Meditation on the Epiphany of our Lord

          Today is the Festival of Epiphany.  Epiphany means revelation or manifest.  If you say, "I had an epiphany," that means something has become clear to you.  At the Festival of Epiphany and in the Sundays that follow, Jesus of Nazareth is manifested as the true Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.  This is made evident by his miracles, his teachings, the testimony of John the Baptist, the proclamation of the Father from heaven, and so on.

          In a portion of St. Athanasius' (296-373) "On the Incarnation," Athanasius gives a refutation of the Jews and Gentiles who deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  His refutation of the Gentiles seems to be more philosophical in tone.  But his refutation of the Jews leans on the Old Testament.  He would have us consider the prophecies made about the Messiah--what he would be, what he would do, what would be the results of his coming.  If Jesus did not do these things, he is not the Messiah.  If he did accomplish them, what other conclusion could be drawn except that he is the Promised Messiah?

          St. Athanasius demonstrates the main point of Epiphany and the Sundays after Epiphany: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.  He has fulfilled all promises and, thereby, grants us comfort and confidence in our salvation.  Something from Athanasius:

               “For what more has he who is expected by them to do when he comes?  Call the Gentiles?  But they have already been called.  To make prophet and king and vision to cease?  This has already happened.  To refute the godlessness of idols?  It has already been refuted and condemned.  To destroy death?  It is already destroyed.  What then must Christ do, which has not been done?  Or what is left unfulfilled, that the Jews now rejoice and disbelieve.  For if, as we thus see, they have neither king, nor prophet, nor Jerusalem, nor sacrifice, nor vision, but the whole world is filled with the knowledge of God, and those form the Gentiles are abandoning godlessness, and henceforth taking refuge in the God of Abraham through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, it should be clear even to those who are exceedingly obstinate that Christ has come, and that he illumines absolutely all with his light and teaches the true and divine teaching concerning his Father.” (On the Incarnation, paragraph 40; translation by John Behr; St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press: Yonkers, NY. © 2011)