The Epiphany

Yesterday was the Feast of the Epiphany. This feast marks the end of the season of Christmas and revels in the revelation of Jesus as God to all the earth, particularly the Gentiles, those nations who are not Jews. The wise men from the east were not part of God’s covenant people, yet because they saw his star when it rose, they followed God’s leading, and they came to worship the child. It is God’s gracious invitation to these wise men that he extends to us, our friends and neighbors, and people all over the world still today.

St. Paul describes this mystery and grace with the word “access.” He says that in Christ Jesus, this baby born to Mary and Joseph at Bethlehem, we have “boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him” (Eph 3:12). We have a way to God - a way to pray, to appeal to his goodness and light in the midst of the suffering and darkness all around us. We have access to the riches of God’s mercy in the face of situations that offer no mercy. We have confidence in his redemption and deliverance when there seems to be no rescue in sight.

I pray we have finished this Christmas season on this note of boldness and access remembering God’s goodness and mercy revealed to us, embodied in the Word made flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jay+

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As we behold the face of God in the face of Christ, we are transformed into his image. This is what it means to be fully human—to become like Jesus, the truly human one, and to grow more and more in the freedom of the children of God.