The Feast of the Epiphany
Matthew 2:1-12 NRSV
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
A note about the background image:
The image used above is from a painting by Ladislav Záborský, a Slovakian painter born in 1921. Under the authoritarian government of the 1950's, Záborský was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for sharing his faith with students. "He experienced interrogation, intimidation, demanding prison conditions and threatening, too. He spent five months in solitary cell where he wrote thirty poems depicting his feelings and talks to God." (2016) He was paroled after serving half his sentence but was banned from teaching as a condition of his release.
The image above is from a series of paintings on the gospels with a Pentecost influence. You can see some of Záborský's paintings here, Video interviews and a brief story of his life can be found at this link.
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Unknown. (2016). Ladislav Záborský (1921). Retrieved January 3, 2022, from https://www.memoryofnations.eu/en/zaborsky-ladislav-1921
Image created for Rural Retreat Lutheran Parish by gakirk using VistaCreate. Copyright 2021 www.rrlp.org. All rights reserved.