The Epiphany Season

The Meaning of Epiphany
The word 'Epiphany' comes from a Greek word which means 'appearance'. The divinity of
our Lord was made manifest to the world, including the Gentiles, when the Wise Men
followed the star to find the King of the Jews.

The account of the Visit of the Wise Men or Magi is found in Matthew 2:10. There is no mention
of the number of Wise Men in this group. There is mention, however, of three gifts -
gold, incense, and myrrh - which may be the basis for the popularity of the number of
visitors being three. Jesus, as Prophet, Priest, and King was worthy of the kingly gift of gold,
the gift of incense, used when priests offered up prayer, and the myrrh, used for embalming
the body after death, as the fulfillment of the sacrifice that was prophesied from of old.

We know that the Baby was taken to the temple in Jerusalem for the circumcision at the age
of eight days and again to be consecrated to the Lord at forty days (Luke 2:21-24), so the
visit from the Magi would have been sometime between the forty day consecration and the
flight to Egypt. Therefore the picture of the Wise Men at the stable is in error because the
child was no longer a newborn when their visit occurred.

Epiphany, like Christmas, borrowed the date from a pagan solstice festival. In the course of
time, the solstice was no longer on January 6th, because of measuring in time, but the
festival continued. In many parts of the world, January 6 (the day after the Twelve Days
of Christmas) is the day on which the birth of our Lord is celebrated and gifts are
exchanged. The feast of Epiphany was also called the Theophany, the Feast of
the Manifestation, the Feast of Lights, and/or the Feast of the Appearing Christ.