Epiphany: A Message To The Gentiles

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

January 05, 2020

in Spritual Growth

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Feast of Epiphany
Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines
January 05, 2020

Readings: Isaiah 60: 1-6, 9
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2: 1-12

Christmas is a time to be joyful but because of commercialism, man has destroyed the true meaning of Christmas. The very purpose of Christ’s coming is being stolen from us and instead of the joy it should bring, it becomes more of a time of stress and anxiety. We worry about the gifts we should buy, we worry about the traffic. People today have lost the joy because of these things.

But God says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, for the glory of the Lord is upon you.” (Isaiah 60). The whole purpose of Christ’s coming was restoration. He came to restore the family. To bring us back to the joy we once had in Him. Unfortunately, we allow world events to control us and put us in fear and anxiety. There is a need for us to express our love to God. We should always be excited for the things of God. We should let our light shine so bright because “nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

Blessed be God who alone does wonders. Epiphany should be an encouragement that God is with us. We should not think that we are not blessed, that we are poor. We should be thinking of the things of God. We’ve been given the authority of His might.

Paul was imprisoned in Rome but he did not acknowledge that. Instead, he declared that he was a prisoner of Christ, to do His work. It was inside prison that he wrote the most beautiful epistles. He knew that Christ was in him, the hope of glory. It was a mystery given and revealed to him and he knew it was his responsibility to share it. We should bring Christ out from our lives for the sake of the Gospel. Our lives should be a living proof. Epiphany is Emmanuel – God with us. Things that may seem impossible to man, God is able to make them possible. Paul knew his task. He knew it was his mission to put God’s thoughts in writing. He didn’t go around bragging, and yet he had the boldness to share the gospel.

When the Star of Bethlehem appeared, it was to the magi – and they were gentiles. The Star did not appear to the Pharisees and Sadducees. It did not appear to the scribes. God chose gentiles for His message to be told. The Magi at first went to Herod to inquire about this Child who was born. They had read about it and wanted to witness the prophecy foretold in scriptures. Herod became anxious and told them to search for the Babe so that he too, would come and worship Him.

But for some divine intervention, the Magi was led by the Star in a different direction. It took them two years to travel and finally reach the house of where the Christ Child was staying. They presented gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They did not return to Herod anymore with the whereabouts of the Child, and went back home to where they came from.

God used the gentiles to do proclaim that, “God is with us.” He used the magi to bring about His message. And today, we should recognize the glory of God in our lives. For the One who is in us, He alone works wonders.