Percolations

Lengthening Christmas – The Feast of Epiphany | December 4, 2010

Any observant and curious new guest in our home will almost always ask “What is that strange writing above your door?”  There, written in chalk, is the inscription “20CMB10″, which is both a prayer for God’s blessing and a reminder to us, as Christians, about the use of our home.  It was put there as part of our celebration of Epiphany, an ancient but mostly forgotten holiday celebrating Jesus’ baptism, his visitation by the Magi, and God’s revelation of His Son to the Gentiles.

Epiphany first began as a day to remember Jesus’ baptism.  It was during his baptism that Jesus’ full identity as the Son of God was proclaimed.  Matthew recounts in his Gospel that “as soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”  The Trinity is first “revealed” in the Gospels here.  In fact we still use the word “epiphany” today to mean a sudden revelation or “shining forth”.

In the Western Church (of which Protestants and Roman Catholics are a part), with the date of Christmas fixed on December 25, Epiphany came to be recognized as a holiday to remember Jesus’ manifestation mainly through the visitation of the Magi.  It began to be celebrated on January 6, marking the end of a Christmas celebration that was twelve days long instead of just one.  This helps explain certain Christmas songs about geese, partridges, and turtle doves.

Over time, certain customs sprang up.  The number of the Magi, or wise men, was set at three, even though Matthew does not give a number.  Then they were given names.  Even their appearances were described in the 8th century by a monk named Bede:

The first was called Melchior. He was an old man, with white hair and a long beard; he offered gold to the Lord as to his King. The second, Gaspar [or Caspar] by name, young, beardless, of ruddy hue, offered to Jesus his gift of incense, the homage due to Divinity. The third, of black complexion, with heavy beard, was middle-aged and called Balthasar. The myrrh he held in his hand prefigured the death of the son of Man.

I give Bede points for creativity!  The tradition lives on in modern nativity scenes.  Generally there are three wise men and more often then not, they look exactly as Bede described them 1300 years ago.

The Three Wise Men, from Basilica of Sant Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy. Detail from: "Mary and Child, surrounded by angels", completed within 526 AD (photo by Nina Aldin Thune)

Another custom appeared in the Middle Ages: the blessing of the home with chalk.  The custom involves a small prayer and Scripture-reading service.  In our home, we read the story of the Magi and then pray this prayer:

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Then comes the actual writing above or on the door.  C+M+B represents the initials of the three wise men: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.  They also stand for Christus mansionem benedicat, meaning “May Christ bless this home.”  The outside numbers, 20 and 10, represent the current year.  So this season we will replace the inscription with 20CMB11.  It is a reminder to us that, because Jesus has “shone forth” as our most precious gift, our house is to be used for His glory.  Everyone who passes through our doors deserves to be treated like Christ, for Jesus says “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  Every guest deserves our most sincere hospitality.

Celebrating Epiphany helps us lengthen the Christmas season.  While everyone else is cleaning up wrapping paper and preparing for a long winter, we get to add on a few more days to our celebration.  Christmas has become for us a season, rather than just a day.  It is a time to celebrate the tension between the “already” and “not yet”.   Jesus has come, but he will also come again in glory.  But even as a small baby laying in a manger he was revealed to the world through the visitation of the Magi.  It is for this reason we celebrate Epiphany.