The celebration of Epiphany is January 5, right around the festival of New Year’s that was celebrated before, during, and after the birth of Christ. Epiphany is the celebration of the Magi as they arrived and honored the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem. You know the story, of a star they followed.
Matthew’s gospel is the only source of this great Church legend. It is seldom understood without some questions, and although the Magi have been given the names Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior, the consensus is that they were Zoroastrians from Persia. Very few provable facts exist. It is believed that they were not kings; that rumor didn’t even begin until medieval times. However, in the early days of the new faith, they were depicted more in art than the nativity was, and from there the legend grew.
Have you heard people say, “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence?” Or “I’m saying God doesn’t exist.” I believe the existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or He doesn’t.
The discussion about not believing in God continues. People say, “It’s when belief starts to infringe on other people’s rights that it is worrisome. I would never deny your right to believe in a God. I would just rather you didn’t kill people who believe in a different god. Or stone someone to death because your rule book says their sexuality is immoral. It’s strange that anyone who believes that an all-powerful, all-knowing, omniscient power responsible for everything would also want to judge and punish people for what they are.”
Seemingly it comes down to “individual rights.”
Either God exists or God doesn’t. We have absolutely no control over that fact. So because there’s nothing we can do about whether there is a God or not; asking “Do you believe in God?” of someone allows for only three answers: “Yes, I do,” “No, I don’t,” or “I’m not sure.”
Implicit here is the question of how we look to God to act and to enter our lives. For whatever reason, God has chosen to enter the world today through others, through us. We have stories of miraculous interventions, epiphany moments, but far more often the God of unconditional love comes to us in human form, just as God did over 2,000 years ago.
An epiphany is a new experience that changes everything. Most of us are often afraid of any authentically new experience. An epiphany is not an experience we can create from within, but one that we can only be open to and receive from another. Epiphanies leave us totally out of control, and they always demand that we change.
The feast of the Epiphany on January 5 tells us that from the very beginning Jesus was someone to be personally experienced, not just mentally agreed upon, proven, accepted or argued about. The Magi followed the star; they followed the light. As is often the case, the light begins to burn most brightly when the darkness is most profound. This light will guide all of humanity along the path of God.
The creator of Lake Superior and sea creatures and the Big Dipper is simply beyond us, beyond our ability to grasp or comprehend. But a human being—just like us—that we can understand and relate to and comprehend. Maybe we’ll never be able to understand everything there is to know about God, but maybe we could be shown everything we need to know.
God has always moved through human history in the direction of unity and wholeness. When the moment is right, when humanity has grown in maturity and experience, God reveals another aspect of the divine nature. The author of Ephesians celebrates the wonderful plan that God kept under wraps until the coming of Jesus: humanity is one, and God calls all into relationship with the divine and with one another. God is not European, white, male or even Christian in our sense of the term. These are lessons we still struggle to take to heart and apply.
Epiphany is a pattern by which God continually sends the divine light into the world to lead humanity to wholeness. If Epiphany were occurring today, where would the “star” lead? Who would be the visitors from afar and where would they come from? What would be the means used to find the traces of divine activity in the world? What would the message be? What human attitudes would oppose the light? Who would be terrified of the light?
The sages who came to visit the Christ child were not of His people or His religion. In a sense, they were outsiders. They discovered the coming of Jesus in the stars—astrology—very strange by our mind, but considered quite natural in the ancient world. God will use any means for self-revelation and to reach humanity and does not really care about the labels and categories that are human in origin. The visitors were attracted to the light and represent that portion of humanity that is oriented toward God. Herod is terrified of the light and in his fear and paranoia wants to snuff it out before it can begin to do its work. He represents the darker side of humanity — those who are enemies of peace or who live out patterns of domination, cruelty and exploitation and self-interest.
How can we be more just and kind, and how can we create a deeper connection with ourselves, with others and with our world? – An Epiphany!
The Christmas season is still going on for another few days until the Epiphany on Sunday, January 5. In some Christian communities around the world, this is the day gifts are exchanged in memory of those early visitors to the Christ child.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Deacon Peter Mueller of St. John’s Catholic Church in Grand Marais.
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