Psalms 3-5

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Today is Epiphany . . .

a feast having to do with the infancy and baptism of Christ. By the fourth century the eastern church observed it as one of the three principal feasts of the church year (the other two were Easter and Pentecost; Christmas didn't become popular until later). In the western church, which did not get Epiphany until the fourth century, the feast took on a completely different character. There it was associated with the coming of the magi (wise men) bringing gifts to baby Jesus, and scant mention was made of Christ's baptism. The eastern church still links Epiphany with the baptism of Christ. —Christianity History Institute

We don't know where the magi found Jesus, and we don't know exactly when (we know only that Jesus, according to Herod's calculations, was two years of age or younger). But we do know what the magi did when they located the child. As we read yesterday:

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)

Their response was like that of King David when he entered the Lord's house:

But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
toward your holy temple. —Psalm 5:7

Our church does not officially celebrate Epiphany, but our service today had the sense of epiphany in that our worship celebrated "the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles."



Click here to watch the sermon.


From St. Albans Psalter