An epiphany is a moment of sudden revelation or insight. An idea or concept that had not been known suddenly becomes clear and understood. The English language probably appropriated the word from Greek though Old French and Latin have very similar words for the same idea. We use the word for a season in the Christian calendar that begins on the 12th day after Christmas and continues until Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday. Because of variations in the different calendars that have been employed, the season of Epiphany varies in length. This year easter is fairly late and Epiphany is longer than some years.

The word epiphany is also used by scientists. I was once at a lecture given by Charles Townes about the process by which he and Arthur Schawlow come up with the theoretical concept of lasers. He used the word epiphany to describe the sudden and striking realization about how light works and how it could be manipulated. People often talk about the differences between science and religion, but I am often struck by their similarities. A scientific breakthrough is described very much in the same way as a burst of religious or philosophical insight.

Over the centuries there have been many who embraced Christianity because of a sudden revelation. Acts 9 tells the story as a third-person narrative. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard the voice of Jesus asking him why he persecuted him. In that moment he went from one who had been a persecutor of early Christians to a follower of Jesus. It was, from the accounts we have, sudden and dramatic and complete.

I have heard others speak of moments of conversion when in a sudden burst of insight their lives and commitments were completely transformed. There are Christians who can name a date and a time when their epiphany occurred and they became persons of faith.

My own experience has been different. I was born into a loving Christian family. My family participated in church and taught Christianity from myth earliest memories. I was baptized as a baby, before I have a conscious memory of the event. I have the certificate of baptism and I have the stories that have been told of it, but I don’t have a first-hand memory of my pre-baptism life. I don’t think there ever was a time when I wasn’t a Christian. Of course I have made decisions in my adult life that brought me to the preparation for and rite of ordination. There are a few dates that have been significant in my journey as a Christian. But there is no time that I can identify as being before I became a Christian.

The celebration of the day of Epiphany involves the reading of the story of the visit of the Magi from the Gospel of Matthew. The other three gospels do not tell the story of wise men from the east who came to visit the Christ child. Tradition has placed that visit on the 12th day of Christmas, though there is no specific evidence that confirms the timing. Given the story that follows about the Holy family fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod’s infanticide, it is likely that the visit occurred some time later, perhaps even a year or more later than the birth. The traditions of the church have, however, over the centuries, landed the celebration of the event win this particular day. For those of us who follow the lectionary of readings, it is the beginning of a fast-paced reading of the life of Christ that reaches a climax on Good Friday when we remember his death and Easter Sunday when we remember his resurrection. We read through the life of Christ in about a quarter of the year.

The day of Epiphany has had other names throughout the history of the church. It has been called Theophany, Denha, Little Christmas and Three Kings Day. The celebration is connected to the belief that the visit of the magi was the first moment when those who were not Jewish recognized the messiah. The idea of the messiah had been a Jewish religious concept, but Jesus Christ came to the entire world, not just to those who were of the Jewish faith and traditions. Through the magi, the messiah was revealed to those who did not come from Jewish traditions.

Some years we celebrate Epiphany and the Baptism of Christ on the same Sunday because the season of Epiphany is shortened and we have a lot of ideas to celebrate in a short amount of time. This year, we are allowed two distinct Sundays so will recognize Epiphany today and the Baptism of Christ next Sunday.

There is something pleasant for me about having Epiphany day land on a Sunday. It gives the opportunity to recognize the event with the larger congregation that gathered for Sunday worship. It gives us the opportunity to reflect on the many different ways that the ideas and practices of Christianity have spread throughout the world.

We don’t have much original material for our celebration. There are just 12 verses in the Gospel of Matthew that mention the Magi. Most of those verses report about the interactions between the Magi and Herod the king. There are just three or four verses that tell of the joy of the Magi upon reaching the house where Jesus was, their bowing down and worshiping, and their offering of three precious gifts. Most of the time when we tell the story, we add all kinds of imagined details. We assume that the number of Magi is three, though there is never a count given for the number of people, only the number of gifts. We like to tell the story of them traveling by camel, though there is no mention of how they traveled from the east. Our imaginations are stirred by the story and by the many pieces of artwork we have seen depicting the event.

So today we celebrate revelations. New ideas and concepts emerge and become clear. Our understanding is deepened. It is worthy of a celebration.

Copyright (c) 2019 by Ted E. Huffman. I wrote this. If you would like to share it, please direct your friends to my web site. If you'd like permission to copy, please send me an email. Thanks!