The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
January 7, 2001
Vol. 4 no. 1

Everything But...
           This may be the strangest season. Not too many people have a handle on what an epiphany is, and even more what events of the Biblical story are part of epiphany.
           This Greek word is not religious by itself, meaning "to manifest, show forth, make clear." Originally, an epiphany referred to the official state visit of a king or emperor to a city, particularly when the king publicly showed himself to the amassed populace.
           The Christian Church adopted and adapted the term so that it came to refer to the appearances of Jesus to the world as Saviour and "God With Us." The birth of Jesus is naturally the first such epiphany. In the East the date of January 6 became the date, underlined by the visit of the Magi. Among other things, the Magi, or our "wise men," were the first Gentiles, the first people representing the rest of the world, to see the Messiah.
           You will probably notice that the mood for Epiphany has changed from Christmas. The boisterous nature of the Christmas carols have largely gone and replaced with a more reserved, sober joy. The Magi set the tone with pomp and circumstance, but dignity. Like us, they came with a combination of burning intellectual curiosity about what they might find, and an awesome sense of wonder that they were about to encounter the holy.
           In the Sundays after Epiphany, which this year take up all of January and February, the giddiness of the Nativity is done with. Now the real job of Jesus' ministry and person are drawn into the open. The wedding at Cana of Galilee, Jesus preaching in his hometown and then being driven out, a miraculous catch of fish, a familiar Sermon on the Plain and further teaching and parables, an eerie and mystical transfiguration - all these appearances of Jesus begin to reveal who is. Each year, the dilemma facing us is whether we will understand.