|
|
Reflections on Epiphany Bishop Co-adjutor, Diocese of Mid-America There is a song about the twelve days of Christmas that people who have no exposure to the Church Year Calendar will not understand. They may understand the part about giving gifts, but they have no idea why the gift-giving lasts twelve days. To them Christmas is one day—December 25—not twelve, and that is the day to give presents. Well, if one were to count from December 25 to January 6, one would find that is a total of twelve days. So what’s so special about January 6? That is the day, not December 25, the ancient church celebrated as the most important day of the year next to Easter, because on that day the Messiah appeared to the Gentiles, the Wise Men. Just as the season of Advent preceding Christmas reminds us of the coming of Christ at his birth, all the comings of Christ to save his people throughout history, and his final coming at the end of history, so the appearance of Christ to the Wise Men reminds us that God was in Christ fulfilling his promise to save the whole Gentile world. The Wise Men were only the first installment in God’s gracious plan to reclaim the sin-cursed world for himself. January 6 is the day the Church chose to celebrate the coming of the Wise Men, and they called it Epiphany, the Greek word that means appearance. There is another Greek word that has long been associated with that one, and it is Theophany, which means an appearance of God. All through the Old Testament God appeared to various individuals in human or physical forms, and there is reason to understand those as appearances of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, prior to his coming as a baby in Bethlehem. By those Old Testament appearances God was encouraging Jews and Gentiles alike to look forward to the day when he would finally appear as the Messiah to take away the sins of the whole world. So Epiphany is the celebration of the supreme Theophany. That appearance not only includes Christ’s baptism, but it also includes his powerful ministry to save the Gentile world, and therefore the color is green. A Christian from the fifth century described Epiphany in this way: In choosing to be born for us, God chose to be known by us. He therefore reveals himself in this way, in order that this great sacrament of his love may not be an occasion for us of great misunderstanding. Today the magi find, crying in a manger, the one they have followed as he shone in the sky. Today the magi see clearly, in swaddling clothes, the one they have long awaited as he lay hidden among the stars. Today the magi gaze in deep wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, humanity in God, God in humanity, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body. As they look, they believe and do not question, as their symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die. Today Christ enters the Jordan to wash away the sin of the world. John himself testifies that this is why he has come: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Today Christ works the first of his signs from heaven by turning water into wine. But water mixed with wine has still to be changed into the sacrament of his blood, so that Christ may offer spiritual drink from the chalice of his body. Back to Top | Home | Site Contents | Site Search | Collects for Epiphany |