Epiphany Moments

   Based on ancient tradition, the wise men, whose coming we celebrate today [January 5, 2020], were of three different generations. Casper was thought to be a very young man, Balthazar was middle aged, and Melcher was a senior citizen. There is no actual historical evidence to verify their age, their names, their rank, their number, nor their race. Their entry in human history represents a unique setting where shepherds and kings saw what the religious leadership of the day did not see---Jesus’ arrival among us.  Whoever these kings were, they traveled across distance, cultures, religious differences, and intense prejudice to honor the infant whom they found under the guidance of a star.

   Tradition aside, we don’t know much about these visitors from the east. Spiritual writer Alice Camille reminds us that “no matter their number, race, beliefs or origin, the idea is that foreign powers would one day acknowledge the light of Christ and that sometimes it takes a new eye to see what is all too familiar to those of us who see it all the time. The magi were sincere in their quest for the truth, willing to humble themselves at the sight of this child, and offered their worldly wealth to him.  In their search, they proved themselves wise and noble.  Scripture scholars have described them as: “Non-Jews, people who didn’t speak the language or know the customs; people who had no papers or passports; people who were neither circumcised nor baptized, but called by God to know and experience the fullness of salvation in Jesus Christ.

   This Magi story provides a good lesson for us. Do we truly grasp the universal character of salvation that today’s Epiphany feast affirms and celebrates? At the very heart of the truth we call Epiphany is the divine belief  that all human beings have worth and dignity; all have value and are intended to enjoy God’s gift of salvation both now and for all eternity. An epiphany moment arrives when we begin to realize that this season is not so much a birthday celebration, but as one theologian phrased it: “the beginning of a decisive new phase in the history of God’s hunger for human companions.” It is that hunger, imaged during our journey through life that allows us to glimpse the divine firmly woven within the secular moments of our lives. It’s almost as if God is so eager to unite with us that he can’t wait to shine through the ordinariness of our days. When that happens—an epiphany moment!

   This divine attraction toward humans is made evident by the words and actions of Jesus. He treated the blind, the lame, and the crippled, the outcasts and the beggars with as much respect as he treated those of high rank and status. He refused to see women and children as unimportant and inferior. Even when the Law labeled persons unimportant due to sin, disease or ethnicity, Jesus acted upon the urging of his Father whose love is greater than the Law.

   Jesus speaks to us today and at every stage of our lives. Are we willing to acknowledge his love and be led along a path we cannot predetermine or control toward a goal we only vaguely understand?  No matter our age, epiphany experiences are always available to us, whoever we are, at whatever age we are, in whatever frame of mind and heart we are, and with whatever joys or sorrows we carry. Jesus will meet us and draw us to himself. As this New Year begins, he invites us to be aware of his presence, and begin anew to reflect his image to others.

                       —-Deacon Wilson Shierk