The Epiphany: The Manifestation of Christ

When we think of the Epiphany, if we think of it at all, most of us think of the Wise Men from the East following the star in search of the “King of the Jews.”  In Matthew’s story of the birth of Jesus, this visit serves the same purpose as Luke’s visit to the stable by the shepherds: it reveals Jesus to the world as “the holy one, the Son of God.”  These two stories give our faith a foundation, the beginning of an understanding of the importance of Jesus in the world.  They are epiphanies, manifestations or as one writer calls them, “startling appearances” of God in the world.  There are, however, other epiphanies in the scriptures:  the Samaritan woman at the well, the Baptism of Jesus and the Wedding Feast in Cana of Galilee.  These too are manifestations, startling appearances of Jesus the Messiah in the world.  Together they provide a vision of “God with us,” of what the world might look like if we give our allegiance to God rather than to the rulers of this world. 

Thomas Long, one of the great preachers of our time, suggests that “the exotic details of the magi invite us to imagine the unimaginable: that the God of Israel in generosity turned God’s face of mercy toward all nations, and that the magi from the East and people from Alabama, Chicago and all the nations of the world can stream to Mount Zion and learn God’s ways.  In other words, the story of the Magi, and the woman at the well, and the wedding at Cana of Galilee crack open the story of Jesus Messiah, Son of David, Son of Abraham, to let us see that there is a place for all people, those who are near and even those who are far off.”  This hints at a God who is larger than we can imagine, and for some of us, much larger than we want God to be.  It opens for us a wider and even more gracious kingdom. 

The Franciscan Priest and spiritual leader, Father Richard Rohr sees and experiences epiphanies of God in many, many places.  He experiences God in the creation of the world, in what God has made.  He experiences God in the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly the Prophets who call us to be self-critical and inclusive, and in the radical challenge of Jesus’ teaching and life which push

us even further to see a connection between all people. 

The correct practices of many religions, including Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism, of loving our neighbor as ourselves and caring for the “least of these my brothers and sisters, opens us up to God’s presence in the world and in our own lives as well as in the lives of some of the worlds people who we neither know well nor understand.  This then opens the door for us to experience epiphanies in the lives of non-violent teachers and social activists such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.   

Epiphanies of God do not take place when and where and how we want them, they take place in the places in which and through the people in whom God acts.  These epiphanies help us not only to see but also to experience God’s truth from different angles.  As Richard Rohr says, “unity is not the same as uniformity, there are different paths to this God, different Epiphanies for different peoples, but it is the one Holy Spirit of God  who is manifest in all of them.