Happy New Year.

While we might think that the holiday season is over, there is one more church holiday before we reach Lent.  We are finishing up the 12 Days of Christmas and then we have Epiphany (January 6).  It is the day we celebrate the journey of the wisemen.  Epiphany means reveal.  First the wisemen saw an unusual star.  As astrologers they had studied the stars and knew of a prophecy that told of an unusually bright start that heralded the birth of a king.  

We don’t know if these men traveled together or discovered each other on the way, but we do know that they packed for a long journey and brought gifts fit for the newborn king.  As they came to Judea it was natural for them to stop in Jerusalem, the capital city.  That surely was where they would find the king and they did, but this king was not a baby.  It was King Herod, the king appointed by the Roman government.  When the wisemen asked about the baby that had been born King of the Jews, Herod fell into a state of fear.  Would this new king replace him?  Would he lose all his power and wealth?  As Herod sent the wisemen off to Bethlehem he asked them to bring back news of the baby’s location so that he could go pay his respects.  But we know that Herod was already plotting to keep his power and position by killing the baby.  He tried.  He even had all baby boys two years old and younger killed just to make sure he got the right one.  

But God had other plans which he revealed to the wisemen and to Jesus’ father Joseph.  After worshipping King Jesus and giving him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh the wisemen went home avoiding Jerusalem and King Herod.  Joseph packed up Mary, Jesus, and the wisemen’s gifts and sought refuge in Egypt.  Under God’s protection the Holy Family lived there until God revealed that it was safe to return home.

Epiphany is full of stories of faith.  The wisemen, in faith, follow a star.  A divine message obeyed as the wisemen return on a different route.  A father trusts God to protect his family in a foreign land.  And maybe most important, the first revelation of God’s plan of salvation to men from outside the Jewish religion.

The promise of Messiah - Redeemer - Savior was given through the Jewish prophets to the Jewish people but God’s intent was and is that salvation from sin, death, and the devil would be for all people and all of creation.  Jesus came as a gift for all of creation and now we wait for his second coming when all will finally be as God intended - full of life and free from sin.  And so we await.  Come, Lord Jesus!

Peace in Christ

Pr Eunice