The festival of Epiphany is celebrated on January 6. This is where we get the twelve days of Christmas, marking the twelve days between the Christ Mass and the celebration of Epiphany. The focal story of Epiphany is the visit of the magi who bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus and his family. The reason this is an important event is because it is seen as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies that speak of the nations bringing their wealth to Israel. All the Sunday texts for Epiphany are focused on encounters with Christ: Jesus being declared by God as God’s Son at his baptism, Jesus meeting and calling disciples to follow him, the sick encountering Jesus’ healing.
The texts below help prepare us for this season of Epiphany. The texts for Wednesday are particularly revealing, helping us see the connection between Pharaoh, who ordered all newborn Hebrew males to be drowned in the Nile because he feared the Hebrew population was growing to large, and Herod, who at the time of Jesus ordered all male infants and toddlers in Bethlehem be killed because he was afraid of the newborn king of the Jews. While Christ’s presence is gracious, it is also disruptive.
Monday 1/05
Proverbs 22:1-9
Luke 6:27-31
Tuesday 1/06 (Epiphany of the Lord)
Scripture Readings for Epiphany
Wednesday 1/07
Exodus 1:22-2:10
Hebrews 11:27-28
Read Psalm 110 each of these three days
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment