Thursday, January 6
…they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
—Matthew 2:9-10
The Feast of the Epiphany
Today is January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. The Epiphany marks the “going out” of the “light of Christ” to the Gentiles, the world which did not know Him. The word Epiphany also means “sudden insight or revelation.”
Put it all together and we have a time of change, of God revealing Himself, of God “coming down” into the world to be close to us. The Epiphany is primarily about light as opposed to darkness. Christ is the “light of the world,” come to help us “overcome the darkness.”
This season, right up until Ash Wednesday and the somber season of Lent, is all about the Epiphany of Christ (His light coming to us) and the “epiphanies” that can happen to us as a joyful result.
In St. John’s Gospel (1:1-18) we hear that “the true light, which enlightens every man, was coming into the world” and “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” These are glorious words, thousands of years old. They are the proclamation of victory for you and for me.
Life has its times of darkness, but this is the Word of God that proclaims the victory of light, of goodness, of God Himself. Our loving God is all good and stands against darkness and evil. In our limited vision, it seems at times that evil prevails. We suffer with the evil of this world, but God—the God of light and love—promises that in the long run good will win out.
Let us, during this bright season of Epiphany, take this Good News into our heart and soul, and store it up for use when needed!
Good and gracious God, fill me with your light, always. Amen.
These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2007.
