On the 12th Day of Christmas….Epiphany
“On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…….” Let’s talk about those 12 days of Christmas. The true Christmas season starts on Christmas Day, the 25th. And it marks the official start of the 12 days of Christmas, and that relentlessly stick-in-your-head Christmas carol. But there’s so much more than the song.
The 12 days of Christmas is the period that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25th and runs through January 6th (the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three Kings’ Day). The four weeks preceding Christmas are known as Advent, which begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on December 24th.
Today we celebrate Epiphany. It marks the official end of the Christmas season. Epiphany means manifestation of God in His Son as human in Jesus Christ. It marks a visit to the baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men.
Most manger scenes include those three wise men, but the wise men didn’t appear until about two years after Christmas. Tradition has led us to believe things that the Bible doesn’t tell us. Most likely they were astrologers and brought three gifts to the Holy Family.
These men had seen a very unusual star that signaled to them the birth of divine royalty. So, like captains charting a course by the stars in the middle of the vast ocean, these men set off to “follow” the star. Their journey brought them to King Herod’s home: “Where is the King of the Jews?” they asked Herod.
Herod didn’t like the question, because he WAS the King of the Jews and this “king” they spoke of could be a rival to his throne. He sent the men to find the baby and then report back to him. The star led them to the home of Mary, Joseph, and their child Jesus.
Matthew 2:11 says that immediately upon entering the house, the wise men knew they were in the presence of the most wonderful king to ever been born. They fell to their knees to honor and worship Him, and they offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Not practical gifts, but valuable gifts. A gold brick in today’s time is worth about $500K and in that day it would have probably been even more valuable and probably sustained the Holy Family for many years to come.
LOVE gives. “For God SO LOVED the world that He GAVE His only Son….” John 3:16. God gives. When we love, we give. We can’t help ourselves. We demonstrate our love with joyful giving and receiving straight from God’s heart.
Those wise men brought gifts to Jesus, but Jesus gave them, and us, back so much more — an even greater gift. He came to earth to become one of us so that He could GIVE to us the gift of a “PAID IN FULL” bill. He gave us the gift of forgiveness and a pardon from ever having to pay for the mistakes we make. He gave His ALL!
All we must do is receive the gift. When we do, we will want to give back to Him in worship with everything we are and everything we have. When we experience His love, like the Wise Men, we give and we worship Him, not because we’re required or must, but because we want to honor, adore and worship our KING of all KINGS! Happy Epiphany!