The 2nd Sunday of Epiphany

Sermon preached by Gavin Koh, occasional preacher

There are some events in each of our lives, moments so compelling, that the time and place stick in our minds.

Jesus turned and saw them following…
[and] said to them, ‘Come and see.’
…
It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 

What a funny detail to pick out. It was four o’clock in the afternoon.

Every story has a beginning, and at four o’clock in the afternoon of this momentous day, Simon Peter steps onto the pages of history. This is the beginning of Peter’s story. Peter, who was once called Simon. Peter, who is anointed first of the 12 apostles. Peter, who will lead the early church. His story ties together the period starting from Jesus’ ministry to the foundation of the early church; and his story ends in martyrdom under Emperor Nero. 

Jesus’ public ministry starts with his baptism. The crowd gathers by the banks of the River Jordan, The heavens open,
God the Father speaks, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove. There is light and there is sound and there is drama.

St John the Evangelist tells us that Andrew and Simon were both disciples of St John the Baptist to start with, so they must have seen that spectacle of light and sound. Yet the moment that sticks in their minds, is that moment at four o’clock in the afternoon when Jesus invites Andrew and Simon Peter to follow him.

Today’s gospel reading comes from the first chapter of St John, which begins with the famous declaration
of Jesus as the Word of God, and what we hear in today’s reading is the power of that Word in action.

The job of the translator is one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
One of the most inspired decisions ever made by a translator was in choosing the Chinese translation of "Word"
or the Greek λόγος. In the Chinese Union Version, ‘Word’, is translated as 「道」 Tao. This is a decision truly inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The word Tao has multiple meanings. The first meaning of Tao, is ‘to speak’ or to ‘to say’; and in Chinese, ‘Jesus said’ can be translated as 「耶穌說道」.The decision of the 19th century Protestant missionaries to China to translate ‘Word’ as Tao is therefore justified.

In Chinese, John’s gospel begins with a declaration of the Tao.

[太 初 有 道 ，
道 與 神 同 在 ，
道 就 是 神 。]

In the beginning was the Tao,
and the Tao was with God,
and the Tao was God.

But if you visit Hong Kong, or any major Chinese city, you will often see the word Tao on street signs; because Tao also means ‘Path’ or ‘Road’ or ‘Way’.

In the 14th chapter of John’s gospel,
Jesus says,

‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.’
我 就 是 道 路 、 真 理 、 生 命 

So Jesus ‘The Way’ is also captured by the same Chinese word, Tao; and yes, this is the same Tao, which is the one true Way of Chinese religion, of Taoism. That reference was not lost
on the 19th century Bible translators.

What we see in today’s gospel reading is the power of that Word in action. In this chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus, The Word, manifests as Jesus The Way. Andrew and Simon hear the Word of God, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and are captivated by it; and by that Word, are set on the Way; the Way that leads to salvation and everlasting glory.

I want to make one last point: I wish to point you to the person of Andrew. Poor Andrew! Andrew is mentioned only very few times in the Gospels, and although named as one of the 12 Apostles, his one significant act is in bringing Simon to Christ, after which, Andrew pretty much disappears from the story. The second century Church thought this tiny act was rather pathetic, so Andrew had a lot of fan fiction written about him. In the apocryphal Acts of St Andrew, St Andrew raises the dead, survives being placed among ferocious animals and defeats armies by making the sign of the cross. None of these stories appear in the Bible and the Acts of St Andrew is certainly the work of an overactive imagination.

A Study in Scarlet is the first of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about Sherlock Holmes. Dr James Watson, meets an old friend, Stamford, at The Criterion Bar in Piccadilly. Stamford’s one role in the story is to introduce Watson to Sherlock Holmes, and after having performed that one act, Stamford is never to be heard of again.

I apologise for reading to you from Facebook, but I thought this was really rather good:

When people talk about travelling to the past,

they worry about radically changing the present 

by doing something small,

but barely anyone in the present

really thinks that they can radically change the future

by doing something small.

What if Watson hadn’t met his old friend, Stamford, at The Criterion bar?
What if Andrew hadn’t gone to look for his brother, Simon?

Simon was busy doing something else: you can imagine him seated mending his nets, just as all fishermen must. He was interrupted by his brother, Andrew, running excitedly to him, shouting, ‘We have found the Messiah!’ And with that one act, Andrew changed the course of Simon’s life, and the course of world history.

We all have the chance to change the world. You already know that Jesus is the Messiah! You already know that Jesus is the Way! Can you drag someone away from the humdrum of their daily existence? Can you introduce someone to Jesus the Word? Could you set someone else on that sacred Way to salvation and glory? Think! By what small act could you change the future radically and forever!