Epiphany, 2024

Epiphany. On the liturgical calendar, Epiphany is the feast day that follows on the heals of the twelve days of Christmas.

Epiphany is about light. The word literally means “shining upon.” The Child whose birth we celebrate at Christmas was/is the light of the world. “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1;3-5).

The metaphor of light communicates the idea of seeing and knowing. Darkness keeps us from seeing. To be “in the dark” is to not know or understand. Light drives the darkness away, enabling us to see, to know, to understand.

As the light of the world, Jesus helps us to see God and understand the ways of God. “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son who has made him known” (John 1:18). As Jesus said to Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In Jesus, we catch a glimpse of God. In him, we see the heart of God. Through his life, we come to understand the ways of God.

Traditionally, Epiphany is associated with two different texts.

The first text is the story of the magi found in Matthew 2. The magi were scholars—likely priests associated with the royal court of Persia. They were Gentiles, not Jews. They came seeking the newborn king of the Jews. Their story calls to mind the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I will give you as a light to the nations that my salvation my reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). As the servant of the LORD, Jesus was “a light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6). Through him, people of every nation—represented by the magi—could know God and the ways of God.

The baptism of Jesus is also commonly associated with Epiphany. Jesus’s baptism marked the beginning of his public ministry of proclaiming the kingdom of God. Through his ministry, “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2). “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

While Epiphany points to Jesus as the light of the world, it also reminds us that Jesus has “rescued us from the power of darkness” (Colossians 1:13). It calls us as the followers of Jesus to “walk in the light as he himself is in the light” (1 John 1:7). To walk in the light is move beyond the way the world trained us to think and live. It is to allow our thinking to be shaped by who Jesus revealed God to be. It is to live the ways of God that Jesus taught. “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). The light of Christ shines upon us, guiding us in living the ways of God. In addition, the light of Christ shines through us into the world, driving back the darkness so others can see God and know the ways of God.

The light of Epiphany—the light by which we see and know God—the light that shows us the ways of God—the light that guides us in living the ways of God—the light that drives out the darkness. Epiphany is the celebration of Jesus as the light of the world.   

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 

For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;

But the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn" (Isaiah 60:1-3).