The Epiphany of the Lord 

   “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?  For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship Him.” (Matt 2: 1 – 2) 

   The long-waited Messiah had been born and yet it was foreigners who came to proclaim His birth and worship Him.  The Jews, who had all the prophecies and were supposedly anxiously waiting for the Christ had no idea that He had been born.  When told about His birth Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him (Matt 2: 3).

   The only Jews who celebrated the birth of our Lord were the shepherds, those considered among the lowest of people.  Angels proclaimed the birth of Jesus to them and they went to pay Him homage (Luke 2: 10 – 15).  Born into obscurity, our Lord would never gain the recognition of the majority of the Jewish people, God’s chosen ones.

   At the end of His life, it was the Jews who demanded His crucifixion.  He had healed the blind, cured the sick, gave the deaf their hearing, cast out demons, and even raised the dead.  I wonder which of these miracles they consider worthy of His death on the cross.  More likely they were concerned with their own place in society and the perks that came with it.  Like many in the Church today, they played to their own desires and the desires of a sick society who had rejected God.

   It was a pagan who announced to the world that Jesus was the King of the Jews.  Pontius Pilate had a plaque placed on Jesus’ cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” (John 19: 19).  It was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, the three dominate languages of the time.

   Epiphany means “manifested” or recognized.  Jesus was manifested by foreigners at His birth and by a foreigner at His death.  He was never accepted by the majority of those He came to save.  The question we must ask ourselves is, has He been manifested in me?  Does He live within me?  Do I accept Him and worship Him as the savior of the world?