”Manifestation of Glory”

The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
First Sunday after the Epiphany
January 09, 2011

”Manifestation of Glory”

“In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost….”

I bid you God’s Peace on this 2011 celebration of the beginning of the Epiphany Season, also known as the Manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. That blessed event occurred on this last Thursday, the 6th, and we will continue to be in the Epiphany Season until Septuagesima, or the Pre-Lenten season. It also officially ends the celebration of Christmas as we begin to move in to the church year in earnest.

Let’s consider the word epiphaneia – from the Greek, meaning “an appearance”; or the English derivative, Epiphany. It means “an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure .”

All of these definitions apply to this feast day as the Truth Incarnate was revealed to three travelers from afar. Traditionally, in the Western Church, January 6th marks the end of Christmastide and the beginning of the Epiphany season, which lasts for six weeks. The feast of Epiphany itself traditionally lasts for eight days, almost as long as Christmas itself. Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, refers to the celebration traditionally occurring on the twelfth day (or night) of the Christmas Season. Of course, the Eastern Church celebrates Christmas on this day, called by some “Orthodox Christmas.”

It marks the event known as the Visitation of the Magi (or Wise Men), which we read about today in our Gospel. It is an incredibly important event to we Gentiles, or non-Jews, because it was the Manifestation or showing forth of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, symbolized in the figures of the Three Wise Men, or Magi. The Magi were learned, religious men, probably from Persia.
According to Wikipedia, “The best known Magi are the "Wise Men from the East" in the Bible, whose graves Marco Polo claimed to have seen in what is today the district of Saveh, in Tehran, Iran.”
When one ponders the theological implications of Epiphany and the meaning it has for we Gentiles, it is simply amazing that it has sunk into such obscurity in our society. Actually, considering the hightly secularized nature of America, it really is not amazing at all. Yet, to that faithful remnant of orthodox believers, both Western and Eastern, the Epiphany has an element of blessedness that may be almost as important as the Nativity itself. The Epiphany is a symbol, a foreshadowing of Christ’s earthly ministry, as the first official visitors, after the shepherds, were the three mysterious strangers from “the East.” By including this story of the Magi in his Gospel, is St. Matthew signalling, or pointing towards the univsersality of Jesus’ Ministry? I believe he was. God works through symbols and mystery in dealing with us, yet every symbol has a purpose.

In this case, three strange men, obviously learned and rich, show up in Jerusalem, asking the whereabouts of a new-born King of the Jews, whose star they had seen in the east. Matthew tells us that the Magi came into Jerusalem and began asking questions. Of course, Matthew tells us, “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” We know from history and from the Scriptures that Herod was a tyrant, bloodthirsty and cruel, whose only god was earthly power. Imagine his shock and amazement, as well as his fear, upon receiving these three strange men. The appearance of three well-heeled, stately visitors would have done that, indeed.

In this case, Herod hurriedly summoned the chief priest and scribes and demanded where the Messiah was to be born, according to prophecy. No doubt they read to him the passage from Micah 5:2: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

Armed with this knowledge, Herod sends the Magi to Bethlehem, giving them instructions to find him and then return, so that he might also worship the new King. Of course, this is fatuous and insincere to the extreme. As later shown by the massacre of the Holy Innocents, Herod’s true purpose was obvious.

The Magi did indeed find Jesus and rejoiced with great measure. They fell down before the newborn King and offered him their treasures: gold, incense and myrrh. The Church has always understood these gifts as symbolizing the three great offices of Christ. The Gold symbolizes his Kingship over all creation. The incense symbolizes His role as our Great High Priest, which the New Testament tells us about in detail in Hebrews 4. Finally, the myrrh, a substance used for preserving the dead, symbolizes his role as Prophet. In this case, Jesus is the Greatest and Last Prophet, as he seals the New Testament in his blood. Recall that many of the prophets died as martyrs, like “righteous Zechariah”, who was stoned by an angry mob. Legend has it that Isaiah was sawn in two by the apostate king of Juda. Thus, Jesus, when threatened by the Pharisees that Herod would kill him, replied in Luke 13:33:”Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” The myrrh thus symbolizes and foreshadows the upcoming Passion and death of our Lord.

After this period of adoration, the Wise Men depart to their own land, being warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod. This is the literal sense of the passage. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is manifested to the world, symbolically represented by the Magi. This manifestation is symbolic, as mentioned, and cosmic. Recall that the Magi said in Mat 2:2: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Church tradition has always held that the Wise Men were astrologers, as well as students of ancient prophecy. How did they know about the star? How did know about the King of the Jews? We do not know from Scripture specifically, but the very fact that they knew about “his” star is simply astounding. Obviously, these men, well versed in ancient prophecy as well as the movement of the stars themselves, had been waiting for this event for a long, long, time.

There are a couple of other ways that we could view this text. One is through the use of allegory, as many of the Medieval Church fathers sought to see all of the Scripture. The Sentences of Peter Lombard provided glossae or allegorical interpretations for virtually the whole Bible and this was the main use of Scriptures for a long time. Or, we could, as some of the early Fathers like Origen or Tertullian did, try to find an anagogical, or hidden spiritual meaning for the passage. This also could be valid.

Perhaps the best use of this passage for us today is one of example. The Wise Men did several things that we would do well to mimic. What did they do? They sought and found, they rejoiced, they opened and gave, they worshipped, and they went their way.

Let us now move forward to this week’s Gospel. Here, St. Luke tells of that wonderful story of Christ in the Temple “sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them,
and asking them questions.” As the Gospel tells us, his parents attended the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem. This was one of the three required occasions each year that a devout male Jew was to appear before the Lord in the Temple. Obviously, Joseph did this every year, taking the family with him on a religious holiday.

This particular occasion must have been happy and carefree, for Mary and Joseph began the journey back to Nazareth without checking that Jesus was with them. They supposed that he was with their family and friends, so they left Jerusalem and went a day’s journey. Then, parental concern set in and they searched for him among the company. They didn’t know that he stayed behind in the Temple.

They must have been filled with astonishment at finding him, a 12 year- boy, sitting among the foremost experts in the Law of Moses and engaged in a very meaningful discussion. Obviously, he understood what they were teaching about the Law, for he asked them very cogent questions to the amazement of all who heard Him.

Jesus’ self-awareness comes to the fore in this story, as, with the piercing honesty of a child, he says to Joseph, “And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" This flies in the face of those who think that Christ didn’t really know what He was about or who He was. He knew who He was and why He came to Earth. He was manifested forth to Judea, in some small way, from this event. In some ways, it might even be seen as second, smaller, Epiphany. Christ showed himself forth to the doctors of the Law, and to us.

All of this comes to us because of the wonder of the Epiphany. God chose to manifest His only-begotten Son: Immanuel, God with us, “Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God” in a Judean stable some two thousand years ago.

This is the wonder and Glory of God. This is the majesty of the Epiphany.


“Thine O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou are exalted as head above all.”