By R. Kevin Johnson
On the heels of a joyous Christmastide, Christians celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany is a great day of excitement for Christians in the church because on Jan. 6, the 12 days of Christmas conclude and the Christ is fully revealed to his church. We worship the Messiah who is both fully God and fully man. The Wise Men do their bidding and bring gifts to what was arguably the first baby shower.
As the Wise Men did on this occasion, we too are wise to make the very best we have to offer available and to present those gifts with humble hearts to the Christ child. Modern gifts include the talents with which we have been blessed and the abilities we possess to do God’s work on the earth. Indeed, it is appropriate to offer our whole selves to Christ to use us in ways that we can never imagine or realize without divine guidance.
Most Western churches that celebrate Epiphany focus almost exclusively on the visitation of the Wise Men to the Christ Child. Christians in the East, however, enjoy an elongated series of events that define the very purpose of the Christian year — to trace with accuracy and purpose the life of Christ. This period of time is known as Theophany. It refers literally to the appearance of God to a human being.
Theophany traditionally includes several biblical events. The first is the Incarnation. Jesus, who was and is very God, came to live among a sinful people to save us from ourselves. This son of a carpenter revealed himself to the world as both the Son of Man and the Son of God.
Another event of Theophany is the birth of the Christ child recorded in Luke: “The time came for [Mary] to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son” (Lk. 2.6-7).
The third event is the above-discussed Epiphany, when God reveals himself to humankind and accepts the worship of the Wise Men, who came with knowledge of the significance of what they were witnessing and brought gifts to honor Jesus, the newborn King.
In close proximity to the Epiphany, we celebrate a grown-up Jesus at the beginning of his earthly ministry. The John we Baptists like to claim as our own leapt in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary visited her cousin. These loving cousins encounter one another while carrying in their wombs two extraordinary boys: John, the forerunner; and Jesus, the Messiah.
Then, in a pre-ordained act of obedience, John takes Jesus in to the pool of water that was the Jordan River and baptized the Lord-God in the name of the Holy Trinity. A dove descends, rests on the shoulder of the newly ordained, and the voice of God solidifies, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Lk 3.22).
After this we celebrate the unique ministry by a young man named Jesus. His teaching ministry confounds, inspires, instructs and offends. He is followed both by the curious and the faithful. He heals the indigent. He comforts the poor. He loves unconditionally.
During this season after the Epiphany, this Theophany, when the Lord Jesus appears to us again and again in the things around us, may we recognize his presence and follow his example.