“For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” – Nunc Dimittis, LSB 199-200

The Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord celebrates the manifestation or revealing of our Lord to the Magi, Gentiles from the east, who visited Jesus soon after His birth (Matthew 2:1-12). It is sometimes described as a Christmas of the Gentiles. 

The Epiphany of Our Lord embraces the manifestation of God in human flesh, not only in the person of Jesus Christ, but also in the ongoing ministry of His Gospel. By the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His name, those who are far off and far removed from God are called and brought near to God in Christ in order that they may know Him and love Him and worship Him. The gifts of the Magi are the confession of the Gentiles that Jesus Christ, “the child with Mary His mother” (Matthew 2:11), is King and God and sacrifice. The gold confesses that He is King, the frankincense that He is God, and the myrrh that He is to be sacrificed, dead, and buried for the sins of the world.

We are blessed that God has revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ as King and God and sacrifice! Now we can tell others the Gospel of Jesus and invite them to Zion where they may hear the Gospel of Jesus proclaimed that God may reveal Himself to them as well. 

The season of Epiphany moves from the infancy narratives to the revelation of the grace and glory of God in the person and work of the man, Jesus Christ. It focuses on His appearance to Israel, and it anticipates His cross and Passion.

In the festivals of the Baptism and the Transfiguration of Our Lord – on the first and final Sundays of the Epiphany seasons, respectively – the voice of God the Father and the anointing of the Holy Spirit confirm that Jesus is the Christ, the beloved and well-pleasing Son of God in the flesh.

We will observe this feast on Wednesday, January 7, at Zion this year. 

On January 25, the final Sunday of the Epiphany season, we will bid farewell to the use of “Alleluia” until the beginning of the Easter season, as a penitential discipline, and with joyful confidence in Christ.