When we celebrate Epiphany as a season, we speak of the revelation of the glory of God in Jesus. When we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, the story turns more specific: we celebrate the salvation of God for the Gentiles. We read the story of the Magi who come to pay homage to the newly born king of the Jews, and of their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. While these gifts are a revelation of Jesus and the foreshadowing of the trifold nature of his life and ministry (king, and God, and sacrifice), they do not necessarily answer two questions: How are these two ideas connected? How does the salvation of the Gentiles reveal the glory of God?
Throughout the Old Testament, there are many instances of God delivering Gentiles (Naaman delivered from leprosy or the Sidonian widow saved from starvation) or incorporating them into Israel. One need only look to Jesus’ genealogy at Matthew 1, to find evidence of Gentiles taking prominent places in Israel’s history (stories of Gentile conversions also are scattered throughout the Bible). Rahab, a Canaanite; Ruth, a Moabite; and the wife of Uriah the Hittite all make an appearance. These women were incorporated not only into Israel, but also into the lineage of kings and the lineage of the Son of God. They demonstrated faith in God, were incorporated into Israel, and participated in bringing God’s salvation to the world.
Thus it is, in a sense, a mistake to assume that there was no salvation, per se, available for the Gentiles before Jesus’ advent. Indeed, the coming of the Magi to worship Jesus most likely stems from the conversion (or at least a recognition of the God of Israel as powerful) of various Babylonians and Persians depicted in the book of Daniel. Throughout the book, the power of God is displayed to the Gentile kings through the interpretation of dreams and visions (Dan 2, 5), salvation of the Jews from death (Dan 3, 6), and the striking down of kings (Dan 4, 5), with the result that the wise men and lords of these nations are ordered to worship him and King Cyrus of Persia himself instigated the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem (Ezr 1:1-2).
Despite all this, before Peter’s dream in Acts 10 of creatures being let down in a sheet, or Paul’s missionary journeys, Gentile worship of the God of Israel was a rarity. Undoubtedly, the coming of Jesus ushered in a new era of salvation being made available to the Gentiles, an era foretold in God’s promise to Abraham when God promised to make him into a great nation like the stars of the sky and to bless all the nations of the earth through him (Gen 12:1-3).
The Epiphany of God’s glory that we celebrate today reflects Israel’s larger mission to display the glory of God to all nations as glimpsed by the prophet Isaiah in Isa 60:3: “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” The Gentile Magi recognize Jesus’ kingship and divine origin, and they come from far away to worship him in a mere foretaste of the salvation that will reach to the farthest corners of the earth.
In Acts 11:1-18, Peter describes the first instance of Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit in the same way that the Jews had at Pentecost. That God would open salvation to all humanity, expanding the boundaries beyond the descendants of Abraham, was a revelation of great wonder to the disciples. That Gentiles, whose defining characteristic in relation to the Jews was the worship of idols, would receive the gift of forgiveness and that the Holy Spirit of God would come upon them revealed the magnitude of God’s plan of salvation and the work of Jesus Christ. In the salvation of the Gentiles, Jesus was revealed not simply as the one who shows the glory of God to the nations, but a light that enlightens every darkened soul that turns to him for forgiveness. The disciples’ response to this revelation was to glorify God.
For those of us who were born and raised in the church, and who have partaken freely of the gift of salvation offered to the Gentiles for generations, even centuries, it may be still difficult to grasp — except in an intellectual way — how the offering of light to the nations prompts the rejoicing depicted in Acts 11 among the apostles.
Many years ago, I was running an inner-city church plant and children’s ministry. We offered baptism classes to the children to teach them about the gospel and the basic tenets of the faith; many children attended. One of the more difficult children was a boy of about 8 or 9; he would attack people and scream obscenities. This boy had a demon problem; he typically ran out or screamed or lay down in the street at the name of Jesus, so he tended to stay away from the baptism classes.
One day, he told us about things that had happened to him and said, “I want to get baptized so I can stop acting crazy.” So, with a lot of stops and starts, spiritual warfare, prayer, and perseverance, our team got him through the baptism classes. He was my first baptism. During the entire service, he acted out increasingly, but he did not leave. I baptized and anointed him. As I did so, peace visibly slid across his face, and he looked up at me and gave me the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. Even the other kids noticed the difference. There was much rejoicing, both on earth and in heaven, that day.
The Feast of the Epiphany should inspire this same thanksgiving and rejoicing in every Christian. Through Christ, we have been forgiven. We have been set free. We have been made anew from brokenness, idolatry, and slavery into children of God and bearers of the Holy Spirit. We have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of Him who is the light that has come into the world.
The offering of salvation to the people who dwell in darkness is not some remote concept. The light of Christ has come into the world, and every tongue and tribe and nation is welcome to receive the gift of God’s salvation. It is the offering of life to the drowning; it is the offering of joy and peace to the suffering. When we witness that gift, like the early disciples, we cannot help but glorify God with great rejoicing.
The Rev. Hannah Armidon is a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield and a Ph.D. candidate in Old Testament and Theology at Wycliffe College, Toronto. She lives in Elkhart, Indiana with her husband, the Rev. Robert E. Armidon, many fruit bushes, and several carnivorous plants.