SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 2008

THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD JESUS

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Dear Friends in Our Lord Jesus:

It is a story worth remembering as we begin a New Year: The ancient Romans, at the time of the birth of Jesus, believed that a god-man with two faces walked the pathways and highways of their world empire. So strong was this belief that the Romans taught their children about him, they minted coins with his picture on them, and they built a temple in his honor. Some even offered prayers to him.

So widespread was the belief in this man that his bizarre description has been passed down through the shadowy pages of history. According to the story, he had one face on the front of his head and another face on the back of his head. He had two sets of eyes, two sets of ears, two noses, two mouths.

To the Romans, these peculiar characteristics were not grotesque. Not at all. They were features of admiration and reverence. They were features that allowed this god-man to see in two directions simultaneously. He could -- at one and the same time-- see where he was going and where he had been. Backwards and forwards. Past and future.

His name was Janus. And the Romans named the first month of the year January in his honor. To them, it was extremely important to begin the year looking both to the past and to the future. To them, it was a matter of duty and urgency. After the fall of Rome in the 5th Century, however, it became an insult to call a person "two-faced." To this day, "two-faced" people are commonly held to be dishonest, insincere, unstable, and self-serving. They serve themselves at the expense of others. And in the process they do damage to themselves and to others.

As Christians, we are called upon to look in only one direction at all times: Toward God. We look to Him first and last, at the beginning and at the end. Our duty is to look to Him, to listen to Him, to obey Him, and to follow where He leads.

Today. And always.

-- The Very Rev. Dr. Steve Sellers +