Epiphany of our Lord - January 6th 2010

“Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the good news of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.”

(Book of Common Prayer)

 

The day of the Epiphany of our Lord is an important and ancient Christian holy day. Unfortunately, it is little understood and seldom celebrated by many non-liturgical Christians and pales in comparison to the popularity of Christmas and Easter, for example. This is regrettable, for it is a rich and joyous day, which, along with the corresponding Epiphany season, commemorates important events from the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

WHAT IS THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD?

The Epiphany of our Lord is the wonderful liturgical festival observed on January 6.  It is the oldest of the Christmas festivals and originally the most important.  Since January 6 is most often a weekday, liturgical Protestants sometimes shift the celebration of Epiphany to the Sunday immediately following the 6th.  Epiphany is also a season that lasts until the beginning of Lent and encompasses four to nine Sundays, depending on the date of Easter.

WHAT DOES THE WORD “EPIPHANY” MEAN?

The word epiphany comes from the Greek noun epiphaneia, which means “shining forth,” “manifestation/appearance,” or “revelation.”  In the ancient Greco-Roman world, an epiphany referred to the appearance of one of the gods to mortals.  Since Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors were considered by many to be gods, the word epiphany was also used as a term for divine majesty.  The Epiphany of our Lord is the Christian festival that celebrates the many ways through signs, miracles, and preaching that Jesus revealed Himself to the world as Christ, God Incarnate, and King of kings.

WHAT DOES THE CHURCH COMMEMORATE DURING EPIPHANY?

The Epiphany celebrates God’s revealing or manifesting of Jesus’ identity as true God, Messiah, and Savior of the world. It not only commemorates the fact that Jesus appeared to save us, but that God revealed the identity of Jesus to the world. So what particular “epiphany” does the day of the Epiphany remember? The answer to this is not so simple, since throughout history, Christians have celebrated several different epiphanies of Jesus.

The Festival of the Epiphany of our Lord originally commemorated three incidents that manifested the mission and divinity of Christ:  the visit of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12), the baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:9-11), and the miracle at Cana (John 2:1-11).  Nowadays, most liturgical churches emphasize the visit of the Magi on January 6th and celebrate Christ’s baptism on the first Sunday after the 6th.

WHO WERE THE MAGI?

The Magi were members of the religious hierarchy of ancient Persia and Media (the region corresponding to modern Iran).  They were scholars and practitioners of astrology, divination, and the interpretation of dreams.  Their expertise in these arcane subjects is the reason they were often referred to as “wise men.”  The Magi of Babylonia undoubtedly came into contact with exiled Jewish priests living among them.  Through these acquaintances the Magi learned of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of Christ, including the cryptic “messianic star” passage of Numbers 24:17.  This explains why the astral phenomenon described in Matthew 2:1-12 so fascinated the wise men of the gospel narrative.

 

WHAT IS THE LITURGICAL COLOR FOR EPIPHANY?

White, the color of purity, holiness, and joy is the traditional liturgical color for Epiphany, the first Sunday after the Epiphany (the Baptism of our Lord), and the last Sunday after the Epiphany (the Transfiguration of our Lord).  For the other Sundays of the season, green is normally used.  Green represents the new life that Christ gives us in baptism, as well as the spiritual growth we experience during the season as we study the Lord’s ministry of teaching, healing, and miracles.  Some churches prefer using white on every Sunday of the Epiphany season and reserve green for the season after Pentecost.

WHY IS EPIPHANY SUCH A SPECIAL DAY AND SEASON?

Epiphany is one of the most important festivals of the liturgical year because it shows the church how God comes to His people.  We are so full of sin and deserving of divine punishment that we cannot hope to approach God.  Knowing that we cannot come to Him, God took the initiative and came to us by becoming one of us.  The most holy and almighty God condescended to take on human flesh in order to reveal His salvation to the world.  This is the mystery of the Epiphany of our Lord.

During this season, Christians meditate on many of our Lord’s epiphanies.  Epiphany Day itself commemorates the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem to worship the Messiah and bring Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-12).  Since the earliest days of the church, these wise men have been considered to be representatives of all the peoples of the earth.  By means of a miraculous star, God showed them that Jesus was born to be not only the King of the Jews, but the Lord and Savior of all nations.

The Baptism of our Lord is the first Sunday after the Epiphany.  This important festival is the observance of Jesus’ baptism at the hands of John the Baptist (Mark 1:9-11).  The words of the Father and the appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove as Jesus came out of the waters revealed Him to be God’s true Son.

