As long as there is a Clemson-Carolina rivalry, there are going to be Clemson-Carolina jokes!  I heard that there is no ice in the cafeteria at Clemson now because the one student who knew the formula has graduated.  When our son John decided to go to USC, a die-hard Clemson fan said, “I’m sorry to hear that, John.  I was hoping that you had decided to get an education.”  Someone told me that a student transferred from Carolina to Clemson and the average SAT score at both schools went up.  I guess you know that they have a planetarium at USC.  The man in charge of the planetarium stayed awake all night wondering where the sun went and then it dawned on him.

The Season of Epiphany in the Church is the time when we celebrate the times when it began to dawn on people that Jesus was God’s Son.  It dawned on the Wise Men that a new king of Israel had been born.  It dawned upon Anna and Simeon in the Temple, and when Simeon saw Jesus he said, “Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled.  My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all people.”  It dawned upon the elders in the Temple with whom Jesus talked when He was a twelve-year-old.  And when Jesus became an adult and began calling followers, they came out of curiosity at first but they stayed with Jesus because it dawned upon them that this Jesus of Nazareth was very different from every other person they had met.  Ultimately it dawned upon them that Jesus was their Savior and Lord!  Even the people’s favorite preacher John the Baptizer had an epiphany and said, “Behold the lamb of God.”

A subject of much study and debate is exactly when it dawned upon Jesus Himself that He was God’s Son with the mission on earth to be our Savior.  You can find many articles in books regarding the “Messianic consciousness of Jesus.”  Think about this for a minute: When Jesus was born, He was just like every other infant.  His knowledge was as limited as every other infant.  Paul said in Philippians 2 that Jesus emptied Himself when He came to earth, taking upon Himself  the nature of a servant.  Therefore, Jesus had to learn to walk, talk, read, and obey.  Still He was the divine Son of God on earth.  So, just when did it dawn upon Jesus that He was God’s Messiah?  Even Jesus had to have an epiphany!

After the first Easter, the Disciples went into all the world to tell the story of Jesus.  As people heard the Word about Jesus, each one of them had their own little epiphanies!  It dawned on them how badly they needed salvation, and it dawned on them that Jesus was their Savior.  Every time in history when someone came to embrace Christ as their Savior, it was as if the story of Jesus suddenly became alive and real to them.  How else would we express what we often call “being born again” if it isn’t an epiphany, an awareness that Jesus is our personal Savior?

Our founder John Wesley is a good example of how a person can awaken to something that had been right before his eyes all his life. Wesley grew up in a model Christian home, one of many sons of a preacher and a mother of great faith.  He himself studied for the ministry, becoming an Anglican priest and missionary.  And yet Wesley was plagued with doubts about himself and God.  He realized that he really didn’t have that kind of heartfelt faith that you just can’t have without knowing that you have it – and that is how he expressed it.  His problem was that he thought he had to be worthy of salvation.  Then one day as he heard a 200-year-old sermon which had been written by Martin Luther as a preface to the Book of Romans, it dawned upon Wesley that God could give him salvation as a gift, not as a reward, and he said that his heart became strangely warmed.  The truth of the Gospel that Wesley had long known, preached, and even believed finally dawned upon him in its fullness.  He led many others into a warmed-heart relationship with God, including us Methodists today.

I well remember the times in my life when a spiritual truth dawned upon me.  There was that time as an elementary school-aged child when I was going through my nighttime ritual of saying my prayers.  I was bad about lying down to silently say my prayers, and so I would drift in and out of sleep while praying.  Somewhere along the prayer line, between praying for my best friend and a bicycle that I wanted, it dawned upon me that there actually was Someone up there hearing what I was praying.  It dawned on me that this was far more than just taking an inventory of people and things that were important to me.  There really was a divine Being in heaven and also all around me who heard everything I said and knew every thought I had.  It absolutely scared me to pieces!  I dove under the covers like I had seen a ghost.  I was like the little boy who prayed, “God, if you really are in here like my Mama says, please don’t move!  You’ll scare me to death!”  I tell you the truth: after that night, prayer was never the same for me.  I’ve always had the awareness that Somebody up there was listening!

Then there was the time as an eighteen-year-old freshman at Wofford when, after a time of hard questioning and doubting, it dawned on me just what God had done for me in Christ.  Soon after this, it dawned on me and upon many others that knew me that I just had to give myself to full-time Christian service as a pastor.  There wasn’t a blinding light in the sky or bells and whistles!  I just woke up one day and I knew it!  I knew God was real and that Christ really had died for me and then been raised from the dead and I knew that I had to get busy telling that story.  So I have to ask you wise men and wise women who have come here today, “Has the truth of the Good News really dawned upon you?  Have you had a personal epiphany?”

As I think about all these people who had the truth dawn upon them, it occurs to me that they all had something in common, whether they were the Wise Men or John Wesley.  It seems that one thing is absolutely necessary for one to experience an epiphany of who Christ is.  That one necessary thing is to be either in the presence of Jesus or with the Lord’s people.  The Magi, Simeon and Anna, John the Baptizer, and the Disciples were all with Jesus when it dawned on them who Jesus is.  Martin Luther was being nurtured by the church and by Holy Scripture when he had his awakening.  John Wesley was attending a prayer meeting at Aldersgate Street, in the presence of people who had deep faith in Christ, hearing a sermon about Jesus when his heart was strangely warmed.  And I was taken to church as a baby, as a child, and as a teenager where I experienced my epiphany along with other children and youth.  I would never say that one cannot possibly come to faith in Christ while at the beach or on a golf course, but you are more likely to catch a fish at a river than you are in a desert!  You are more likely to catch faith if you hang out with those who already have faith, and there are plenty of strong believers to be found in a church! Do you want the truth of the Gospel to dawn upon you?  Then make friends with someone who has already had a personal epiphany who now believes that Jesus is the Messiah!

Then perhaps there is one more thing that is essential in coming to faith in Christ.  You’ve got to be willing to persevere – to stick with it as you search for truth.  The Wise Men traveled long and hard – perhaps for two years – in search of the Christ child.  I am sure that they often felt like giving up.  Martin Luther’s faith came after much searching and study and opposition from his opponents.  John Wesley went to college, to Savannah as a missionary, and back to England while he was searching for faith.  Tempted to give up, he was encouraged to keep looking by people like Peter Bohler.  Wesley wrote, “I asked Bohler, whether he thought I should leave [preaching] or not. He answered, ‘By no means.’ I asked, ‘But what can I preach?’ He said, ‘Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.’” Wesley persevered until his heart was strangely warmed.  I believe that if you will place yourself in places where faith may be found and if you keep searching, you will find faith.  It will dawn upon you, too.  There is an epiphany out there with your name on it, waiting for you to find it.

So this Epiphany Season we celebrate that Jesus came to earth as a baby who had to grow “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”  He had to come to the place where He knew who He was and what He must do.  And we celebrate that we, like the Wise Men, the Disciples, and millions of others, can also awaken to the fact that Jesus is God’s Messiah and our Lord!  Amen.

Arthur H. Holt