January 6: The Mystery of the Gospel Revealed
♫ Music:
Day 35 - Saturday, January 6
The Feast of Epiphany
Title: The Mystery of the Gospel Revealed
Scripture: Ephesians 3:1-12
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles - assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
Poetry:
House with a Sanguine Roof
By Miguel de Unamuno
[Translated by Edita Mas-Lopez]
House with a sanguine roof
whereto the ivy clings,
the smoke like the breathing
of some meek ox is rising.
Next to the pen a youthful donkey
effortlessly grazes,
and, far away, the country road
smells of pestiferous petroleum.
In the silence of the greenness
the coming hours are heard
as they tread with steps of doves
upon the earth.
The roots of every tree
dream of the water of heaven,
and, just like trees, men, too,
go for a stroll in the field.
REMEMBERING THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
It looks like Gabriel was puzzled, watching God work to save us. Before the church burst out, the “manifold wisdom of God” was not known to him, nor to any heavenly rulers. God’s plan was a mystery: taken alone, the facts did not add up.
Imagine what Gabriel saw: humans cut off from God and one another, self-hurting, wanting better, and hopeless, scattered on the globe. Gabriel had seen God make us, love us, honor us, and he’d seen us reject him, then turn to blame and kill each other.
He saw God answer our disobedience with death, our betrayals with labor, our murders with exile, and our vanities with division, until we sat grouped in little tribes and families, maintaining something like humble order again, just to survive
Then, in the muddle of our disorder and God’s divisions, he saw God pick just one person, then one family, then one nation, and start pouring his manifest favor, judgment, and revelation on them, out of everyone. And why them? For millennia, these people squirmed out of his blessing and into his wrath, failing and ungrateful. Yet God so claimed them that he set them apart completely: each of us was either a Jew or a Gentile, with no middle ground. Why them?
When so many millions of other humans long for glory all around the globe, is this wisdom? When so many billions are excluded from the promise, is this salvation?
Wouldn’t you wonder, “What’s God up to?” Wouldn’t you call it a mystery? Wouldn’t you be puzzled too?
No matter where we look, however distant from us or long ago, in every tribe, Mayan or Oyo or American, we find humans who are like us in all the ways that matter most: wishing the world was different, trying to be good and know truth, testifying to beauty. We find them in their music, literature, and art. Everywhere, humans look up at virtue, truth, and excellence, wishing we could claim them for ourselves, and knowing that we cannot, as we should. We all, in every tribe and time and language, seek salvation. Strolling on earth, in the fields of our peoples, we all dream of heaven, which is to say, of a new earth, an earth freed from pestilence and sin.
The mystery - how God’s work in history, dividing humanity and choosing one nation for himself, could work to save us - finds its bright answer in Jesus, and its revelation made the angels rejoice.
All along, God had planned to join humanity to himself, taking on everything about us, and, as a human, start a resurrection into new humanity - full of virtue and dignity and glory - that anyone could join, if they only followed him.
He had divided us into peoples and languages, so he knew that he needed to take on a people and language and culture and ancestry too. So, patiently, God prepared one people to receive himself, teaching them and shaping them to glorify and reveal his startling incarnation. He made one simple place, one time, and one people where anyone could seek and find the outbreak of a new humanity. And, because Jesus’ humanity was complete - culture and history and all - it could be as common to us as Adam’s old humanity ever was. In the resurrected body of Jesus, with divided humanity put to death, God joined us back together.
One day, John shot through a door in heaven and saw four heavenly rulers, beings who had longed to look into the mystery, seated around Jesus in the shapes of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle, rejoicing in the manifold wisdom of God, and crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” For, behold: Jesus came and made a way for anyone to follow into virtue, beauty, excellence, and reunion. The Creator remakes all humanity in himself, and offers to make us new in him.
How can anyone, anywhere be saved? Jesus is the only answer that I know, and he’s a good answer: Jesus, who became like us in every way, so that we could become like him.
Prayer:
You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being!
You are worthy because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language
and people and nation!
You have made them to be a kingdom
and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth!
To you be praise and honor and glory and power
for ever and ever!
Amen
(Adapted from Revelation 4-5)
Peter David Gross
Executive Director
Wheatstone Ministries
About the Artwork
Creation, 1922-1923
Diego Rivera
Fresco with gold leaf
San Ildefonso College
Mexico City, Mexico
His first commission from Mexican Minister of Education Jose Vasconcelos, Creation is the first of Rivera's many murals and a touchstone for Mexican Muralism. Treating, in the artist's words, "the origins of the sciences and the arts, a kind of condensed version of human history"—the work is a complex allegorical composition, combining Mexican, Judeo-Christian, and Hellenic motifs. It depicts a number of allegorical figures—among them Faith, Hope, Charity, Education, and Science—all seemingly represented with unmistakably Mexican features. The figure of Song was modeled on Guadalupe Marin, who later became Rivera's second wife. Through features of the work such as the use of gold leaf and the monumental, elongated figures, the mural reflects the importance of Italian and Byzantine art in Rivera's development as an artist.
About the Artist:
Diego Rivera (1886 –1957) was a Mexican painter regarded as the most influential Mexican artist of the twentieth century. He was influenced by Mexico’s pre-Columbian heritage and utilized the technique of Italian fresco painting. Rivera’s work dealt with themes such as social inequality, nature, industry, technology, and the history and political fate of Mexico. Together with artists David Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco, Rivera was among the leading members and founders of the Mexican Muralist movement. More than half a century after his death, Rivera is still among the most revered figures in Mexico, celebrated for both his role in the country's artistic renaissance and re-invigoration of the mural genre, as well as for his outsized persona.
About the Music:
“Jesus is the Only Answer” from the album Throw Down Your Heart - Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3: Africa Sessions
Lyrics:
Hallelujah!
Jesus is the only answer that I know!
Jesus is the only answer that I know!
About the Composer:
This is a traditional song with simple lyrics that proclaim the answer found in a Savior who brings Salvation and Redemption to those who seek Him.
About the Performers:
Tales From The Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3: Africa Sessions is an album by 18-time Grammy award winner banjoist Béla Fleck. The album chronicles Fleck's musical journey to Africa to explore the little-known African roots of the banjo. Béla's boundary-breaking musical adventure takes him to Uganda, Tanzania, the Republic of Gambia, and Mali, and provides a glimpse into the beauty and complexity of African music. Using his banjo, Béla transcends barriers of language and culture, finding common ground and forging connections with musicians from very different backgrounds. “Jesus is the Only Answer” is performed by the Ateso Jazz Band of Uganda.
About the Poet:
Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (1864–1936) was a Spanish Basque essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor, and later rector at the University of Salamanca in Spain. His most famous novel was Abel Sánchez: The History of a Passion, a modern exploration of the Cain and Abel story. Unamuno worked in all major genres: essay, novel, poetry, and theater. As a modernist, he contributed greatly to dissolving the boundaries between genres. For Unamuno, art was a way of expressing spiritual problems. His themes were the same in his poetry as in his fiction: spiritual anguish, the pain provoked by the silence of God, time, and death. Unamuno was always attracted to traditional meters, and though his early poems did not rhyme, he subsequently turned to rhyme in his later works.
About the Devotional Writer:
Peter David Gross is the Executive Director of Wheatstone Ministries, a nonprofit organization that invites youth into Christian adulthood. A proud graduate of Biola University and the Torrey Honors Institute, he designs Wheatstone's rite of passage summer camps and is the creator of Wheatstone's training events for youth leaders: Christian Adulthood 101, Discussion for Transformation, Teach Them to Pray, From Duty to Discipleship, and Entering Culture Courageously.