The Epiphany
I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but I cannot help but to comment on the significance of today. As I mentioned yesterday, I plan over the next few months to be sharing from my recent experiences of exploring the Church’s rich liturgical tradition. One dimension of this is the celebration of the Christian year. The Christian year in essence is the annual remembrance of the primary redemptive acts of God in Christ throughout the year. Our normal day-to-day time is punctuated (and then defined) by the major events described in the New Testament: the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit. Together with preceding preparatory seasons and consequent celebratory seasons we have the overall shape of the Christian year:
Advent – season beginning the fourth Sunday before Christmas
Christmas (Dec. 25) – twelve days celebrating the incarnation
Epiphany (Jan. 6) – begins the season celebrating Jesus life and ministry as the light of the world and the light to the Gentiles (continues until Ash Wednesday)
Lent – 40-day season of preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus – begins with Ash Wednesday
Holy Week (final week of lent) – beginning with the remembrance of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) through his death (Good Friday and Holy Saturday)
Easter – begins fifty days of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus
Ascension Day (40 days after Easter) – remembering Jesus’ ascension to heaven to reign at the right hand of the Father
Pentecost (50 days after Easter) – celebrating of the outpouring of the Spirit
Ordinary Time – from Pentecost until the next Advent
As Christians, we believe that the Christ-event indeed started a “new time,” inaugurated a “new age” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20ff; Romans 5.14ff; 2 Cor. 5.17). Through certain specific historical moments, the power and life of the age to come has invaded our present time. One of the ways we commemorate and experience this is through the celebration of the Christian year, allowing the historical moments of God’s work in Christ to define the seasons of our lives.
In a later post, I’ll comment more on the Christian year and how exciting it has been for me as I have begun to celebrate it. For now I want to comment on Epiphany, one of the if not the least celebrated of all major Christian holidays. The Book of Common Prayer lists Epiphany as one of the seven “Principal Feasts,” up there with Christmas Day, Easter Day and the Day of Pentecost (never mind what the remaining three are for now, we’ll get to them at some point). Yet for most of my life I never knew what Epiphany was or had even heard of it. If the same is true for you, count yourself in good company.
This may be surprising, but in fact, Epiphany marks the end of Christmas. That’s right, the end of Christmas. This is because Christmas is actually a twelve day celebration. The only remaining vestige most of us can cling to in this regard is the hackneyed classic “The Twelve Days of Christmas” – you know, the one about the partridge in the pear tree. I know this is strange, but stay with me – the twelve days of Christmas are actually religious rather then secular. The secular celebration of Christmas would have you think it begins the day after Thanksgiving (or earlier) and Santa leaves his station at the mall the moment Christmas Day arrives. On the contrary, the Christian celebration of Christmas does not begin until Christmas Day (the anticipatory season of Advent precedes it) and continues for twelve days until Epiphany.
The word epiphany means “manifestation.” Epiphany remembers the manifestation of Jesus as the light of the world, particularly to the Gentiles. There are four events commonly commemorated on Epiphany and during the ensuing season: 1) the visit of the Magi to see Jesus, in which Gentiles bring the Jewish king gifts; 2) the baptism of Jesus, in which he is “manifested” in his Messianic calling and sent forth in the power of the Spirit; 3) the miracle of water turning to wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2) in which the Gospel tells us his glory was “manifested” and 4) the Transfiguration.
Since the season following Epiphany lasts for the next month (which because Easter is so early this year, it is an uncommonly short Epiphany season), I plan to comment more on its significance in the next few weeks. For I now I just want to give a brief comment on why I am happy to celebrate Epiphany today, and why I think we should expend some effort to restore the celebration of the Epiphany season. Epiphany reminds me of the saving significance of the life and ministry of Jesus. A full understanding of the salvific work of God in the Messiah must take into account the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and giving of the Spirit.
I love reading the Gospel stories, not simply as introductions to the crucifixion but to actually see Jesus bringing salvation to humanity by his life. In celebrating Jesus as the light of the world we remember a person who saves by drawing near. He does not scorn the human frame, despise the malfunctions of our brokenness, nor cringe at the sight of our poverty. Instead he stoops low to bring the good news of his Kingdom near, setting captives free. He touches the lepers and frees them from their deplorable untouchable status. He gives food to the hungry and endues hope to those despairing for life itself. He speaks face to face with women, dignifying those who have been abused and treated as disposable by cruel husbands and unjust legal systems. He eats joyfully with tax collectors and sinners, bursting the bonds of culturally enslaving shame and social stratification. He opens the eyes of the blind, restores the crippled, heals the brokenhearted, welcomes the outcast, esteems the despised, forgives the sins of the crushed, and raises the dead to life. In doing so he has “manifested” his glory – “the Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations” (Ps. 98:2).
Happy Epiphany!
