As many people know, the season of Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and for nearly a month Christians await the coming of Christ in a spirit of expectation, singing hymns of longing and hope. What many may not know is that in the Christian calendar on December 25th, Christmas Day itself, Christmas has just begun, so that for the next twelve days the real celebration continues until January 6, where a celebration called, Epiphany, takes place.
Epiphany means “revelation,” or “manifestation.” It is celebrated to commemorate the arrival of the “Magi from the east,” who had followed the star to the place of Messiah’s birth. Their arrival could have been as late as Jesus being two years old by then. It is a day, therefore, to celebrate the revelation of Jesus to Gentiles, a time to remember that Messiah isn’t simply a Jewish Savior, but a Savior for all people, Jew and Gentile.
At the heart of the matter, The Feast of Epiphany, shouts loud and clear that the promise given to Abraham way back in Genesis 12:3 where God says to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed,” finds the revelation or manifestation of the dream of God for His creation, all of it. In Messiah “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female" (Galatians 3:28). In Jesus, walls are broken down, barriers are destroyed, race is embraced, and everyone is invited into a new way of being in the world. The apostle Paul said it this way in his letter to the church in Ephesus,
In Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility … He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:13-22)
Jewish shepherds, wise men from the east, men and women, people of all races, creeds, and colors, and socio-economic status, are invited into this new way of being in the world. It is a way of peace because the invitation comes to all of us from the “Prince of Peace,” who is also named, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father” (Isaiah 9:6).
In these difficult times when there is much anger and animosity and divisions in our world, there is One who has taken upon Himself all the sin and brokenness of our lives, and who has poured out His life that we may have life in His name. He tells us that there are forces in the world that are present to “steal, and kill, and destroy,” but that these forces are not of God. The way of God in the world is that people might “have life, and have it abundantly.” It is when we drift away from God that life begins to breakdown, not when we draw near to God.
In these challenging days followers of Jesus have the awesome privilege to live out the meaning having life abundantly. My prayer for myself and for fellow believers is that if others don’t want to draw near to Jesus their reasoning won’t be that we have failed to live abundant life, to model what Jesus in a human being means.
Truthfully, many people will not embrace the Prince of peace. Still He stands among us as the Deliverer. As the wisemen sought the counsel of Herod and discovered that the reason he embraced their journey to Bethlehem was so that when they found the Christ Child, he might put him to death. That disconnect from Jesus is still a force in the world. True, people may not want to put Him to death but they definitely don’t want Him anywhere near their lives.
For those who embrace Jesus, the issue must not be one in which it is us-verses-them. Truthfully, it is just us. The Savior came for all of us. The baby of Bethlehem who was also called, “God with us,” is still with us. He is still the Prince of Peace, the wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.
When this Christmas season ends, may we draw so near to God that who He is will be worked into the very fiber of who we are. May His DNA flow through our very being so much so that we won’t simply be called Christians, but rather, Christ-like people. In this may we all remember that Jesus said to His followers both then and now, “By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). He also said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
“I will give you rest.” Okay, then. God be with us all.
