It takes an Epiphany

The epiphany of the Epiphany is that we need an epiphany to see the God who will actually save us. The God who is actually with and for us.

Without the epiphany of the Holy Spirit.. Left to our own devices… We typically try to find God in the opposite places that God is actually found. The first place we usually run is towards our false gods and crumbling idols.

Even the Magi got it wrong at first. Their astro-spiritual wisdom took them to the city center of Jerusalem where Roman puppet king Herod was seated - (who got wind of their inquiry and promptly wanted to exterminate this so-called upcoming king).

It took the epiphany of a wisdom outside of their own for the magi to get them to the right place. It took them listening to the prophet Micah, whom they quote as the one who suggests Bethlehem as the birthplace of this Messiah. When they arrived at the home of this newborn king, they didn’t see what looked like the birthplace of royalty. I’d imagine that Jesus’s first abode looked ramshackle and messy. This was no palace fit for a king.

But when the Magi knelt down, something deeper was happening than mere homage-paying. They were pledging allegiance to this newborn king that - by their own wisdom - looked completely foolish. But like Mary’s yes, they submitted to the epiphany that the incarnate God was HERE. The God of the universe had been born into an incredibly vulnerable situation (tensions between Mary and Joseph were likely still wound extremely tight when the Magi showed up). But God employed these pagan outsiders (to Jesus’ people, at least) and made good use of the false idols of their star charts and astrological ‘wisdom’ to give them the epiphany of the incarnate God.

It’s interesting to inquire…

What false idols in your life is God employing right now to use as the epiphany that brings you back to Him? Even if you run into Herod first, God will eventually have His way with you. He will bring you home. And it will look nothing like what you expect.

In Joy,
Jonas+