We tend to think of “epiphanies” as something that we have, “Eureka!” moments, sudden flashes of inspiration that lead us to realize something we never knew before. The Three Wise Men, after all must have had an epiphany when they saw the star shining in the East, pointing them toward Bethlehem; and when they arrived, they must have had another epiphany, realizing that this baby in front of them was the Son of God. Not many of us have these star-shining-in-the-sky moments, although sometimes we do. And so, it can be easy to wonder: “Have I ever had an epiphany?”

But the season of Epiphany is not so much about our sudden flashes of inspiration. It’s more about God’s sudden flashes of revelation. The stories that we’ll read in the gospels during the season of Epiphany are all about Jesus revealing himself in strange and mysterious ways. Largely, the disciples and the people around him don’t realize what he’s saying. We hear the stories of Jesus’ baptism, of calling his disciples, of doing strange things like leaving town when people ask him to heal them. It’s only in retrospect that the disciples can make sense of any of this. Jesus’ Epiphany is not so much a star shining in the East leading them toward Bethlehem as it is a dim light shining in their past that illuminates the path they’ve already walked.

I think more of us have this kind of epiphany, and that’s all right! That’s exactly the way it tends to go in the Bible. We aren’t, after all the wise ones who have studied astrology for years. We’re more like those disciples: not really understanding what’s going, on a little hapless, sometimes failing, but trying, always trying, to follow Jesus and—when we look back—seeing all the ways that he’s revealed himself to us.