[Pearls Ep 153: Preparing for Sunday.]
I (Steve…) have been known to be the master of the obvious – searching for the car keys that were in my pocket or concocting a complicated solution to something only to realize a simpler answer was right under my nose, in the forehead-smacking moment of epiphany.
This Sunday brings us The Epiphany, and with it the end of the Christmas season – though the Smith family Christmas tree will remain standing long past fire-hazard status. Sunday’s Gospel reading presents us with the three Wise Men arriving in Bethlehem to honor the Christ Child.
This is one of three events that constitute the Epiphany in the mind of the Church – the other two being Christ’s Baptism and Christ’s miracle at the Wedding Feast at Cana.
The word Epiphany is the conjunction of epi and phany. Epi means something like on, above, or, at the surface. Phany is manifestation or appearance. Putting these together means the appearance of something that is already right there, out in the open, at the surface.
And to believers, an epiphany is not just a revelation of something obvious, it is specifically a revelation of Christ.
In yesterday’s Gospel reading (John 1:43-51) Andrew brings Peter to meet Jesus, and Jesus asks that great question, “What are you looking for?” Peter has a classic response – “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Peter realized that the person right in front of him is what he was looking for – and he wants to follow Him home! Peter had an epiphany.
Just like Peter (and the Wise Men, and John the Baptist, and the Wedding Stewards), we all have encounters with Christ. We all have epiphanies.
In this week’s Pearls of the Interior Life, and follow-up messages, we look at three specific ways epiphanies impact our interior lives (and thus our entire lives), based on the fact that an epiphany is:
- the revelation of something right before us,
- an encounter with Christ,
- something that illuminates our life.
Christmas blessings –
Steve and Karen Smith
Interior Life