An Epiphany of Worship

Happy Epiphany to those who are wont to celebrate such days! Epiphany is the day on which the Church has historically commemorated the visit of the magi or wise men. In my devotions this morning I was looking at Matthew 2 which tells us about this event.

The actions of the magi are often held up as an example of how we should rightly respond to the news of Christ’s coming. Namely, we should come and worship, bearing our gifts and bowing before the Lord! This is altogether right, but there are also examples in the text as to how we ought not to respond.

Herod is one such example. His reaction to the news is one e responds to the news is one of blatant self-interest. We read of how he looks to kill the Christ-child so that his own throne would not be threatened. He eventually goes to the most horrifying of ends in his futile efforts to accomplish this.

While it probably true that none of us will respond with the same actions as Herod, we do need to be careful not to respond out of similar self-interest. Our day is one in which the popular view of Jesus is increasingly one of a self-help guru. While Jesus does indeed give our life purpose and it is only through knowing him that we can have our best life, these are not the ultimate reasons Jesus came. He came to redeem and renew his good creation, and to prepare a bride for himself. His work is about God’s glory, not our comfort.

One less obvious, though perhaps even more applicable example for many of us would be that of the chief priests and the scribes. These religious leaders know their Bible. As such they are able to properly identify and recite the prophecy of Micah 5:2 that fortells the location of the birth of the Christ. But what do they do next? Unfortunately, nothing. What the chief priests and the scribes should have done is gone online and booked an immediate trip to Bethlehem to see the Christ-child themselves!

Too often, when I read the Bible, I am like these religious leaders, merely gleaning information from the biblical text. At times I read it as a history book, telling me about past events. Other times I read it as an instruction manual, telling me how to live my life.

I need to be careful though not to read the Bible simply in either of these fashions. It is indeed these things, but it is far more. It is a book that is meant not only to inform us, but to transform us. I should read it so as to be changed by God.

I need to not only read the Bible, but meditate on it, mulling it over in my heart and mind, as did Mary when she “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). I need to ask God to use it to make me more like him, not simply because it gives us step-by-step directions, but because it is a book that is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and capable of effecting such change.

May God be at work in us all this new year, transforming us ever-increasingly into the likeness of his Son!