EPIPHANY
- January 6, 2022
Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
Today (January 6) is Epiphany, the “Twelfth Day of Christmas,” the day Christians remember the arrival of the wise men in Bethlehem where “they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.” (Matthew 2:11). The Christian calendar switches today from the celebration of Christmas to the season of Epiphany. The calendar will again be changed on Ash Wednesday, when Christians mark the beginning of the season of Lent.
The season of Epiphany doesn’t receive the attention of the seasons on either side of it. It is sometimes called “ordinary time.” Christians who regularly light Advent wreaths, sing Christmas carols, and give up something for Lent often miss out on the riches of this overlooked season. In the Gospel readings of this season, Jesus turns up in the most unexpected places. The season begins with the Magi discovering Jesus, not in the palace in Jerusalem, but in an obscure farming village. His mother is not a queen, but a poor peasant woman. He is surrounded, not by royalty, but by shepherds.
The season of Epiphany doesn’t receive the attention of the seasons on either side of it. It is sometimes called “ordinary time.” Christians who regularly light Advent wreaths, sing Christmas carols, and give up something for Lent often miss out on the riches of this overlooked season. In the Gospel readings of this season, Jesus turns up in the most unexpected places. The season begins with the Magi discovering Jesus, not in the palace in Jerusalem, but in an obscure farming village. His mother is not a queen, but a poor peasant woman. He is surrounded, not by royalty, but by shepherds.
As we journey through this season, we find Jesus in the wilderness, a god-forsaken place where he literally struggles with the Devil. He shows up at wedding in the remote Galilean village of Cana, where the guests are tipsy. He appears at a well in Samaria, talking to a foreign woman. He’s not afraid to attend a dinner party at the home of a leper (Matthew 26:6) or spend the night at the home of a tax-collector (Luke 19:5). In fact, He seems to prefer eating and drinking with the riffraff of society (Luke 15:2).
The climax to the season is the Sunday before Lent, Transfiguration Sunday. Three of his disciples are with him on a mountain when suddenly their eyes are opened and they see Jesus in his full glory. Jesus has been “Emmanuel,” God with us, for the disciples the whole time. They just didn’t see it.
Coincidentally, today is also the first anniversary of the January 6, 2021 assault on the United States Capital building, when a mob of Americans unhappy with the Presidential election results stormed a major symbol of Democracy seeking to have the results overturned. In Washington a House Select Committee is busy investigating what happened on that terrifying day. Across the country Americans are engaging in frightening conversations about the end of Democracy and an upcoming Civil War.
Epiphany and the Anniversary. Epiphany, a “Torii Gate” day, sacred for Christians. The Anniversary, a “Windmill” day, significant in the ongoing advancement of American culture. Is there any connection between the two?
Some would make a direct connection. The protesters on January 6 included those who carried Christian flags and waved “Jesus Saves” signs. Windmills and Torii gates are two symbols representing the same thing, a Christian America.
At first the Magi made this same connection. Jerusalem was the center of government for Palestine, the place where King Herod’s palace was located. It was the logical place for the Magi to look for the answer to their question, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? Jerusalem was also the Holy City, Zion, the mountain on which stood the Lord’s Temple. It was the best place to begin looking for the Holy Child.
The Sovereign God has certainly not abandoned the halls of government or the sacred spaces dedicated to His glory. He is Lord of all. But Epiphany reminds us that the Magi didn’t find Jesus in Jerusalem. They found him in Bethlehem. Not where we might expect to find Him, but in out-of-the way places. Not among the religious crowd (the Pharisees), but among the poor, among shepherds tending the sheep that would be slaughtered for the Pharisees’ sacrifices. The irony is that the shepherds of Bethlehem would not be able to participate in those sacrifices because their job rendered them “unclean.”
Where is Jesus on Epiphany, 2022? The history of Rembrandt’s Epiphany painting, “The Adoration of the Magi” (pictured above) makes the point of this blog in an interesting way. Copies of this valuable painting have been hanging for decades in both the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the Gothenburg Art Museum in Sweden. These are world class art galleries, places where you would expect to find a Rembrandt masterpiece. But the original was not in a museum. It hiding in plain sight, hanging on a wall in a private home in Rome. In 2016 when the painting fell off the wall the owners decided to have it restored. The restorer, Antonella Di Francesco, was the one who discovered that the painting was an original. Di Francesco issued a statement: “During my work one of the most beautiful things that can happen during a lifetime: the sudden awareness of being in front of a work by a very great author who reveals himself to you, which comes out of its opaque zone and chooses you to be redeemed from the darkness.” De Francesco had an Epiphany.
The national mood at the beginning of 2022 is certainly dark. I suspect we all agree that the Anniversary was a dark moment in American history. Politicians and the media have a financial interest in keeping us focused on the darkness. But Epiphany calls us to shift our focus to the Light of the World. When we Christians keep our eyes open as we go about the routine of our lives, whether that’s in an obscure farming village, the desert of doubt and uncertainty, celebrating the weddings birthdays of those who are dear to us, or rubbing elbows with the riffraff of society, we just might discover “. . .one of the most beautiful things that can happen during a lifetime: the sudden awareness of being in front of a work by a very great author who reveals himself to you, which comes out of its opaque zone and chooses you to be redeemed from the darkness.” We just might experience the glory of Epiphany.
The climax to the season is the Sunday before Lent, Transfiguration Sunday. Three of his disciples are with him on a mountain when suddenly their eyes are opened and they see Jesus in his full glory. Jesus has been “Emmanuel,” God with us, for the disciples the whole time. They just didn’t see it.
Coincidentally, today is also the first anniversary of the January 6, 2021 assault on the United States Capital building, when a mob of Americans unhappy with the Presidential election results stormed a major symbol of Democracy seeking to have the results overturned. In Washington a House Select Committee is busy investigating what happened on that terrifying day. Across the country Americans are engaging in frightening conversations about the end of Democracy and an upcoming Civil War.
Epiphany and the Anniversary. Epiphany, a “Torii Gate” day, sacred for Christians. The Anniversary, a “Windmill” day, significant in the ongoing advancement of American culture. Is there any connection between the two?
Some would make a direct connection. The protesters on January 6 included those who carried Christian flags and waved “Jesus Saves” signs. Windmills and Torii gates are two symbols representing the same thing, a Christian America.
At first the Magi made this same connection. Jerusalem was the center of government for Palestine, the place where King Herod’s palace was located. It was the logical place for the Magi to look for the answer to their question, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? Jerusalem was also the Holy City, Zion, the mountain on which stood the Lord’s Temple. It was the best place to begin looking for the Holy Child.
The Sovereign God has certainly not abandoned the halls of government or the sacred spaces dedicated to His glory. He is Lord of all. But Epiphany reminds us that the Magi didn’t find Jesus in Jerusalem. They found him in Bethlehem. Not where we might expect to find Him, but in out-of-the way places. Not among the religious crowd (the Pharisees), but among the poor, among shepherds tending the sheep that would be slaughtered for the Pharisees’ sacrifices. The irony is that the shepherds of Bethlehem would not be able to participate in those sacrifices because their job rendered them “unclean.”
Where is Jesus on Epiphany, 2022? The history of Rembrandt’s Epiphany painting, “The Adoration of the Magi” (pictured above) makes the point of this blog in an interesting way. Copies of this valuable painting have been hanging for decades in both the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the Gothenburg Art Museum in Sweden. These are world class art galleries, places where you would expect to find a Rembrandt masterpiece. But the original was not in a museum. It hiding in plain sight, hanging on a wall in a private home in Rome. In 2016 when the painting fell off the wall the owners decided to have it restored. The restorer, Antonella Di Francesco, was the one who discovered that the painting was an original. Di Francesco issued a statement: “During my work one of the most beautiful things that can happen during a lifetime: the sudden awareness of being in front of a work by a very great author who reveals himself to you, which comes out of its opaque zone and chooses you to be redeemed from the darkness.” De Francesco had an Epiphany.
The national mood at the beginning of 2022 is certainly dark. I suspect we all agree that the Anniversary was a dark moment in American history. Politicians and the media have a financial interest in keeping us focused on the darkness. But Epiphany calls us to shift our focus to the Light of the World. When we Christians keep our eyes open as we go about the routine of our lives, whether that’s in an obscure farming village, the desert of doubt and uncertainty, celebrating the weddings birthdays of those who are dear to us, or rubbing elbows with the riffraff of society, we just might discover “. . .one of the most beautiful things that can happen during a lifetime: the sudden awareness of being in front of a work by a very great author who reveals himself to you, which comes out of its opaque zone and chooses you to be redeemed from the darkness.” We just might experience the glory of Epiphany.
