There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:…  - Ecclesiastes 3:1

​All of us live between two points, the date of our birth and the date of our falling asleep in Christ. When the youth group and I did our cemetery scavenger hunt, one of the lessons I gave to them was the importance of the “dash”. I borrowed it from another pastor, true, but it speaks of the journey we have between our entrance into this life and our departing into the next. Seeing that dash as this season to live for God, and to serve as we are called. Some of us live on the edge of wondering if we have done enough. We live with the realization of our sin foremost in our mind (this includes your pastor as well) and needing the forgiveness that only comes from Jesus.

When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.” – John 2:3
 
Have you ever wondered why Jesus’ first sign in John is the changing of water to wine? Many preachers have pointed to his support of marriage; that it happened at a wedding feast and Christ is supporting marriages through his attendance and blessing. That could be true, but the setting is not the reason.

“After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” – Luke 2:46-47
 
Many of us go through a life of discipleship. It could be sitting at the feet of Grandma and learning how to knot. Or sitting on the floor of the garage watching Dad breakdown an engine of the family station wagon. Discipleship being a learning time. A time to grow in our understanding of who we are and where we are going, while also coming to a greater understanding of the world around us.
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“Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” – Matthew 3:15
 
As we make our way through the season of Epiphany, the time in which Jesus is manifested to us as who he is for us, we leave the Magi behind and move thirty years into the future at the bank of the Jordan River. There we find John the Baptist doing his work of baptism and preaching, calling for the people to turn from their own perceived righteousness and fall upon the mercy of God. It is there, with the waters of baptism, that John is preparing to make known this Jesus who will come “to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist declares that he came baptizing with water so [Jesus] might be revealed.” (John 1:31) There in the water John is applying the work of the kingdom, repentance and forgiveness of sins, to all who are washed in that river until the One comes who is the embodiment of forgiveness.
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​“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.” – Matthew 2:2
 
January 6th, in the church calendar, is the Festival of the Epiphany of Our Lord. It is when much of the world celebrates the coming of the Magi to the house in Bethlehem to pay homage to the Baby born to die, and commemorates the end of Christmas. Epiphany means the “ta-da” of God. All the spotlights, all the signs pointing to God with hopes that you will see and believe. It makes up a whole season in which we read of the different times in which Christ was made manifest as God-con-carne for your sake. The story of Matthew 2:1-12 is the story of the Nations coming to Christ. Recognizing, in this Baby, something more than just a gurgling infant in golden diapers. Notice the magi call him “The King of the Jews”, and yet these magi are not Jews, but gentiles. Magi is the word used to name them. Literally – magicians, sorcerers, astrologers. They were the court advisors to the princes of Babylon. The ones the king sought for guidance on what has, is, or will happen. These Magi possibly would have had a taste of this Jewish heritage, this Messiah talk, “King of the Jews”, through the overwhelming influence of Judaism on Babylon itself. From Babylon and Persia we get the Rabbinic tradition and huge commentaries on the various texts of Jewish Scripture. Babylon, along with the vast empire of Persia  (which is modern-day Iran, Syria and elsewhere), helped keep Judaism alive throughout the Middle East. Strange that we rely on those who conquered the People of God to keep the faith and traditions alive. Strange to think that those who would lead God’s people into exile now seek the very King who is to provide salvation to all people.