The Day of Epiphany

This Advent season as a church, we decided to ‘steep’ in the word Joy.  Christmas is about Joy, the Christian faith is a joyous faith, and throughout scripture, we see the people of God expressing joy.  As we conclude the advent season, I’d like to reflect on one more group that expressed joy. Today, January 06, is known as the Day of Epiphany. This is a day to reflect on one final group in the birth of Jesus narrative.

In the accounting of Jesus’s life, the last reference to people who saw Him as a baby were the wise men from the east (Matthew 2:1-12). This was a group of gentile kings who traveled from afar, tracking a star, to worship Jesus. And Matthew tells us that when they saw the star telling them where Jesus was, they “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”  Matthew wants it to be abundantly clear that they rejoiced.  They didn’t just rejoice, they rejoiced exceedingly, and that exceeding expression wasn’t just with joy; it was with great joy.  What do you think Matthew was trying to say to the reader?

It may be that they found what they were looking for. But the focus is on the significance of what they were looking for. You see, if you found your lost keys, you rejoice.  If you find your misplaced eyeglasses, you greatly rejoice.  But what if this was more significant than just finding something lost?  I remember visiting the Science Center when my children were young and our middle daughter, at age 5, decided to go off on her own.  We were so scared.  And when we found her, we rejoiced with great joy because we found what we were looking for.

The kings were looking for a king to rule all kings, a king to right all wrongs, a king to restore all that was broken in the world, and when they found Him, they didn’t just rejoice; they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  As we conclude this Christmas season, we might be reminded that we are all truly looking for that same King, and may our discovery of Him be so overwhelming that we rejoice exceedingly with great joy!