Epiphany

FRI., JAN. 6, 1995, 7:38 AM
FARM, STUDY

This is a term you have heard for many of your years. It is part of the church year, but it has not been a cause for celebration. The Christmas season is certainly one of joyousness, with angels, shepherds, and the remembrance of an unlikely birth in an unlikely way.

Epiphany adds another dimension to the season, which has been merged into the original story. It is the arrival of the three magi, with expensive gifts for the young child. This is a verification that this is a special birth, one of importance to wise men as well as to simple shepherds. Angels came, presumably from the sky, and a special, bright star led these magi to the birth scene. Symbolically this represented the truth that I, as Jesus, represented both the natural and the supernatural.

I was born as a Jewish boy, of a virgin mother, with no earthly biological father. My birth brought forth angels, but did not seem to be recognized by the many other people who were in Bethlehem that night. From what you know of stars and planets it was not natural that some bright “object” the the sky would move in such a way that men traveling by camel could follow it to the place of birth. As Jesus, I was a baby boy and also was God. I was in this natural earth scene, but also with supernatural “trappings.”

The three kings brought gifts, and this remembrance has certainly translated into commercial action. Gifts of all kinds are bought and sold… given and received. There are lavish gifts and simple ones, practical gifts and ones just to appreciate. The giving is often overdone, but so, it could be said, were the original gifts. They symbolized respect and reverence, and the givers could not have explained why.

I have commented before how interesting it is that in your extremely time-oriented culture there is little concern for how this all happened, in hours, days, and nights. In most of the Christmas plays and tableaus the wise men, the shepherds, the angels, and a few animals… a donkey and some sheep… are all in the stable together. Epiphany suggests, instead, that there was some waiting for these magi to arrive, preceded by a conference with Herod.

They do not return to Herod, so then comes the bloody part of the story… a lot of little Jewish boys killed, but with angelic direction, the Holy Family walks down to Egypt until it is safe to return. Then nothing more is recorded, though the scene in the temple with Simeon and Anna is another symbol that I was a properly presented Jewish boy, and recognized as special…but how did this happen, in relation to the “flight to Egypt” tale? Don’t worry about time and details. It is all important… an unimportant.