That's How the Light Gets In

The Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Sermon for February 15, 2026

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Please be seated.

Today we come to the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany. Epiphany, the event in Jesus' life that this parish is named for. And we know the word Epiphany also means a sudden revelation or an insight, and that's what our gospel readings for the past six weeks have done. Week by week, they have revealed Jesus's true identity.

Let me give you a quick recap, a Cliff's Notes of Epiphany, in case you missed anything.

On Epiphany, the infant Jesus is revealed to the world. Three kings arrive in Bethlehem and pay homage to this special child, the newborn king.

Then on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, John the Baptist recognizes that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah and baptizes Jesus in the River Jordan. And the heavens open and God's Spirit descends, and the voice of God declares, “This is my son, the beloved. With him, I am well pleased.” Thus, Jesus becomes the anointed one, the Messiah, the one who has come to save the world. From this point forward, Jesus will be known as Jesus the Christ. This is Jesus' true identity.

On the second Sunday after the Epiphany, John the Baptist tells his friends, Andrew and Peter, that Jesus is the Lamb of God. And Peter agrees, “Yes, we have found the Messiah.” Here, Jesus' true identity is recognized by his friends and others.

On the third Sunday after the Epiphany, Jesus begins to preach, and he gathers his first disciples together, Andrew and Peter and James and John, and he proclaims the good news, and he heals the sick, and he performs miracles, and people begin to follow Jesus, which fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah, which said, “The people in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned.” The true identity of Jesus is becoming known to the people.

On the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, hundreds gathered to hear Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. His identity is becoming known far and wide, and the poor and the needy and the suffering are all coming to him.

On the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount saying, “You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works.”

And that brings us to today, the last Sunday after the Epiphany, the Transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus goes up to the mountaintop with his friends, his most trusted friends, where he is “transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.” And suddenly, Moses and Elijah appear beside Jesus, and his friends are awe-struck, and they “fall face down on the ground terrified.” And God speaks to them. He said, “This is my son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”

Now, remember, Jesus called the disciples to come and see. And this is the ultimate come and see moment. As Jesus and John and Peter gaze upon the mighty prophets Elijah and Moses, and hear the voice of God, this is a miraculous manifestation of God's glory, as God reveals that Jesus is divine.

Remember too, in the entire New Testament, God only speaks three times. Two of these times are in the season of Epiphany.

And I think that shows how essential Epiphany is to establishing the true identity of Jesus. In this story, with God speaking and the dazzling flashing lights, there's so much going on that we almost overlook the presence of Elijah and Moses.

But think about it, what are they doing here? They're from the Old Testament. They've been dead for hundreds and hundreds of years. Yet here they are talking with Jesus.

I think God's making a point here about who Jesus is, about Jesus' identity. No one certainly has the stature of Moses and Elijah. Moses is the founder of Israel. He's the lawgiver. Elijah is the greatest of all the Hebrew prophets. And here Jesus is exalted together with them, with Moses, with Elijah, with the law and the prophets.

But then Moses and Elijah disappear, and Jesus stands there alone. The message is clear. Jesus, Moses, and Elijah may be similar, but Jesus and Jesus alone is the Messiah, the son of the living God. His divinity puts him above the law and the prophets. “This is my son. Listen to him,” says God.

Jesus is God's surrogate who inaugurates the kingdom of God upon the earth. Jesus is the new creation, the new Adam, the new covenant, the new humanity. This is who the season of Epiphany reveals Jesus to be.

Now, scholars tell us the transfiguration of Jesus is a watershed. The transfiguration of Jesus looks back to the Old Testament. The presence of Moses and Elijah show that Jesus fulfills the prophecy of the Hebrew scriptures.

And the transfiguration also looks forward to the New Testament. It anticipates the glorification of Jesus, which is about to come, the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and Christ's return.

This is Jesus' true identity. Jesus, the Jesus of our church, the Jesus of our childhood, the Jesus we worship and love and serve, the Jesus of justice and mercy, the Jesus who spreads the power of love.

