Epiphany with Joel

For my Grandma Cheryl, who encourages and cheers on the prophetic voice within me. 

Today is the day of Epiphany. Tradition holds that today the Magi visit the Christ child and the salvation of God is made known to the gentiles. It also celebrates the epiphany of Christ’s divinity made known in his baptism. In that moment, the truest thing was said to Christ and to us - “You are my beloved child. I am proud of you”. We wake up to reality on this day. The minor prophet I selected for today is Joel. No, not because we have the same name, but because Joel seems to tie together the lengthy traditions around him, reflect on the past, and hold a beautiful hope of the future, a future hope that should give us a moment of epiphany. 

Joel is a short collection of poems that is unique compared to the other prophetic books. It has no explicit dating and quotes a ton of other prophetic texts. (Isaiah, Zeph., Amos, Nahum, Obad., Ezekiel, Malachi, and Exodus). Joel never accuses Israel of a specific sin, but does acknowledge the coming of God’s judgment. The assumption from Joel is that you’ve read the other prophets, so if you have made it to day 12 in this series, congrats, you kind of have! Being immersed in these other prophetic texts is Joel's reason for hope. 

There is a lot I could unpack in this brief prophetic book, but because it is Epiphany I want to focus on the epiphany given in Joel. There is a future day of the Lord that Joel envisions. Joel 2:28-29 (Joel 3:1 in the Hebrew text) says: 

Then afterward

    I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

    your old men shall dream dreams,

    and your young men shall see visions.

Even on the male and female slaves,

    in those days I will pour out my spirit.

This is the epiphany that Peter claims has happened at Pentecost (Acts 2:17-18). The epiphany of the coming of the Lord Jesus into the world is this. The spirit of God is poured out fully and totally on all people. In the ancient near east, this prophecy would have been staggering. Sons AND daughters?! The erasure of gender and male dominance. Old AND young?! The erasure of age. Even on slaves?! The erasure of wealth as a marker of priority in the kingdom of God. And the epiphany is that this is no longer a future day, but a present reality. Yet, the people of God in the world, reject again and again these reality. We limit who we hear and see the spirit in. We go so far as to say “The spirit is not in those people” or “not in that church”. We reject the poor and marginalized as problems to be solved and don’t do anything from a place of mercy. We reject our LGBTQIA+ siblings. Here is the epiphany, are you ready for it? It is this: God has poured out their spirit on ALL of creation. You. Me. Your enemy. My enemy. Unending bliss for those who we would rather see receive judgment. 

Let us challenge the status quo of empire and seek to liberate all from the exiles we have made for ourselves and others.