The Epiphany of Our Lord 2026

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In tonight’s Epistle, St. Paul gave a summary of what the Epiphany of Our Lord is all about: “that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.”  No one is left out of the Body of Christ.  This is what the rest of the Church Year is about.  At Pentecost all languages are sanctified to be fitting carriers of the Gospel of Christ the Crucified as the Apostles speak miraculously in every known language.  In one parable about a great feast with rejected invitations Jesus says that the king calls for all to be invited—not just the wealthy and good enough, but the poor, lame, blind, maimed, and others written off by society.  At Jesus’ crucifixion the veil of the Temple is torn in two, allowing all to see the Holy of Holies.  Jesus is so insistent that the Gospel be preached to all nations that He blasts Saul off his horse, brings him to nothing, and then sends him out to the Gentiles with the knowledge of the mystery of Christ.  The first worshipers of Jesus were Jews, but the next wave of worshipers are Gentiles, wisemen from the east following a star to the newborn king.  There is no one ethnically inferior, no one who is banned from hearing the Word of God, no ethnic group favored over another.    This is Epiphany’s great good news: salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ for all. 
 
Not only does Epiphany have ramifications for salvation, it has an impact on life together.  The sin of racism has long divided mankind.  Not just Hitler or the Klan can be guilted.  The sin of superiority has infected all of us to some degree.  At some point each of us has looked on some person or group as inferior—unclean or unworthy or a strain—unwelcomed, someone you don’t want to have attached to your organization or family or other group.  Epiphany’s equalization of all ethnicities as worthy of salvation, enlightened by the same morning star, condemns us for our exclusion of others or looking down our nose at others.  Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners of other stripes.  But most importantly, He died for the salvation of all, that great mystery of which St. Paul wrote.    It’s similar to what he wrote to the Romans—Christ died for us while we were His enemies, while we actively sinned against Him and others, while we were His enemies.  For a good man one might dare to die, but for his enemy none of us would even consider dying!  But in all-embracing love for His lost brothers and sisters, His enemies, Christ was willing to die, and did it.  He suffered in the sinner’s stead, bearing our sins of strife, dissension, and division.  While all are equal as sinners, all are equal as people for whom Christ died, people redeemed by His holy Blood.  This Blood was shed to was people of every tribe, tongue, and nation, which is precisely what St. John saw in his vision recorded in the Book of Revelation.  The Last Day is when we will see with our own eyes the great good news revealed on this Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord.  There is no one ethnically inferior, no one who is banned from hearing the Word of God, no ethnic group favored over another.    This is Epiphany’s great good news: salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ for all.