The meaning of “Epiphany”
As we relax following all our preparations for Christmas, and before we start to do it all over again for Easter, the church sets her sights on Epiphany…a much neglected season. And here’s a funny thing…Christmas, as we know it today, is a relatively new development. Dec 25 has been noted as the day of Jesus’ birth in the Western Church since at least 324 AD. That date was first suggested a century earlier by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 AD. Sextus was a Roman official (not a Christian leader) who wrote Chronographiai, which assigned dates to many historical events of interest to Rome. He did this by synchronizing Egyptian, and Chaldaean chronologies, Greek myths, Jewish and Roman history, and a variety of other information. Sextus' multi-volume work actually gave prestige to Christianity by including some of its important dates within a secular history, and alongside other long accepted religious events from other Roman faith traditions.
Interestingly, the birthdate of Jesus wasn’t viewed as important by most leaders in the Church, which may be why it took them 100 years to even acknowledge the date Sextus assigned to it. For the first several centuries of her history the Church placed far more importance on the date a Christian was martyred—which is macabre, but true. For this reason Good Friday was always seen as far more important than Christmas. BTW the term “Christmas” itself wasn’t used until the 9th century. For most of history the 3 most important dates on the Church’s calendar were Good Friday, Easter, and Epiphany.
The meaning of “Epiphany” can be summed up in one word: manifestation. Most specifically the manifestation of Christ, the Son of God, to the Gentiles. This is portrayed in the visit of the Magi to the Christ child in Bethlehem. We only find this story in Matt 2:1-12. The more famous Christmas story (the one Linus recites in A Charlie Brown Christmas) is in Luke’s Gospel. In Matthew, Herod the literal “king of the Jews,” did not recognize Jesus as God’s Messiah—and even tried to kill him (also only recorded in Matthew). But Matthew’s Magi DID regard Jesus as God’s true king on earth, and they both worshipped him, and brought him gifts denoting his Reign as prophet, priest and king of all people.
Today, “Christmas” has grown into a worldwide extravaganza nearly wholly detached from its religious roots. And Epiphany stands in its shadow…with a simple star and 3 Magi bearing odd, token gifts. It seems like we are coming full circle. At the beginning the Church didn’t think much about the moment of Jesus’ birth, preferring to celebrate the coming of the Wise to worship the infant Messiah and give him gifts. Now the World goes crazy giving each other gifts—ostensibly on Jesus’ birthday—but really far more in Santa Claus’ name. In fact, many who celebrate “Christmas” have no idea it’s connected to Jesus at all. And the Church will never really reclaim the sanctity of this day from secular society.
But we still have Epiphany—the Light of Manifestation, shining like a star in the night sky. Visible to all, but only noticed by those with the wisdom to see it. May we treasure the gift that has been given to us…and may we help manifest God’s love to those who don’t know.
Peace!
Pastor Derek
