Forefeast of Theophany

For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. ¹¹Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. ¹²We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. ¹³Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.

¹⁴I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News. ¹⁶I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.

No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.

¹⁹This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

²²They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

²⁴The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. ²⁵They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

²⁶John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. ²⁷He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.” ²⁸These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.