The Festival of the Epiphany of our Lord
Posted on January 6, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 2:1-12 (NKJV)
2:1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
Devotion
When God called Abraham to go into the land of Canaan, He promised that He would make of him a great nation. This nation would be the Lord’s people and worship Him as their only God. This was further established after the nation of Israel, which had gone down into Egypt as a small band and was now a great nation, was led out of Egypt by God. He once again through His servant Moses established—with the presentation of the Law—that He would be their God, and they would be His people. He would lead them through forty years in the wilderness and bring them back into the land of promise as their only God.
The Lord also desired that the Gentiles would be His people, and that they would have Him be their only God. With the arrival of the wise men from the east, the Lord begins to call the Gentiles to be His people. They saw the star of the newborn baby Jesus and followed it to come and find Him, the One who would fulfill the Law for all mankind. By the star the Lord led these wise men to Him, their Redeemer from sin. Like the Jews who were chosen by God to be His faithful people by the Law, now the Gentiles are chosen to be His faithful people through faith in Christ who fulfilled the Law, so that He may make of us a great nation of saints, fit for His eternal kingdom.
Collect: O God, Who by the leading of a star didst manifest Thine Only-begotten Son to the Gentiles: Mercifully grant, that we, who know Thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of Thy glorious Godhead; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
