The Glory of God Shining Forth
When we think of The Epiphany and our season of Sundays that follow, we are thinking of Gospel themes that shed light on Jesus as truly human and truly divine. Epiphany is a word that means manifestation or revealing. In Greek, used as a religious noun, “epiphaneia” means a visible manifestation of a hidden divinity, in the form of a personal appearance, or by some deed of power by which divine presence is made known.
The Day of The Epiphany, January 6, is the high feast of Eastern Orthodox Christians centered on the Incarnation of God in the world. It celebrates the manifestation of Christ’s divinity, and his saving effect going into all the world. Traditionally, the themes of Epiphany begin with the discovery of Christ by the Magi having followed the star, the Gospel reading on January 6. The Gospels for the Sundays that follow are The Baptism of our Lord; the first miracles of Jesus, such as the turning of water into wine; and the calling of the first disciples. The Last Sunday after the Epiphany, right before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, put us on the Mount of Transfiguration. There, the glory of Christ is manifested, shining as divine light.
Listen for Luke’s telling of the Transfiguration as it will be our Gospel this Sunday. The preceding lessons all support this. The lesson from Exodus tells the story of Moses coming down from the presence of the Lord on Mount Sinai, and we hear, “the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” Verses 7 and 9 of Psalm 99 will remind us of divine revelation through God’s leading toward the promised land, and of the hill on which the Jerusalem Temple was built: “[The Lord, the King] spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud…Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God and worship him upon his holy hill; for the Lord, our God is the Holy One. Paul describes, in 2 Corinthians 3:18, the effect of the Spirit upon us:
“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”
What a powerful culmination for the season of light, Epiphany! The glorious manifestation of Christ in our midst is prefigured in the Sinai event—Moses’ face aglow, in the leading of Moses and Aaron across the wilderness, and as Jesus’s identity shines through in the dazzling transfigured Christ on the mountaintop. Moreover, this Transfiguration of Jesus points to the coming transformation of those who believe in him and cooperate with the sanctifying grace of the Spirit.
This, of course, implies that you are part of the manifestation of Christ in the world. Some people that never spend a single moment reading the scriptures, will interact with you in the regular business of your life. Your witness to Christ is of utmost importance. You may be the only Bible they ever read. The divinity of Christ reflects from you to them, not to your glory, but God’s. God is glorified, and the people with you are blessed and guided. What a privilege: to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever you are, and to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world. This is the language and description of ministry in the prayerbook, (BCP p. 855) Claim it for your own. We are people of Epiphany, manifesting God’s work in the world.