Step Into the Light

How strange it is to think that if not for Herod’s directions, the magi would not have known where to find Jesus. They were not Jews, they knew nothing of the old prophecies. It was Herod who convened the scholars. It was Herod who pointed the way — for ulterior motives, certainly, but nonetheless, this is the part he played. It was Herod who made the Epiphany possible.

“Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance,” writes the prophet (Isaiah 60:3). A king may keep to the shadows, suspicious of the light — he may foolishly imagine he can snatch it from the sky to keep as his own possession, and, upon finding the light cannot be governed, grow to loathe it, and even seek to extinguish it once and for all.

But all his grand designs will come to nothing because there is no king so powerful that he can see in the dark. And even a man like Herod — a man so jealous that he sought to kill God — cannot prevent the breaking of day.

The Epiphany marks the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. It is a celebration of truth reaching places it was not expected to reach, of brightness illuminating corners of the world long ago consigned to shadow. It is a reminder that the battle has already been won, the night is over. All that remains is for us to decide: will we step into the light?

“See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.” — Isaiah 60:2

©LPi