The Upload
Posted on Jan 08, 2016 by
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you had a happy and blessed New Year.
As I wrote in my letter last week, the Season of Christmas ended this past Tuesday, January 5, and that means the Season of Epiphany officially started on Wednesday, January 6.
Now the word “epiphany” comes from the Greek word epiphaneia, which means “disclosure” or “unveiling.” In the early Christian Church, the term began to be associated with those times when Jesus Christ, was revealed to humankind in events such as Jesus’ birth, the coming of the magi (the wise men), the wedding at Cana (Jesus’ first miracle), and the time when Jesus will be revealed at his Second Coming.
So during this season, we focus on how God revealed Jesus to the world.
Matthew 2 is the story that we use to begin Epiphany and it tells the story of the coming of the “wise men,” or the magi. Scripture never says that there were three, it only says there was more than one. We also don’t know where these “wise,” wealthy men were from, only that they were not Jewish and they were foreigners, for they came from the East.
Now, over the centuries this story has been romanticized and woven into the Christmas story (the magi most likely didn’t arrive until long after the birth of Jesus), and it makes for a great children’s Christmas story the way we tell it, but for me, this story is much more than that. This story, which is only told in the Gospel of Matthew, signals that Jesus came to this world for more than just the Jews. These “wise” men were foreigners and more importantly the actual word Matthew uses for them I “magi” which means astrologers. These men weren’t even religious men. The watched the stars and believed that the stars told them all they needed and, yet, they came and recognized a new King that would be king of all nations. Jesus’ own people might not have recognized who he was, yet. But from the beginning, “gentiles” from the East knew he was very special and that this infant King would be there king, too.
So, today I pray you know that the blessing of Christmas is that God not only became human, but God came into this world for you and all people. May you know, your King is the God of all and one filled with abundant mercy and grace.
Have a blessed week!
Shalom,
Pr. Dave