But some people see a different Jesus. A Jesus that gets all jumbled up with their political ideas. Theirs is a very negative Jesus. Their Jesus doesn't like gay marriage. Their Jesus doesn't like abortion. He doesn't like immigrants, but he loves guns. For traditional Christians like us, their Jesus has become a problem. It feels like our faith has been hijacked.

There are Christians I know, some in this very congregation, who no longer are comfortable saying they're Christian. Instead, they say, I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

How did this happen? How did we lose our grip on Jesus? I think it starts with the seismic cultural shifts to the 1960s and 70s. Remember the hippies? Sure, you do. Well, a group of televangelists down in Virginia decided they didn't like where the country was going at that time, didn't like where the country was headed, and so they came up with their own vision of what America should look like. They envisioned an America where straight, white, Christian men ran everything, and their straight, white, Christian wives obeyed silently.

And the televangelists, being televangelists, decided, ah, Jesus agreed with them. So, they took Jesus, Jesus who has preached the power of love, and they turned him into a Jesus who stood for the love of power. As Sinclair Lewis cautioned us, “When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.”

We've never lived in times like these. We see scenes of horror on our streets that are unimaginable to most Americans. Scenes of hideous violence, monstrance in humanity that looked like something from a 1940s German newsreel. And we wonder, what would happen if Jesus appeared in America today? How would they greet our Savior? How would our Savior be welcomed? As a brown-skinned immigrant with a foreign accent and no papers, he'd be forced to the ground. By government agents, he'd be kicked and beaten and tied up and thrown in prison, just as he was 2,000 years ago. No, we have never lived in times like these.

But in my despair, I realize that perhaps this season of Epiphany, this season of Revelation, offers us a new revelation. Let me explain. As we look back on this season of Epiphany, we realize something curious has happened.

The six weeks of Epiphany coincided with almost precisely, almost precisely, with the horrific violence of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. Was that a coincidence? Was it a strange confluence of events? Or something more? Perhaps a new epiphany revealed by God. Notice the pattern.

On January 6th, we celebrated the Epiphany, and on January 7th, Renée Gold, a mother of four, was shot to death by ICE agents in Minneapolis. God said, “This is my son. Listen to him.” And Jesus said, “As they do to the least of these, they do to me.” And on the frozen streets of Minneapolis, hundreds of people gathered in protest against the ICE raids.

On January 18th, we celebrated the second Sunday in Epiphany. And on January 20th, five-year-old Liam Conejo-Ramos was seized by ICE agents on his way home from nursery school. And he was sent to an incarceration camp in Texas. God said, “This is my son. Listen to him.” And Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And public anger against ICE grew. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in this protest. In Minneapolis, in Chicago, and Boston, and all across the country. Churches voiced their outrage. Clergy knelt on frozen ground in prayerful resistance.

On January 25th, we celebrated the third Sunday in Epiphany. On January 26th, Alex Pretti, a VA nurse protesting ICE, was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. God said, “This is my son. Listen to him.” And Jesus said, “Be the light.” And the protests grew and the crowd swelled, and hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, and cities, and small towns across America. And the voices rang out. Episcopal bishops called for the end of ICE raids. The Vatican labeled ICE raids an affront to God.

Then, on February 12th, just two days before the last Sunday in Epiphany, ICE announced it was withdrawing from Minneapolis.

This is not over. This is not the end of ICE and its reign of terror. More evil and darkness are coming. We know that, but we will be prepared, because we know what works. Jesus says, “Be the light.”

So how can you be the light? If you're a protester, protest; if you're an organizer, organize; if you're a donor, donate; if you're a helper, help; if you're a knitter, knit. How ever you can be the light, be the light.

Light illuminates. Light reveals. Light shows the way. Light drives out the darkness. In fact, the only thing that makes the darkness disappear is the light.

In the words of Leonard Cohen, “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.”

Be the light. Be the light. Be the light.

Amen.