Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Tue, 5 Jan 1993 19:02:52 EST
From:         JEK@NIHCU.BITNET
Subject:      For the Epiphany (06 Jan)

THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (6 JAN)

"Epiphany" is a word of Greek origin, related to "phenomenon." It
means an appearance, a displaying, a showing forth, a making clear
or public or obvious. On this day, Christians have traditionally
celebrated the making known of Jesus Christ to the world.

Several events have been thought of as special instances of the
making known of Our Lord, such as: His birth; the coming of the
Magi; His Baptism; His first miracle at Cana. Current majority
usage, at least in the West, celebrates His birth on 25 December,
the coming of the Magi on 6 January, and His Baptism on the next
Sunday. On the following Sundays up to the beginning of Lent, we
remember Our Lord's public preaching of the kingdom, particularly
the earlier stages of that preaching when opposition had not yet
crystallized.

Today, then, we commemorate the visit of the Magi, a token of the
day when all the peoples of the earth will acknowledge Jesus Christ
as Lord, God, and Savior.  The visit of the Magi is recorded in the
second chapter of Matthew. MAGI (MAGOI), the Latin (Greek) plural of
MAGUS (MAGOS), referred originally to the priests of Parsiism, the
monotheistic religion preached in Persia by Zoroaster in about the
sixth century BC.  In later years it came to mean magicians,
priests, physicians, scribes, scholars, or learned men. From it we
derive our word "magic." The KJV Bible translates the word as "wise
men." Matthew tells us how they came to Jerusalem and then to
Bethlehem, and gave gifts to the infant Jesus. (For a discussion of
whether this is a historical event, send the message GET INFANCY
PART1 to LISTSERV@ASUACAD.BITNET or to LISTSERV@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU )
In poem and picture, the wise men came to be thought of as three
kings, and in many countries (particularly Spanish-speaking ones),
children receive gifts, not on 25 December, but on 6 January in
memory of the gifts that the wise men brought to the Holy Child.
Christian writers have interpreted the gold as a sign that Jesus is
King, the Frankincense as a sign that He is God, and the myrrh (used
in embalming) as a sign that He is by His death and Resurrection the
Savior of the world. This imagery is found in the song, "We Three
Kings of Orient Are." The three gifts are also understood a a sign
of three responses that we ought to make to Christ. See the
following hymn:

 That so Thy blessed birth, O Christ,
  might through the world be known about,
 a star appeared in the East,
  whereby the Gentiles found thee out
 and offered Thee myrrh, incense, gold,
 Thy three-fold office to unfold.

 Tears that from true repentance drop,
  instead of myrrh, present will we.
 For incense, we will offer up
  our prayers and praises unto Thee,
 and bring for gold each loving deed
 that doth from saving faith proceed.

 And, as those wise men never went
  to visit Herod any more,
 so, having seen Thee, we repent
  our courses followed heretofore,
 and, that we homeward may retire,
 the way of Thee we will inquire.

PRAYER (traditional language)
   O God who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy
   only-begotten Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who
   know thee now by faith, to thy presence, where we may behold
   thy glory face to face; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord,
   who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God,
   now and for ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language)
   O God who by the leading of a star proclaimed your
   only-begotten Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who
   know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see
   your glory face to face; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord,
   who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
   now and for ever.
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