No one in St Albans or Harpenden can fail to know the date of Christmas.

But what and when is ‘Epiphany’?

Churches around the world celebrate this on 6th January – a Saturday this year. The word means a manifestation; but I love the dictionary definition: ‘a moment when you suddenly feel you understand’.

Got it! Epiphany!

It’s the day when we remember the three kings who appear in school nativity plays. Except that that is not quite what the Bible tells us.

We’ve no idea how many there were. Three may be a good guess but it’s no more than that.

We aren’t told they were kings. The word used, Magi, is one for which ‘wise men’ is a pretty accurate translation.

They saw a special ‘star’, yes, they went to King Herod to ask for final sat nav directions (a big mistake), and they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh.

All that is in Matthew’s Gospel (‘sat nav’ is my rather loose translation).

However, they did not turn up at the manger because Jesus is described as a child not a baby. Herod had all the boys under two killed so that’s a gruesome clue.

But they show that this child was like no other. And the point is that they weren’t Jews.

So very close to the start of his life, Jesus is shown to be for everyone.

If we’ll receive him as King, that is, as wise men and women do.

Got it? Epiphany!

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here