ABC Epiphany
Magi

Epiphany Reflection

The Season of Epiphany, starting January 6 and running to Ash Wednesday, focuses our attention on the iterative unveilings of the true nature of Jesus, the Christ. We start with a beloved part of the Christmas story, the arrival of the three kings (Magi), move quickly to Jesus’ baptism, then progress through a series of narratives and conclude with the Transfiguration. In the selected passages, we are invited to peer again through these particular scriptural viewfinders to behold an aspect of Christ, of God made flesh. 

This Epiphany, let’s consider the ways these glimpses of the true nature of Christ also reveal the true nature of us, Christ’s followers. The Magi arrive in Bethlehem and offer the child gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, symbolic offerings representing Christ’s royal nature, his role as supreme priest, and his salvific death. The season’s next reading takes us to Jesus’ baptism, culminating in the alighting of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the thunderous voice proclaiming, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” 

Where are you in these stories?  You too, as a follower of Christ, are an heir, with Christ, of God’s kingdom. You, like Christ, are royalty. You, like Christ, are called through your baptism to enter into the priesthood of all believers. You are asked by Christ himself to take up your cross and follow him. You, like Jesus emerging wet from the Jordan, have received the Holy Spirit and are affirmed by God as being his beloved child in whom God is well-pleased. 

Each of this season’s readings will reveal an aspect of Christ. Each will reveal an aspect of our own calling and destiny – to be like Christ. 

It seems curious that Epiphany is one of the most ancient of the holy seasons of the Church. Its official observance goes back at least to the 4th century, not long after the date of Christmas was affixed, in the Western Church, as December 25. That Easter and Christmas would quickly be adopted by the early Church as significant holy seasons seems obvious. But Epiphany? 

Perhaps a clue can be found in the Epiphany observances of the Coptic Christians in Ethiopia. There, the holiday is called Timkat and has evolved to include a joyous conglomeration of colorful processions, nightlong singing and dancing, and the concluding blessing by the bishop with holy water – shot from a fire hose (!) onto the gleeful assembly of the faithful. 

May we, this Epiphany, perceive with our Ethiopian brothers and sisters the grace of God, falling, not so much as a light rain but as a water cannon shot from heaven, drenching us and all of humankind with God’s boundless goodness

© 2024 Brad Erickson

Matthew 2:1-23

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

From sermons4kids: ". . . the wise men did not have a map to guide them to Bethlehem, but they had something even better—a star. So the wise men followed information that the priests had given to Herod and the star that God had given to guide them and it led them right to Jesus. When they found him, they gave him gifts and bowed down and worshiped him."