by Louise Riveiro - Mitchell

Created on: September 07, 2009   Last Updated: September 08, 2009

Epiphany from the Greek word meaning to manifest to show, let's explore this a bit more. As promised by the Lord to the generations of Abraham and David, He would send them a Savior who would free them. A king of kings. The scriptures foretold of His coming and the prophets proclaimed this miracle would happen in the town of Bethlehem.

It came to pass that a simple carpenter and his wife had journeyed to Bethlehem from Nazareth to register for the census. They traveled a great distance and Mary his wife was about to have her child. With no place in the inns Joseph, Mary's husband was offered the stable for the night for them to stay. Here in this lowly setting the king of kings, and the son of God was born. In this manger on a bed of hay the infant sleeps while the gentle creatures stand watch over Him and keep him warm.

The birth was marked by a brilliant star that lit up the heavens and was seen all over the world. The blinding light that illuminated the sky where the shepherds were tending their flocks lead them where to find the child the angels spoke of .

This star was noticed by the Magi in the far east who had known of the prophecies and studied the astrological signs that were leading to this miracle. It was this star, this beacon that convinced them that they must follow it to see this child, this king. Upon reaching Bethlehem, they found not a newborn but a toddler sitting on His mother's lap - if you recall when they asked Herod about the child his fears for his throne proclaimed the order to have all male Hebrew's from newborn to a year slain, this gives us a time frame on how long it took the Magi for their journey.

They fell on their knees and paid honor to Him knowing this was the Christ, the one the scriptures spoke of, the promise of God to His people. Now many have a different theory on Epiphany, Western churches believe it is when the Magi came while Eastern churches believe it was when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan I feel the star is the one that proclaims His birth and it leads all to the manifestation of Christ to the world. Each culture has it's own way of celebrating this feast; since I was a child I was given one gift on Christmas day but had to wait until Epiphany to open my others. My father expalined to me that I would recieve my gifts when the Christ child recieved His, stressing that Christmas was a time we celebrate His birth, that it was His day.

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