that we affirm the impact on
the world caused by its Creator coming to and standing in the streams of the
Jordan. Let us rejoice with the heavens
and be glad, “for the Lord has ....comforted the lowly ones of His people” (vs.
13). He has not forsaken us nor
forgotten us (vs. 14). Rather, an
immense construction was begun, what we have learned to call “the Kingdom of
God” - a rule and dominion that truly will “establish the earth” (vs. 8). His Kingdom will mean freedom,
illumination, nourishment, mercy, and the removal of all impediments between
men and God. Consider these results that are coming upon the
earth.
“To them that are in
bonds,” God says, “Go forth!” (vs. 9).
St. Nikolai of Zica asks us, “Who is more utterly a captive than he who
is bound by sin?” No one! Alas, all of us are bound by the chains
of our sins. Yet, the One Who
stands in the waters comes to repeat His Father’s word, “Go forth.” He assumed our sins in the Jordan when
He received a Baptism of repentance (Lk. 3:3); for He knew no sin - was free of
sin - yet shouldered all the sins of all mankind which He then took to the
Cross so that with the thief we might cry “We all have sinned, O Son of
God. Have mercy upon us, O Thou
Who hast abolished the might of death and taken hades captive.”
Furthermore, the Lord
came to enlighten mankind - to bid “them that are in darkness show themselves”
(Is. 49:9). The “true Light which
gives light to every man coming into the world” (Jn. 1:9) came to fill us with
Light and make us “the light of the world” (Mt. 5:14).
“The living Bread which
came down from Heaven” (Jn. 6:51) nourishes all who eat of it, for “Whoever
eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” (Jn. 6: 54). These “shall not hunger, neither shall
they thirst” (Is. 49:10).
The One Who stood in the
waters of Jordan comes with mercy for the afflicted: “for the Lord has had
mercy on His people, and has comforted the lowly ones of His people” (vs. 13).
Every impediment that
stands between God and each person has been removed, for God Himself has come
to us. “I will make every mountain
a way, and every path a pasture for them.
Behold, these shall come from far: and these from the north and the
west” (vss. 11,12).
Despair not, Beloved of
God, He has not forgotten us.
Frail, fallible, human mothers and fathers may, on occasion, forget
their children, “yet I will not forget you, says the Lord” (vs. 15).
O give thanks unto the
Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that established the earth upon
the waters; for His mercy endureth for ever. [Ps.135:1,6 LXX]
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