When did it happen? Thanksgiving? The weekend after Thanksgiving? Did you wait until Christmas? Or, did you make it until today? When did the magi, the three wise men from Matthew 2:1-12, make it to your manger scene? Maybe you were tempted like me to put up your Creche scene this last weekend. Yet, today is the day. Only twelve long (and cold?) days after the birth of the Christ child these three strangers from the East show up to greet Jesus with gold (oh boy), frankincense (okay), and myrrh (what the heck is that?). That seems like an awfully long time to wait around a barn full of animals to me. Of course, I think I am missing the point here.
Today is Epiphany, which means "Manifestation" or "Appearing." Yes, it is the day on which the Church celebrates the magi visiting the Christ child and his family. Yet, we might be limiting ourselves if we think that this alone is what this day that is all about.
First, let's get this out of the way, in Matthew's account, the only place where we find the Magi, Jesus is not born in a manger. He is born in Bethlehem, but there is no mention of any barn or shepherds, although there are some angels.
Next, in many parts of the world today is the peak of the Christmas celebration. Epiphany follows the 12 days and nights of Christmas. It is seen by many, especially those in the Eastern Church, as the culmination of the Nativity season!
Also, those in Greece, Egypt, Russian, and else where do not just focus upon the wise men today. Epiphany (which means "Appearing" remember?) is a celebration of God's most fitting, clear manifestation in this world (aka Jesus of Nazareth) and people outside of Jesus' family recognizing it.* Today the Church at large also celebrates two other stories of God's appearing in the world and people actually noticing it. For some reason seeing God is hard for us to do, like when no one stopped to listen to world famous violinist Josh Bell playing a wealth of classical pieces on a $3.5 million violin in the metro station of Washington D.C. (Click here for the story.)
One of the other (Non-Magi) stories is of Jesus being baptized and others seeing the Spirit descending upon him like a dove, and the other is of Jesus' miracle of turning water into wine in Cana. Both of these stories helped people around Jesus to know that God is with us in the world. The trouble is that we often do not stop to recognize that God is being made manifest all around us.
Today we can move the magi and we can think that they finally made it to the Christ child, but the message of Epiphany is that God is made known to us in the world. Our challenge is to continue to recognize Christ being made manifest in the world. Will you stop and hear the music or will you rush on by?
*For some reason the church does not consider the story of the shepherds an Epiphany moment, perhaps because one understanding of Epiphany has been "Christ's appearing to the Gentiles," and the shepherds were part of the people of Israel.
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