Epiphany 2024

I sometimes think of an epiphany as the "aha moment when I discover something I ignored as obviously true. "No wonder the muffins didn't rise; I forgot to add the baking powder!" But the kind of Epiphany we remember on the first Sunday of January is far more profound. The revelation is that the gift of the infant Jesus, the King of the Jews, the One that the Magi from the East traveled to find and worship, is for all people. After all, the Magi were Gentiles, non-Jews, pagans, actually. Yet they had been summoned by a cosmic revelation from God to come and worship the newborn King of the Jews. That's an Epiphany.

When I teach children the covenant promises God made to the elderly and childless Abram and Sarai, I use objects. One promise is that through Abram, all the nations of the world will be blessed. I use a small rubber sphere that has the world on it.

I ask the children to wonder with me. What does God mean by this promise? If we were Abram and Sarai's neighbors, if we lived in their day, we would have to say that we do not know. Even with the birth of Isaac, we do not know. Even with the sacrifice of Isaac, we do not know. There are hints in the prophecies of the coming salvation for God's people. Still, we do not know the details or the magnitude of God's plan, specifically the incarnation, death, and resurrection of His Son, until it happens.

Fast forward two thousand years, and we learn of magi from the East, making a long journey guided by a star and coming to worship the King of the Jews. Who comes to worship a King? Who comes to seek a baby? Who worships someone of a different people group? This, indeed, is an Epiphany on the first order of Epiphanies.

As I reflect on this marvelous Epiphany, it is January 7, 2024, Epiphany Sunday. Christ has come. He has died. He has risen from the dead. His gift of salvation is for all the world. That's what God meant when He spoke to Abram and when He beckoned those Eastern stargazers to travel to Jerusalem.

I hold out my rubber ball of the world. To me, it represents the harrowing stories of Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Gaza, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the refugees on our border, the upcoming election in my country, and the homeless. The world I hold out in my hand easily tears my eyes. And yet, it is to this world that Jesus came. It is for all the people that Jesus died. It is for all people that He rose again. In this truth, I have hope. Like Abram and Sarai, I do not know how God will eventually restore this broken world. But this I do know:

Jesus is the only one who can extend his nail-scarred hands and forgive us. He alone can say, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life."

We will wait and long for his second coming, the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. Until then, we must continue to proclaim the message of Epiphany Sunday, that the infant Jesus grew to be the crucified one who conquered sin and death for all mankind.