Epiphany
January 5, 2025
The Christ Child Reigns!
In this country, Epiphany is celebrated on the Sunday between January 2–8. Epiphany is a Greek word that means revelation or manifestation. This Sunday we celebrate the manifestation of the divinity of baby Jesus to the nations (as opposed to just the Jews). Until the 19th Century, this feast day was as significant to Christians as Christmas, in some countries it still is.
Epiphany originally celebrated four different public manifestations of Christ’s divinity to mankind, in the following order of importance:
1. The Baptism of the Lord. At Christ's Baptism, the Holy Spirit descends and the voice of God the Father is heard by witnesses, declaring that Jesus is His Son.
2. Christ's first miracle. At the wedding in Cana, people witnessed Jesus changing water into wine. This miracle manifests Christ's supernatural power, and later, a realization of His divinity.
3. The Nativity of Christ (Christmas). At the Nativity, the angels bear witness to Christ, and the shepherds, representing the people of Israel, bow down before Him.
4. The visitation of the Wise Men or Magi. At the visitation of the Magi, Christ's divinity is revealed to the Gentiles – “the other nations of the earth.”
The key difference between the fourth manifestation listed here and the other three, is that the visitation of the Magi is the only manifestation of Christ to non-Jews, i.e. Gentiles. In some nations, Christians separate Epiphany from the other manifestations of Christ (epiphanies) by calling this one “Theophany,” “Three King’s Day,” or “The Visitation of the Magi.”
“As with most aspects of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has theological significance as a teaching tool in the church. The Wise Men, or Magi, who brought gifts to the child Jesus were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as King, and so were the first to show or reveal Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. This act of worship by the Magi, which corresponded to Simeon’s blessing that this child Jesus would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few.”[1]
In some nations, Epiphany is the day in the Christmas season in which gifts are exchanged (the Christmas season begins with Christmas and ends 2-3 weeks later on the Baptism of the Lord). In this tradition, the Three Kings bring gifts on Epiphany, instead of Santa Claus on Christmas. If this were our tradition today, the focus of Christmas would not be on presents but the birth of Jesus Christ, where the focus should be. This tradition would also help to keep the season of Christmas alive for people as they anticipate presents on Epiphany, one or two weeks after Christmas, and highlight the importance of the story of Christmas; with the Holy Family in the cave in Bethlehem, the baby Jesus, the shepherds in the fields, and of course the Magi coming to pay homage to the newborn King of heaven and earth.
Finally this: Wise men still seek Him. Instead of expecting Jesus (God) to seek and serve us, let us imitate the Magi and seek after Jesus. Let us make 2025 a year in which we make a special effort to follow the star of the Church to Jesus Christ.
May the Christ Child Bless You,
Fr. Thomas Nathe
[1] Dennis Bratcher, The Season of Epiphany. Website: Christian Resource Institute. http://www.crivoice.org/cyepiph.html
