Readings (for Epiphany):
Isaiah 60: 1-6;
Psalm 72: 1-9, 10-15;
Ephesians 3: 1-12;
Matthew 2: 1-12

Collect (for Epiphany):
Creator of the heavens,
who led the Magi by a star to worship the Christ-child:
guide and sustain us,
that we may find our journey’s end
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection

“I’ve had an epiphany!” is a phrase which has entered our common lexicon. We use it to mean that we have realised something, that something has suddenly become clear to us. And it is a close reflection of both the church’s feast and season of Epiphany, and the etymology of the word ‘epiphany’ itself. 

Our English word ‘epiphany’ comes from the Greek work epiphaneia which means ‘manifestation’ or ‘appearing’, and is also sometimes translated as ‘brightness’. It is a word which is used several times in the New Testament – although, interestingly, not in what we now know as the Epiphany narrative, the story of the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. 

It is a word which appears primarily in the epistles, and is often used in looking ahead to the second coming of Christ: “we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation (epiphaneia) of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2.13); “I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the appearance (epiphaneia) of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 6.14). 

All this should point us towards the idea that Epiphany is about very much more than Magi following the brightness of the star to the one whose appearing they have heard foretold. In many traditions, the church keeps the season of Epiphany from 6 January until Candlemas on 2 February, and uses it as an opportunity to explore some of the gospel stories in which Jesus’ divine nature is made manifest – the Baptism of Christ, the wedding at Cana… and I’m sure you can think of plenty of others. 

This Epiphany season is also a time for us to take stock of where we encounter God in our own lives. What manifestations of the divine presence do we encounter? Where – in what and in whom – does Christ appear to us? How do we see the brightness of the Spirit’s presence dawning in our own lives? What, and who, points us towards God, as the star pointed the Magi towards Jesus? And how do we point others towards the Christ whom we know and love? 

It is also a season in which we acknowledge that the appearance of God in the person of Jesus Christ is a source of ongoing revelation. Taking in the appearance of God is the work of a lifetime for us all. We need to be continually open to encountering Jesus in new and surprising ways, people, and places, as our understanding of who God is continues to expand towards the fullness of who God is. 

And as we look for the appearing of Christ, as we open ourselves up to the epiphany of fresh realisations about God and encounters with the Spirit, we do so trusting that we and the whole creation are held in the unending love of the one whose appearing is as sure as the dawn. 

Ruth Harley