The word Epiphany comes from two Greek words: ‘epi’ meaning ‘upon’ and ‘phanos’ which is a light. So this is the time when we are invited to shine a light on Jesus, or in other words, to answer the critical question: “Who is he? Who is this child? Who is this man Jesus?”

The gospel reading for the Feast of Epiphany tells the story of the three Kings or Wise Men. In fact they were nearer to what we consider to be magicians, but they were wise enough to recognise the limitations of their craft. When they come to pay their respects to the baby Jesus in the manger, what they are doing is giving up, laying at his feet, the tools of their trade: gold, the symbol of secular power, myrrh, spices used to preserve a corpse, a symbol of the power to make something into what it no longer is, and frankincense a symbol of empty ritual and incantation.

So at Epiphany, the magicians, the secular finite powers, bow to the Son of God, giving up the tools of their trade. And why? Because there is nothing that magic has to fear more than true religion. True faith in God is not conned by myrrh, it is not impressed by the religiosity of frankincense and nor is it bought off with gold. True religion belongs somewhere else, it belongs to that which is meaningful, that which is eternal, and that which is infinite.

And how does this story shine a light on Jesus? It tells us that, though Jesus entered our world - his creation - at Christmas, he does not yield to its power. Of course there is much in this world that points us to God, yet the real God, the full & almighty God has been born in the baby Jesus. And we, with the magicians of the finite, can only bow down before him, and give up ourselves, to the one who will point to all that is beyond.

Picture above: Three Kings arrive in Barcelona, January 2015