Christmas to Epiphany
When the Twelve Days of
Christmas are over, the gift-giving is supposed to be over as well. Twelve
drummers drumming, and then that’s it.
But as the Church
transitions from Christmas to Epiphany and those twelve traditional days of
presents draw to a close, God’s generous, gift-giving spirit is still front and
center. In the Epistle lesson for our Epiphany Festival, Paul is literally
beside himself to describe the special gift that God gave him.
“Assuming that you have
heard of the stewardship of God's grace
that was given to me for you, 3 how
the mystery was made known to me by
revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When
you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which
was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been
revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This
mystery is that
the Gentiles are fellow
heirs, members of the same
body, and partakers
of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
7 Of
this gospel I was made a
minister according to the gift of God's
grace, which was given me by the
working of his power. 8 To me, though
I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to
preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ, 9 and to
bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden
for ages in God who
created all things, 10 so
that through the church the manifold wisdom
of God might now be made known
to the rulers and authorities in the
heavenly places. 11 This
was according to the
eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in
whom we have boldness
and access with confidence
through our faith
in him.” (Ephesians 3:2-12)
In a way, Paul was a
unique recipient of this gift. In generations past, it was not fully revealed
to the sons of men (v. 5). For ages, it was kept hidden in God, the creator of
all things (v. 9). Even the angels do not have full insight into the mystery to
which Paul was made privy (v. 10).
That mystery is that
the Gentiles are sharers in the promises and blessings of God. Full sharers.
Equal partners. Members of the same body. They enjoy the same status before God
as the Jews. The full revelation of this mystery was given a unique way to
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
It was also a gift that
God wanted Paul to share. He wanted Paul to shed light on this secret for
everyone (v. 9). Through the Church, God wanted the angels to stand in awe as
they more clearly see the manifold wisdom of God (v. 10). God wants us to know
- and our people to know - what Paul knew: that everyone who has faith in Jesus
has full, unbridled access to the God. Whether it’s Christmas, Epiphany, or any
other day of the year, this is our present and permanent possession (cf.
present tense of the verb in verse 12).
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