The Greek word for light is phos and its plural is phota, from which we get our word photograph. In the Christian East, both Catholics and Orthodox often call the Epiphany the Feast of Lights or Phota, because light has always been seen as a manifestation of God’s creative goodness, as in “Let there be light.”
For this reason light is one of the three essential dimensions of the Epiphany, the others being revelation and mystery. And the season of Christmas which begins with the feast of Christ’s birth now reaches a new height as we ponder how God reveals the eternal mystery of salvation through the light of divine revelation.
During the preface to the Eucharistic Prayer for the Epiphany, priests all over the world will sing to God the Father that “today you have revealed the mystery of our salvation in Christ as a light for the nations,” and here we see again the three essential dimensions of this sublime feast: light, revelation, and mystery.
God’s light, also called his radiance or glory, is among the most important means by which he reveals or unveils himself to the human race. The revelation to Israel began when God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and made with him and his descendants an eternal covenant which stands as a perpetual witness that the one true God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This we see confirmed by the Prophet Isaiah in our first lesson: “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples, but upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory.”
And here we see that against the light of God’s glory stands the darkness of sin and death. While God reveals his face in light, sin wraps itself in darkness so as not to be exposed and seen. And in the heart of every human person, a struggle goes on to allow God’s grace to put to death in us whatever is contrary to his goodness and glory so that we may live in the light of the truth.
But that requires of us a willingness to acknowledge that our sins are sins, and to the extent we refuse to call our sins by their true name, we are lost in the cloud of darkness which prevents us from seeing the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
Today we read Saint Matthew’s account of the visit of the magi, the Gentile pilgrims who came to Jerusalem guided by the light of a star and seeking to know the truth of God’s holy Word revealed by the King of the Jews. But the king sought by the magi was not Herod, and so in fear and rage, Herod slaughtered every boy under the age of two in and around Bethlehem.
And although Herod’s slaughter of the innocents was a particularly egregious example of the mystery of lawlessness, such fear and rage can fill the hearts of anyone who will not receive the light of divine revelation and accept the mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ. And one reason for such rejection is that accepting the mystery of salvation in Christ by the light of divine revelation requires of us both conversion from sin and the obedience of faith in the Gospel.
But to those who do accept the Gospel, the promise of the covenant is given. That is why Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesians that “the mystery was made known to me by revelation: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.”
Here Paul means that all of non-Jewish humanity, represented today by the magi, can become coheirs with the children of Abraham to the promise God made to fashion a people for himself in whom he would restore what was lost at the beginning by the rebellion of sin and the rejection of his eternal plan for human life. And how are the Gentiles to be added to the Jews as coheirs and copartners in this one people, this same body? In Christ Jesus through the Gospel.
The Gospel is the sum total of all that God has revealed for our salvation, and at heart of the light of divine revelation is the third essential dimension of this feast: mystery. Mysterion is the Greek word which gives us our word mystery but it can also be rendered as sacrament. Mysterion is the Greek version of a Hebrew word, a word which the Jews borrowed from the Babylonians who in turn borrowed it from the Persians. That word is raz.
A raz was a plan in the mind of the king, a plan to address a problem, which would remain in the king’s mind until he was ready to publish it, to make it known to the people. And so the mystery of which Paul writes is the plan which was eternally in the mind of God but which was made known or revealed only gradually, from Adam and Noah to Abraham and his children, then to Moses and Aaron and the prophets and kings of Israel, until in the fullness of time the mystery or plan was finally and fully revealed to the entire human race in the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This plan or mystery of salvation which was in the mind of the Father before the foundation of the world was to restore all things in Christ and to overcome the darkness of sin and death by the light of divine revelation. And when the eternal Word became flesh, he revealed the eternal mystery of salvation for every time and place, and the publication of that plan or mystery is the sacrament of our salvation.
A sacrament is a visible sign of an interior grace, and for the redemption of the human race, the sacred humanity of Jesus of Nazareth, his human body, is that sign, the sacrament or mystery of salvation. That is why every event in the life of Christ is a manifestation of God’s radiant glory.
At his holy birth the Lord Jesus was attended by the glory of angels. At the visit of the magi to Bethlehem the Gentiles were guided to him by a star. At his Presentation in the Temple he was confessed and proclaimed to be the light of the world. And by his teaching of the teachers in the Temple when he was but a boy, Jesus revealed that he is divine wisdom made man.
At Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan he was accompanied by the glory cloud which once filled the Temple. By his first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana he revealed his glory and awakened saving faith in his disciples. And by the miracles of his public life, the Lord Jesus gave signs of his divine nature and his mastery over all creation.
At the transfiguration of Christ on the mountain, the uncreated light of his divine glory shone forth through his human body. On the Cross the sign of his death was an eclipse of the sun. And by his Resurrection from the dead, Christ revealed the destruction of death and the promise of eternal life in glory to all who are united to him by faith, hope, and love.
Forty days after his birth, the Lord Jesus was taken by Mary and Joseph to the Temple in Jerusalem so that according to the Law, he could be presented or consecrated to God, and we will celebrate that mystery of the Lord on February 2nd, forty days after Christmas. On that day we will hear Saint Luke explain that Simeon, a righteous and devout man in Jerusalem, had been taught by the Holy Spirit that he would live to see the arrival of the Messiah.
Simeon was there in the Temple that day when Mary and Joseph arrived with the child Jesus, and then with great joy Simeon recognized the long awaited Desire of Nations and gave thanks to God in words the Church sings every night at Compline, the final liturgical Hour of the Divine Office. These words of Simeon are a fitting summary of the saving truths of mystery and revelation that we celebrate on this Feast of Lights, the Epiphany of God the Son.
Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people; a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel: The Lord Jesus Christ.
This the text of my homily for 5 January 2025, the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.
Fr Jay Scott Newman