The Transfiguration of our Lord, the last Sunday after the Epiphany, is a celebration of the moment that Christ, in the company of Moses and Elijah, literally shined His glorious divine nature on Peter, James, and John, leaving them dazed and awestruck (Luke 9:28-36).  This event, the greatest of Christ’s epiphanies until His triumphant resurrection from the grave on Easter, serves as the dramatic conclusion of the season.  Transfiguration Sunday stands in vivid contrast to what takes place just a few days later:  Ash Wednesday, the day of sorrow and repentance that initiates the season of Lent.

In between the two Sundays that mark the Lord’s baptism and transfiguration, the church concentrates on several of the other incidents from Scripture that show how Jesus manifested God’s love to the world through His ministry of preaching, miracles, and healings.  What is common to each of these epiphanies is that in one way or another they make known the identity and mission of Jesus Christ:  True Man and True God, born into this sinful world to be the Lord and Savior of all humanity.

We begin to understand the joy and wonder of Epiphany when we read the story of Simeon (Luke 2:22-35).  Simeon was a devout old man who lived in Jerusalem.  The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the promised Messiah with his own eyes.  When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple to be consecrated according to Jewish law regarding firstborn males (Exodus 13:2), Simeon realized that this infant was the Christ.  In joyful response to this personal epiphany, the old man took the baby Jesus in his arms and chanted a magnificent song of thanksgiving best known by its Latin title, Nunc Dimittis. The words of the Nunc Dimittis remind us of the mercy and grace that God revealed to the world in His Son, Jesus Christ:

 

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
You may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
Which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
A light for revelation to the Gentiles
And the glory of your people Israel.”

 

In every epiphany, God took the initiative. In other words, God did not demand that we discover on our own who Jesus of Nazareth is. He condescended to us and revealed Jesus to us in ways that we could understand. He sought out the magi and revealed Jesus’ Person and Mission to them through the star and Scripture. They never could have discovered this on their own if He hadn’t revealed it by grace. He had mercy on John the Baptist and others at the Jordan on the day of Jesus’ baptism. No one there on that day could have possibly perceived the true identity of Jesus as John baptized Him. But God condescended to them and allowed them to hear and see the testimony of the Father and the Spirit. Once again, God took the initiative by His grace and revealed Jesus as eternal God as well as man.

Remembering the Epiphany reminds us that we also have been sought out. God has come looking for us through His Word and Sacraments. Through these He has revealed His Son to us personally, so that through faith we know Jesus to be the mighty God, the Savior of the world; and we believe Him to be our God and our Savior.

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son
to the Peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by
faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to
face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

 

EPIPHANY SPIRITUALITY

There are two sides to Epiphany spirituality. Christ manifest in us, and Christ manifest through us. Christ in us is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, who urges us into conformity to the image of God perfectly expressed in Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit we are able to enter into spiritual union with Christ, a union that effects a moral, intellectual and social conformity to Christ, the model of true humanity. In this sense Christ is manifested in us, in our very being, in our personality, and in the values we choose. A decisive way to unite with Jesus is through prayer. Make union with Christ a sincere goal of your Epiphany spirituality and realise that unless you are in union with Christ in your soul, you cannot manifest Christ in your life.

An Epiphany spirituality is not only Christ in us, but Christ being revealed through us to others. As God the Father was manifested in Jesus Christ, so Christ is manifested through the Church to the world. Because we are the Church, the Body of Christ, who act as salt and light, we are the continuing manifestation of Christ’s love and redeeming power. There are many ways we can express an Epiphany spirituality. For example, Christ is manifested in us when we live by the fruits of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In the early Christian church, a common way to express the fruits of the Spirit was in the gift of hospitality. Hospitality evangelism is the kind of manifestation of Christ that may draw a stranger to the gospel into the very heart of Christ. Hospitality spirituality stands in the Western tradition of Christian spirituality. In the East, spirituality emphasizes solitude, being alone with the self as a way of practising the presence of Jesus. But in the West, especially in modern times, there has been a great emphasis on a spirituality that reaches outward towards other people. While both spiritualities are needed for a well-rounded spirituality, Epiphany calls us to move outward toward others to bring them into the life of Christ in the Christian community.

Because God’s glory has been manifested in Jesus Christ, he calls his disciples and us to manifest his glory by becoming his deeply committed disciples showing forth Christ through our lives. May we open our hearts to God’s epiphany within and may we reach out to be God’s epiphany to the strangers in our midst.

 

Sources:

http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/

http://www.orlutheran.com/

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