My Epiphany On Epiphany

Today in church we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. In the nativity story, it marks when the three kings proclaimed Jesus as Kings of the Jews.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary,
and they bowed down and worshiped him.
Then they opened their treasures and presented him with
gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
~ Matthew 2: 10-12

Epiphany also is celebrated as the revelation of God to man in form of Jesus Christ–that Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus embodied God in the way He loved all those whom he encountered and in the miracles He performed, from healing the sick to raising the dead to loving the unloveable. Jesus carried out God’s will, even when that meant his own crucifixion.

My epiphany about epiphany came a few year ago when I couldn’t be with someone I wanted to encourage, and I had to rely on another friend to pass on my support. When I was texting, “Give her a hug for me!” it struck me how I was counting on our mutual friend to really be there for me. And then it hit me. That’s how God used Jesus to reach us, and that’s how He can use each of us to spread his His love.

Maybe we can’t be God, but we can do God’s work in this world. God counts on us to be the hands that help, the ears that listen, the shoulders that share burdens. When we act as a “member” of the body of Christ–a hand, a shoulder, an ear–we can make God real for others, just like my friend could make my support real when I couldn’t be there.

I do believe that God can and does work through people. I have been blessed with too many “angels” in my life to think otherwise, and I have heard too many true stories of miraculous encounters with just the right person who said just the right thing or knew just what to do. So, maybe God is still working miracles in our time, through those of us who do the things that He wants–and maybe even needs–us to do on His behalf.