What Happened to Epiphany?
John 1:1-13January 6, 2013
Today is January 6th, the 12th Day of Christmas. I know that most of you have not been kept up nights wondering about Epiphany. A large number of people have never heard of Epiphany, and although I had heard of it, it never really dawned on me that anyone might actually celebrate.
Epiphany falls on January 6, on the 12th day of Christmas–the day you’re supposed to get 12 drummers drumming and the day we commonly remember the arrival of the Wise Men in Bethlehem. In a number of other countries, this is a big event. Children dress up as kings and travel from door to door–much as we do on Halloween–only instead of collecting for themselves, they collect for the poor, remembering that the wise men brought gifts to the poor Christ child.
My first really encounter with those who celebrate Christmas on Ephiphany, January 6, instead of December 25, was meeting the Armenian Christians in Glendale, California where my son-in-law is pastor. I remember studying in seminary that most of the ancient churches, what we call the orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on Epiphany, but it becomes more real when you meet those folks and see their deep faith and excitement as they wait for January 6 after most folks are done with Christmas. I imagine they can do their Christmas shopping after December 25 and get better deals than the rest of us do. Maybe we should change our day for Christmas?
Actually Epiphany is most often passed over in America today because most people believe that Christmas is over on the 26th of December when they shop the after Christmas sales.
I. Christmas is over. Really?
Christmas is past. It’s ancient history. Santa and his sleigh are in safe seclusion. Christmas carols have been shelved till November 2013. New Year’s Day has come and gone. Only one college football game remains.
It’s now a time for new year’s resolutions, especially for a determination to shed some of those holiday pounds!
It’s a shame that Epiphany has been relegated to the back burners of religious holidays because we need the angel’s message of “good news of great joy for all people.” Yes, the truth is..
II. We need the angle’s message all year.
For those few who might have heard of Epiphany, chances are that you will know it as the day the Wise Men came. And that is right–partially. The word Epiphany means “manifestation” or “revelation.” So the Wise Men are celebrated on Epiphany because they represented the revelation of Jesus to the Gentiles. But it used to be that Epiphany celebrated more than the Wise Men.
In the days when Epiphany was a great church feast, it also celebrated the revelation of Jesus in his first miracle–changing water into wine at Cana–and the manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God at his baptism. Those three things–the Wise Men, Cana, and the Baptism were all lumped together to symbolize the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, and such revelation was cause for great celebration.
That a baby was born in a manger was relatively unimportant, compared with the events that proved to the world who that baby was. The authority of Jesus was validated by the signs he performed–like changing water into wine–by the voice of God and descending dove at his baptism, and through signs that could be interpreted by the Gentiles. Those signs were God’s way of saying, “Pssst...this is the guy!” and Epiphany was the church’s way of saying, “And we can never be the same again.”
The movie “The Nativity” was a great movie but they got it wrong in some of the details of timing. Yes, the Magi were astrologers from the east. Yes, they did travel to Jerusalem. They showed up at the Palace and politely asked: “Excuse us, where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” It was hardly a complex question. Someone could have pointed down the hall way.
What did happen is King Herod called an emergency cabinet meeting composed of his closest advisers, and the highest religious authorities. After consultation, the king quoted a cryptic bit of scripture and the wise men were sent on their way to Bethlehem.
The star led them and came to rest over “the place where the child was. When they saw the star they were overjoyed.” But the baby was no longer in a manger. Mary and Joseph and the baby had moved into a house. The movie provided a great, enduring visual. It looked like the Christmas card. The cave, the shepherds, the baby in a manger and the wise men with their camels. Not so. Matthew writes: “On coming to the house they saw the child…and they worshiped him.”
January 6th celebrates the visit of the Magi and the revelation of God to mankind in human form in the person of Jesus. But….
III. Many on planet earth today are like Herod.
Herod was not happy. All Jerusalem was disturbed. And rightly so. Herod was jealous, merciless, suspicious and ruthless. He made sure no one challenged his kingship. Over the years he managed to drown his wife’s brother, the high priest; he killed his favorite wife, her mother and three of his own sons. When Herod got disturbed, everybody got disturbed.
When this baby was born in Bethlehem, King Herod was disturbed, and threatened. The religious rulers, who knew the prophecies, did their best to ignore him. Today modern religions have taken the indifference of the ancient priests and transformed it into the hatred of Herod. Modern religions and nations are afraid of the baby.
