The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, January 28, 2024

Awe, wonder, integrity, healing, and fidelity are key words in the lectionary readings for the
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. Our spiritual integrity guides our leadership and enables
leaders to be healers. Awe and wonder place our lives in a larger perspective, reminding us that
God is God and we aren’t! We are part of a larger story that challenges us to go beyond self-
interest to care for the community and then the planet. Wonder and awe enlarge our souls which
enable us to be healing leaders, bringing our own integrity to bear in creating an integral,
sustainable, and life supporting community and social order.
In Deuteronomy, God speaks to Moses about the spiritual qualities of leaders that will succeed
him. Good leadership puts first things first, and the first thing is God! The faithful leader
develops the spiritual qualities that come from meditating on God’s presence in their lives. The
faithful leader aligns their words and actions with God’s inspiration in their lives. There is a
threat in this passage to those leaders who turn away from God, and pervert God’s word to
achieve their limited and self-interested aims: they will die! These words are harsh and we may
wish to soften them or place them in a wider perspective. To do so, I believe, is faithful to the
scripture’s intent.
Leaders who govern by self-interest, gut reactions, and the reptilian brain – leaders for whom
winning is not only everything but the only thing, to paraphrase football coach Vince Lombardi,
will be diminishers and dividers rather than multipliers and unifiers. The current state of
American society reflects leadership based on ego, fear, and the love of power and not the best
interests of the vulnerable, young, and the planet. In the spirit of process theologian Bernard
Loomer, God desires leaders of stature – spiritual size – who can hold in contrast multiple
viewpoints, embrace diversity, see the best in opponents, and look beyond self to wider and
wider circles of concern, whether in a congregation or the nation.
Wisdom involves awe (fear) in relationship to God. God is awesome and so is God’s creation,
avers the Psalmist. From awe and radical amazement (Abraham Joshua Heschel) comes
largeness of spirit. Our leadership is healthiest when we see our lives in a cosmic rather than
individualistic context, as Psalm 8 asserts. The Psalmist sees a relationship between the orderly
movements of the cosmos and the arc of righteousness calling us forward in our leadership and
statecraft. God’s righteousness leaves nothing behind. God’s eye is on the sparrow and God
seeks justice in political and economic affairs. Nothing is too small or too large for God’s quest
for Shalom.
The passage from Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians joins responsibilities and rights grounded in
our affirmation of God’s presence in all things and loving sovereignty over all things: “for us
there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord,
Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” As John Calvin noted,
the human mind is a factory for idol making, and we can make idols of good things – as Jesus’
temptations in the desert reveal – such as diet, lifestyle, enjoyment, and even piety. At first

glance, Paul has a libertarian streak: Love God and do what you want, as Augustine says. Issues
of diet, liturgy, and piety are penultimate. They have value, and enjoyment can be part of a good
life just as asceticism. Indeed both enjoyment and ascetism rightly practiced can nurture our
spiritual growth and connect us with others. But, more important than our particular lifestyles
and piety is our concern for our neighbor. If what we do harms our neighbor, we refrain. If what
we say leads our neighbor astray, we hold our tongue. This is not co-dependence but care for
others’ spiritual journey. When we know another’s weakness, sensitivity, or needs, it is our
responsibility to shape our behavior accordingly. For example, as a pastor, I often dispense
deconstructing theological maxims according to the needs of the person with whom I am
speaking. As a university chaplain many years ago, I gently responded to the dogmatism of first
year students, recognizing that their rigidity might be their anchor in a world of change. After
we got to know each other and they seemed more comfortable with changes that university life
brings, I discussed the intricacies of theology, pluralism, and lifestyle. When I go out for dinner
with someone dealing with substance use disorder, I refrain from drinking alcohol, although
normally I have a gin and tonic, margarita, or wine with my supper. Our lifestyle, language, and
behavior is not our own: it can hurt others as well as ourselves.
Spiritual leaders need to be careful about their language and be committed to fact-checking. In
our fact allergic time, we need to be certain (or as certain as possible) to get our biases out of the
way and to challenge others based on their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the community rather
than our need to be right.
The Markan encounter of Jesus with a man with an “unclean spirit” raises more questions than
answers and needs to be addressed with humility. For one thing, we don’t know the nature of the
“unclean spirit.” Was it a psychological disorder (like dissociative identity disorder)? Was it a
psychosomatic ailment in which trauma or negativity shaped their health? Was it in fact a
“possession” by a spiritual force? In any event, Jesus has the power to make the man whole and
restore him to the social and religious community. In this encounter, Jesus is the good leader
described in Deuteronomy: he uses his intellect, homiletical expertise, and power for the good of
others and not self-aggrandizement. Jesus responds to chaos directly and with compassion. He
neither judges nor hides; he heals. (For more on Jesus’ healing ministry, see Bruce Epperly,
God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus; Healing Marks: Healing and
Spirituality in Mark’s Gospel; and Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice.
Epiphany is the revealing of God’s presence in “ordinary time.” In walking the Epiphany
journey, we discover that there is no ordinary time and that each moment calls us to healing and
wholeness and to use our freedom, eloquence, and power for the wellbeing of others and the
larger community. In this divisive political and cultural time, today’s readings can serve as an
antidote to incivility and binary thinking. They can challenge church leaders to go beyond their
biases and preferences to care for the wellbeing of the congregation. They remind us that in
relationship to others we are always on holy ground and our calling is to be healers and
companions. Individual initiative and creativity is important and freedom of speech is important,
and they part of a greater horizon of experience in which we let the wellbeing of others condition

our freedom and inspire creative and innovative ways to express ourselves in healing and uniting
ways.

Bruce Epperly is a pastor, professor, spiritual guide, and author of over seventy books, including
JESUS – MYSTIC, HEALER, AND PROPHET; THE ELEPHANT IS RUNNING: PROCESS
AND OPEN AND RELATIONAL THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM;
PROPHETIC HEALING: HOWARD THURMAN’S VISION OF CONTEMPLATIVE
ACTIVISM; MYSTIC’S IN ACTION: TWELVE SAINTS FOR TODAY; WALKING WITH
SAINT FRANCIS: FROM PRIVILEGE TO ACTIVISM; MESSY INCARNATION:
MEDITATIONS ON PROCESS CHRISTOLOGY, FROM COSMOS TO CRADLE:
MEDITATIONS ON THE INCARNATION, and THE PROPHET AMOS SPEAKS TO
AMERICA. His most recent books are PROCESS THEOLOGY AND THE REVIVAL WE
NEED, TAKING A WALK WITH WHITEHEAD: MEDITATIONS WITH PROCESS-
RELATIONAL THEOLOGY, and SIMPLICTY, SPIRITUALITY AND SERVICE: THE
TIMELESS WISDOM OF FRANCIS, CLARE, AND BONAVENTURE. He can be reached at
drbruceepperly@gmail.com.