Despite the great significance of the events of Christmas, with the birth of Jesus in a lowly stable, the Christmas season only lasts for two Sundays after Christmas Day. In contrast, Epiphany, the season that follows, lasts for four Sundays, taking us through the majority of January. Why is this so? The answer to that question lies in the meaning of the word ‘Epiphany’ – ‘a moment of sudden or great realisation or revelation.’ Hence the phrase ‘an epiphany moment!’ Epiphany can also, more specifically, mean ‘a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.’ That divine being is Jesus.
Over each of the Sundays in January we have the opportunity to not only consider how Jesus was revealed to the people 2,000 years ago but also how he is revealed to us today. Epiphany itself starts with the revealing of Jesus to the Wise Men, a manifestation to Gentiles (we are Gentiles); the revealing to the Shepherds over Christmas was to the Jews only. And yes, the Wise Men visited Jesus much later in time than the Shepherds (the two should not be seen together on Christmas cards and in Nativity plays!).
Perhaps the most illuminating revelation celebrated over Epiphany is Jesus’s first miracle – turning of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. Jesus did not come to deny us but, as in his own words in John 10:10 ‘I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.’
Why not join us in St. Mary’s or St. Edith’s over the Epiphany season to have your own ‘Epiphany moment.’ Knowing Jesus allows us all to live our lives more abundantly. But I end (see below) with words from the encounter of the Wise Men with the baby Jesus.
God bless,
Rev Tim and Rev Norma