The word Epiphany means “manifestation” or “revelation.” The Wise Men are celebrated on Epiphany because they represented the revelation of Jesus to the Gentiles.
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, the Wedding at 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 in the heavens that could be interpreted by the Gentiles. Those signs were God’s way of saying, “Hey...this is the guy!” and Epiphany was the church’s way of saying, “And we can never be the same again.”
So why doesn’t anything epiph on Epiphany anymore?
Probably the best answer to this question is, simply, we no longer expect it. We no more expect God to be revealed in our midst than we expect stores to start giving away merchandise. And because we don’t expect it, we get what we expect. The early church was a church full of excitement and expectation. They anticipated the return of Jesus at any time, and the persecutions which they endured forced them to be aware of their faith and sometimes to die for their faith at all times.
Many of us today have lost that sense of excitement and expectation.
In the early church, the point of Epiphany was not to remember history, but to be reminded that God appears miraculously to us in places and in ways that we don’t expect. If we keep remembering that God seems to thrive on unexpected appearances and if we keep expecting to see God everywhere we turn, we are not too likely to miss it when it happens again.
The wedding at Cana was crowded, but only a few were aware that Jesus had worked a miracle in their midst. Most weren’t paying attention, except to realize that the wine was flowing again. They weren’t watching and missed an event that people have talked about for two thousand years. Bethlehem was so full of people that Mary and Joseph couldn’t even find a room to spend the night, but there is no indication that more than a handful paid any notice to the new life that changed all of history, bright stars and shepherd’s stories notwithstanding.
If we want anything to epiph in our lives, we had better begin by expecting it and watching for it.
How many times do you prepare for your day by asking God to be revealed in the middle of it? How many times do you prepare for church by asking God to speak to you in the music, in the sermon, in the others in the congregation? How many of us honestly, truly expect a real, life-changing encounter with God in our daily comings and goings? I can tell you that those few who do expect such things find them.
If you’re not expecting company, they might well show up when you are out, or asleep, or too busy in the back to hear the knocking on the door. If we don’t expect God to appear or to speak or touch our hearts; if we’re not looking for God at every turn and listening for God in every voice, chances are we’ll be as clueless as the guests at the wedding or the people in Bethlehem when God finally appears.
If we are looking…when we are looking… the signs of God’s presence are all around us, as much outside the church as inside. God is there in the trees and ocean and sky...in nature in so many ways. God is in the delivery room and the funeral home. God is in the face of the one who gives comfort to the lonely, food to the hungry, love to the unlovable… God is all around us…even in unexpected places.
We all meet God in different ways and at different times and places in our lives. The message of Epiphany is that God’s revealing work is more than just one moment in time. God did not simply reveal God in the person of Jesus of Nazereth and that was that. No, there was Easter...that bright and glorious morning when God blew the lid off of everybody’s ideas about what God could and couldn’t be and do. Come Easter morning, all bets were off...the tomb was empty and God was on the loose. He appeared and disappeared out of rooms. He was now here on the beach having breakfast and now there walking with disciples who had no clue who they were talking to.
The message of Epiphany...and Easter...is that God is not dead, dried out, and stuffed into your Bibles somewhere around the Psalms (Tony Campolo). God is alive and present and epiphaning here there and everywhere in the hopes that somebody will take notice and be receptive.
The God who was made manifest in Jesus of Nazareth lives and is still being made manifest somewhere, somehow in our lives…always.
I once met a woman whose husband had died over eight years before. We were speaking of the assurances of the scripture…particularly of the assurance of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit…I particularly like the Johnanine passage where Jesus promises the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The woman said that she would like to know the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I explained to her that I thought that the gift of the Holy Spirit manifests itself in signs. She said that she had prayed for a sign of that assurance since the death of her husband…and, had never received it. I challenged her and said that perhaps there had been signs sent but, she was not looking for them…so, she could not/had not seen them…
She, then, mentioned that she and her husband loved to watch the birds in their backyard on their patio…among their favorites were the red birds…she said that she had not seen a red bird since the death of her husband…I said that I would join her in prayer that a sign be delivered to her…that I would pray that she would see a red bird…that was on a Tuesday…
Two days later, she called me. That morning, while drinking her coffee, there appeared on her back porch…two red birds…a male and a female…and, she said she felt a peace that she had not felt for some time…
Was it the power of my (no doubt awesome) prayer that brought the red birds to her porch? No, not nearly. Those red birds may have come and gone a number of times but, her grief became a barrier to her seeing and noticing them…
The message of Epiphany is, “Keep watch!”…for you don’t know the day or the hour when God will appear.
An encounter with God is not a “forced” endeavor. It is a gift. And, it is a thing of the Spirit.
But, one must be watching, waiting, willing to accept the encounter. And, I can bear witness that God is here to be encountered–in the ordinary of your lives. One must open one’s eyes and souls receive the God who is here in our midst.
As we wind our way from Epiphany through the Lenten season to Easter, let God epiph in your life. Make space in your life to have a real encounter with God. It might be here; it might be anywhere...but expect that it will happen. Get up in the morning wondering where it will come and go to sleep listening for God’s voice. Read your Bible expecting to hear God and come to the Table open to receive. God will epiph. I promise.