Islamic Saudi Arabia forbids followers of the baby from bringing their Bibles into the country. When I was a missionary in the Philippines I personally knew of some who worked in Saudi, and returned to their Island home in a body bag. Islamic Iran arrests and holds without trial, those who would follow the baby. In some Buddhist nations the education and economic rights of the baby’s followers are denied these government services.
What can be so frightening about a baby that would make world religions and rulers tremble? The Bethlehem Baby didn’t stay a baby. He grew up. He began doing astonishing things, miraculous things. He healed lepers, and the lame, the blind and deaf. He fed thousands of people with a few fish and loaves of bread. He stilled storms with just two words. Why is he so dangerous to religious scholars and rulers?
He told stories of shepherds, slaves and Samaritans; of lost coins, lost sheep and lost opportunities. But when he grew up he is not remembered as a great Philosopher, or an accomplished healer, or a brilliant Storyteller. He said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die.” He said: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through me.” Ravi Zacharias in his Book “Jesus Among Other Gods” writes: “Every word of that statement challenges the fundamental beliefs of the Indian culture from which I come, and in reality, actually stands against an entire world.” Hinduism and Bahaism have long challenged the concept of a single way to God.
Many on planet earth hate Jesus’ claim to be the only Way.
He claimed to forgive sins. The Jewish religious leaders wanted to stone him because he claimed that he was God in flesh. Jesus claimed to be the promised Messiah. Jesus claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus successfully fulfilled all of God’s laws that the rest of humanity found impossible to keep. With these words Jesus is saying that He is carrying all of humanity’s sins so that all who believe on Him as their Substitute and Redeemer will be saved.
Many on planet earth deny they are sinners and hate the idea of a Savior.
Jesus claimed that we can personally know God and that absolute nature of His truth. Agnostics deny that possibility. Our culture calls for tolerance. Yet truth can not be sacrificed at the altar of pretended tolerance. All religions, plainly and simply, can not be true. Some beliefs are false and we know them to be false.
Many on planet earth hate the concept of absolute truth in the Bible.
If these claims of Jesus are true, then all other religions are fake and other religions and rulers of the world need to be afraid.
Let me tell you what Jesus did immediately after he made his claim to be the Savior or the world.
IV. Jesus proved His Deity by His victory over death.
He went to the gravesite of one of His dearest friends, a friend who had been dead for three days. Jesus had the stone taken away from the tomb’s entrance, and then, having made a prayer of thanksgiving to His Father in heaven, he called out to His deceased friend. “Lazarus, come forth.”
We could have called all day, but with that one command of Jesus, Lazarus did come forth. Wrapped like a mummy, Lazarus came forth from that tomb, alive, healthy and healed. This action of Jesus tells the world that he has power to overcome death.
V. What’s your choice today?
I think you can have only two reasonable reactions to the words of Jesus and His resurrection. You can either, like many that day at the gravesite of Lazarus, believe Jesus is your Savior; or you can like some who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus and chose to plot how to eliminate Jesus.
When Jesus was born, there were two reactions: Wise men came and worshipped Jesus as Savior; Herod tried to kill Him. When he preformed miracles there were two reactions; people believed in Him, or they said he was possessed by the Devil.
If you don’t know the story of Jesus, let me tell you the rest. Those people who tried to eliminate Jesus, did eventually succeed. They paid off one of His disciples to betray Him; they railroaded Him through mock trials; they manufactured evidence against Him; they encouraged the crowd to call for his death. The Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate had Jesus crucified and nailed to a cross, suspended between heaven and earth. There Jesus suffered and died. Do you believe this?
If Jesus had been a mere man, he would have stayed dead. Dead is what happens to a man when his heart is punctured by a Roman spear. But Jesus, along with being a Man, is also the Son of God. That’s why on the third day after His murder, His sacrifice for us accepted by God, Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus came back to life. Do you believe this? It’s true! Pilgrims to His tomb today, it’s empty! Pilgrims go to the tombs of Mohammed, Gandhi, Buddhi and other world religions gurus, their bones are still there!!
There are only two reactions to the resurrection of Jesus; either you believe it, or you must try to stuff Jesus back into His tomb and act as if nothing extraordinary happened.
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the absolute reliable truth of Your Holy Word revealed to us in the Bible. It is indeed our guide to the Way of salvation and good for healthful holy living while still here on planet earth. May we choose Jesus, just as the wise men did, and live for You in 2013 and forever. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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