The Gift We Need
Musings on Epiphany
Parenting a preschooler has brought so many unexpected challenges.
Chief among them is the experience of hearing myself correct my child and, in so doing, hearing God correct me. My precious four year old recently ordered (with the help of his dad) two pairs of sunglasses and a dinosaur watch. He used his Christmas money to procure these accessories which are bringing him untold delight.
Today, on the way to school, he shared how he “needs” another watch and some more sunglasses. I heard myself respond to him with this truth: “You have plenty.” And then, surprisingly, the statement reverberated back at me by way of the Holy Spirit: “Kristen, you have plenty.”
And, yes, it is absolutely true. But, so often I find myself craving more, lusting after more, “needing” more. Is it not true for me, as it is for my son, that I have enough and that more things won’t satisfy whatever it is I’m wanting to find? Where is the disconnect between my words to my son and my own misguided desires?
Today is Epiphany, the church’s celebration of the glorious revelation of Jesus as not only a Gift to the Jewish people but a Gift to ALL people - a Messiah for every single person on earth. Marvel of all marvels! The God of Israel has come for each one of us! It’s a celebration of the reality of Isaiah’s prophecy coming true:
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Isaiah 60:1-3
As a person with a “low church” background, Epiphany is a festival day I’ve long ignored, possibly to my own detriment. Maybe what I need on this day in which the Lord is correcting my misguided desires is a reminder first, that the Gift has already been given and, second, that I could take some pointers from those non-Jewish wise men who made their way toward the baby Jesus in the first months (years?) after His birth:
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ … After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 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.” Matt 2:1-2, 9-11
These wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus. Not because he needed things like frankincense or gold or myrrh but because it was a genuine attempt to give something back to the person who is the Gift.
On this Epiphany, I remember that my needs have already been met in the Gift that is Jesus. I recall the revelation that He is not just a Messiah but our Messiah. I reorient myself to the plentiful place I now inhabit as a child in the kingdom of God. And I give Him back what He’s due - honor and worship and adoration. And this act of giving to God what He is due contradicts my inward misguided desires to acquire, at least for today.