A Living Sacrifice

THE 1ST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

Last Monday evening, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of the True Light who was born on Christmas Day; God himself born in the flesh; the one by whom we too are made to be light. The season of Epiphany explains the meaning and exposes the expanse of the incarnation. It shows forth the power, the glory, and the wisdom of God, the Divine glory coming to earth through the mystery of the incarnation. Week by week, the Epiphany-tide Gospels reveal who this Man from Heaven, Jesus Christ, truly is.

First, we read of the coming of the star-led Magi, wise men from the East, who come and offer unto the child gold, and incense, and myrrh. And by these gifts, acknowledge the infant as King, as God, and as the sacrifice given not only for Israel's salvation but the gentiles as well. Next Sunday, we will read of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist. With the visible descent of the Spirit and a declaration from the heavenly Father, Christ's divine sonship will be affirmed. And, on the third Sunday after Epiphany, we shall witness Jesus perform a miracle at a wedding in Cana, in which his divine power will be revealed.

But on this first Sunday after Epiphany, we read of Jesus' visit to the Temple at Jerusalem as a boy of twelve. Now, this is the second time since Christmas we have learned of Jesus visiting the Temple. The first was the feast of the circumcision when Mary and Joseph brought Christ into the Temple eight days after his birth, according to the Law. Once in the Temple, the babe is given the name Jesus (meaning, to deliver, to rescue) and subsequently circumcised a son of Israel. These events prefiguring the salvation Jesus will accomplish by taking the pain and discomfort of the sins of the world into his body, wounded, shedding his most precious blood for the forgiveness of sins.

The second visit of Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem occurs in today's Gospel, when as a young boy of twelve, he stays behind the family caravan and is conversing in his Father's house with the religious doctors, "both hearing them and asking them questions." Now, this is the only story the Gospels provide on the childhood of Jesus, and it is an impressive and remarkable story for sure. But the main point of it as the Gospel lesson for this Sunday is the showing forth of Jesus' humble obedience to his heavenly Father. Yes, his divine power will be shown in his miracles; he will do great things. But humility and obedience must always precede and accompany any kingdom work.

So, we see sitting within the Temple the young Jesus; the Son of God; Divine Wisdom in the flesh, and yet he is sitting humbly at the feet of the doctors and teachers listening to his elders and asking questions. You see, The Word of God is first a disciple so as also to be a master. And he is an obedient son, for his first priority is to be about his Father's business. Beloved, humility, and obedience would mark the entirety of this young boy's life and give its fullest expression at Calvary, where he gladly suffered and died in accordance with- not his will but- the will of his Father.

What we see in the story of the second visit to the Temple is Jesus as the example of an acceptable living sacrifice. For in every way and in every aspect of life, He presented himself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. And today, St. Paul is calling us to do as our Lord, to present our bodies (meaning our whole selves) before the altar of God as our reasonable service.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom 12:1).

Now it begs the question, what is a living sacrifice? Of what is it comprised? How do we offer such a sacrifice unto God? But first, we mustn't rush past the reasoning of the Apostle's plea: "I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God." On what grounds does he call us to this sacrificial life? On the basis of mercy, the mercy of God shown towards us in Christ. In other words, this is how we are to respond to the great love with which our God has showered upon us: we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Just as he died for us, we are to die to self and live towards him.

Recognize that St. Paul is using cultic-sacrificial language commonly employed when speaking of placing a sacrificial animal before the altar. But, whereas that sacrificial creature is there to be killed, the Christian's self-offering is actually about becoming alive with the resurrected life that breaks out in unforeseen ways once the sinful deeds of the self are put to death. We are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, meaning, to live a life completely surrendered to the commands and purposes of the Father.

Now, In speaking of sacrificing our bodies, the Apostle has two ideas in view. First, he has in mind the sensual temptations of the flesh. Second, he is speaking of the body as representing the whole person the entirety of life. In the first sense, to offer "your body as a living sacrifice" means a complete renunciation of everything earthly and temporal. It is determining to put to death (not only cripple) the sensuous nature which leads us to sin. We must consecrate our whole bodies unto the Lord. Like a burnt offering, a sacrifice that is wholly and completely consumed in the fiery flames upon the altar. The body and its unholy desires should be entirely consumed in the fire of God's sovereignty, for his service and for his glory.

Now, how do we do this? How is the body to become a living sacrifice? St. Chrysostom is helpful, writing "Let the eye look upon no evil thing, and it hath become a sacrifice; let thy tongue speak nothing filthy, and it hath become an offering; let thine hand do no lawless deed, and it hath become a whole burnt offering (1)." There is a pearl of great wisdom here: It is only when we have put away the things which bring death that we will actually be able to live. Consider the words of our Lord, "You must die to yourself." Meaning, we must die to the desires of the flesh. What we do with our bodies matters to God. And, in Christ, we can take mastery over sin.

Doesn't St. Paul in this same Epistle to the Romans tell us to "reckon [ourselves] to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord?" (6:11) This is the baptismal reality for all who believe. And this being the case, St. Paul continues, "therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Instead, "present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God" (6:13). To present the body as a living sacrifice is to be dead to sin and alive to the commands and purposes of God: this is what it means to be a living sacrifice. And this most definitely includes our physical bodies.

Next, the Apostle adds that a living sacrifice should also be holy and acceptable to God. Meaning, our lives are to be set apart, consecrated unto the Lord, and they are to be lived in a satisfactory manner. Friends, we need to look no further than to the pattern of that Holy Child Jesus who was obedient to the Law as the sacrificial life which pleases God. As the son was obedient so we must obey the Law of Christ, who is the true Lamb of God, our Passover sacrificed for us, and present ourselves, not as the slain animals of old, but as "living" sacrifices, free from sin, without spot or blemish: holy lives presented and lived in a manner that is "acceptable to God."

And what is a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice unto our God? Hear the Divine answer given unto the prophet Isaiah, "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause" (Isa 1:16-17). Humility, obedience, self-denial, virtue, holiness, and doing good: these are the marks of a living sacrifice that pleases the Father. Friends, an acceptable life, looks a lot like Jesus.

In this modern age of disintegration haunted by Gnosticism, we would do well to embrace the scriptural integration of body and mind within Christian obedience. Neither disingenuously following some outward, external code, nor imbibing the easy immorality of keeping a "clean mind" while our bodies do whatever they desire. Rather, let us hear the command again to love the Lord our God in an integrated fashion: with all of the heart, soul, and mind.

For Paul, offering the body in the sense of presenting one's whole self sacrificially to God must necessarily include the offering of the mind. The mind and the body are closely interconnected and must work as a coherent team. Having one's mind renewed and offering God one's body are all part of the same comprehensive act. So, he adds the following, and "Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

He's saying, do not be adapted into a form, or into a shape dictated by this present age. Friends, we must refuse to let 'this present age' press us into its mold, dictating not only how we should think but what we should think. We simply cannot allow it to tell us how we can and can't behave; what we are to value and pursue; what is essential and what isn't; what is morally right and acceptable.

Because the method of this world is perverted and worthless. It's temporal and unstable, offering nothing lofty nor lasting. In the words of Paul, "the present form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:31). For this world has no sturdiness or fixedness, it is unsubstantial, meaning, without any real substance. This world is unstable, and those who seek its ways and wisdom will only suffer instability in heart and mind, enduring the shifting sands of the soul, which never finds rest.

Friends, whether we know it or not, this fallen world is a powerful catechist. This evil age is catechizing you, your children, your friends by whispering a multitude of options, seducing and alluring with the attractants of power, freedom, and information. Propagating utopian pipe-dreams and the ghost-wish of a humanistic agenda. Instead of the culture dictating its own terms and conditions, we must instead figure out how to think, how to speak and act not in a manner in conformity with this present age but in harmony with the kingdom of God, which is already breaking into the world.

In other words, we must be transformed by the renewing of the mind. The transformation and shaping of the life of the Christian determined not by external worldly forms but by an inward renewing that extends into the outer life by the productive power of the Holy Spirit. The mind, how we think, how we employ ration is by birth, naturally corrupted. We simply are incapable of reasoning in a God-honoring and life-giving way apart from the persuasion of the Holy Spirit. You see, perfect reason is totally alien to us. It resides outside of self, it lies within God, and it is in the giving and receiving of his Spirit that the shattered pieces of the human mind are put back together.

But we have to do something. We have to renew our minds in cooperation with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Look, at some point, we have to grow up; embrace the duties and responsibilities of the spiritual life. At the center of any genuine and sacrificial Christianity is a mind awake, alert, not content with the religious status quo but determined to understand why the Christian life is meant to be lived in a particular way. And what's more, it is compelled to actually do what it takes to actually live in that way.

Transformed minds live antithetical to the way of this present age, which is so blatantly marked by human immaturity. You don't have to look very hard to see all of the shallow, silly, and juvenile patterns of behavior which pass as marks of maturity in this culture! But maturity, Christian maturity, thinks soberly and seriously. It considers life in light of the measure of faith given, not meaning the quantity of faith, but acutely aware of having received the gift of saving faith, which has been measured out to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, in light of the salvation received by faith, I will no longer be conformed to the pattern of this world. Instead, I will be conformed to the pattern of Christ: in thought, word, and deed. I'm going to grow up.

Thus, in Christ must all renewal and transformation begin and end; He is Himself the living sacrifice, who offered a perfect life to the Father. In Him alone are all reasonable service and filial obedience. He is the new Man to Whom we are to be transformed day by day, by the renewing of our mind. We are to gaze upon a twelve-year-old boy within the Temple and learn humility, obedience, and self-sacrifice. It is in Him that we are to be about our Father's business. He is Himself that little child, according to Whose pattern we are to humble and present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God. Amen+