Wise Men from the East

Matthew 2:1-12 tells the story of wise men bearing gifts for Jesus, traveling from the East, and following a star. The first appearance of Jesus to the gentile world! The modern calendar delineates “the 12 days of Christmas” as the time between Christmas Day, December 25, and January 6, Epiphany. This is the alleged day the wise men arrived where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were.

There are many different customs and traditions regarding Epiphany (including in some
churches- the Feast of Epiphany). Growing up in an Episcopal church, we baked and ate a
“Kings Cake”. The cake is usually shaped like a ring and may contain a small trinket, such as a ring, thimble, or baby figurine. The person who finds the trinket in their slice of cake is said to have good luck or to be the "king" for a day.  Baked into our cake were a ring and some coins. If you were to find coins in your piece of cake you would take those coins and try to turn a profit that you would then later return to the church, to give to Jesus. One year I came up with 10 cents in my piece of cake. I bought sweet corn seeds, grew corn and sold it as my way to increase the money. Of course, there were Sunday school teachings to go along with this tradition.

Matthew 2:1 says "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a] from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him...11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh."

Though the Bible says nothing about baking cakes and investing money for Epiphany, I still think of this time each year and meditate on the scripture in Matthew, and the true meaning of the twelve days of Christmas, which is, according to these verses, to find Jesus, and worship him. Whatever your family customs and traditions for Epiphany might be, we can all meet at the feet of Jesus, bringing our respective gifts, praises, worship, and thanks.

And I think it's OK to enjoy a Christmas song about swimming swans, too!

A prayer:
Most gracious and almighty God, thank You for the gift of your Son and our Savior. Remind us,
God, of your Spirit, and our place in Your family. Help us use this time of year and your Word, to contemplate our relationship with You. Amen.