Christmas: The Epiphanyናሙና

If you’ve been diligently meditating through this Advent devotional since its release on 22nd December, you may have wondered why we didn’t conclude yesterday (25th). It would make most sense to crescendo the series and culminate on Christmas morning! If you are going through the devotional at any other time of the year, and by all means please do as the thoughts are relevant for all seasons, then you are exempted from wondering. And there lies the reason: Christmas is relevant for all seasons. He is not the reason for this season alone but is our firm foundation through all seasons.

The Proclamation of the birth of the King of the Jews worthy of worship by the Mysterious Magi and The Exaltation by the Angelic Armies declaring God’s glory tells us that even the mere corollary events of Christ’s birth demand round the year meditation. Once you add to the list the majestic meaning of His birth, Christmas becomes worthy of daily meditation.

In the midst of worldviews that present their god(s) as either unapproachable, too holy to descend, too powerful to be tangible or too imperfect and too anthropomorphised to warrant any wonder at their descent to earth stands distinctly superior the baby in the manger - the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of His being, the sustainer of all things, the justifier of mankind, the imputer of righteousness, the light of men, the great High Priest, the root of David, God almighty.

One of Christianity’s greatest thinkers, Alvin Plantinga, proposed a powerful theodicy known as ‘O Felix Culpa’. The Exsultet from the Roman Missal has in it this stark line:

“O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!”

Plantinga presented an answer to the question of evil and suffering by positing that God, wanting to create a world of such great magnificent order, permitted the fall (culpa). He did so because it is only in such a fallen world that the Incarnation and the Atonement can take place. Nothing displays so powerfully His love and justice like these two acts in human history. How marvellous a revelation it is for us to behold on earth the glory of the one and only Son from the Father. Of such unimaginable preeminence is His glory, for His disciples observed it without there being blinding lights and we are captivated by it by reading their witness.

Application question:

• Reflect on the wondrous display of God’s love and justice through the Incarnation.
• Take a moment to introspect your life: Have I taken for granted the goodness of His birth, relegating admiration and meditation of His Incarnation to a month?
• Surrender yourself in prayer, and follow Immanuel wherever He guides, knowing that we shall see face to face one day and behold His glory in all its fullness.