The Epiphany, also known as the theophany
is an ancient celebration of the church.
Epiphany means manifestation, and theophany means manifestation of
God. As celebrated originally, Epiphany
had a four fold theme, the birth of Christ, the visit of the Magi, the Baptism
of Christ, and the first miracle of Christ.
Epiphany was celebrated before Christmas, but when the church began
celebrating Christmas, this theme was removed from Epiphany except in Armenia,
which still does not celebrate Christmas..
With the removal of Christmas, the main
theme came to be the visit of the Magi, which occurred when Jesus was about two
years old. In fact the gold presented by
the magi probably financed the trip to Egypt. The theme of the magi is
important to us, because it is when the gentiles (goyim) first come to worship
Christ. Many people believe that the
Magi were from Persia,
and recognised the coming presence of the Messiah from the book and other
writings of Daniel. We note in passing
that the Bible does not state there were three, but this idea probably arose
because of the three gifts, gold (kingship), frankincense (priesthood) and
myrrh (burial). In Persia (Iran) legends claim that the magi
returned and proclaimed the Gospel.
The theme of the Baptism of Christ is kept
for the Sunday following Epiphany and is a highly appropriate day for
baptisms. In our church, in year D we
observe the Wedding of Cana on the following Sunday.
The season of Epiphany concentrates on
manifestations of Jesus, particularly in healing. It is also a time in which we
emphasise the need and importance of evangelism.
Collect:
Lord God almighty, by
the light of a star you guided the Magi into the presence of Yeshua to give him
gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
So let the light of Yeshua shine out through our hearts, that those
around us would be drawn to your presence to render you homage and accept you
as Lord and Saviour. This we ask in the
blessed name of Yeshua haMoshiach. Amen.
(gold)
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