It's the new year, and many of us feel the sadness as Christmas passes and the struggles and dissatisfactions in our lives only seem to feel heavier. Some of us try to ward off this feeling by creating New Year's Resolutions to try to make our lives what we want them to be. But this posture of trying to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and improve our lives through sheer willpower is not the one commended to us in Scripture.

Today, we encounter the story of the Epiphany, the moment Jesus is revealed to the world beyond Israel, beginning with a group of pagan magi. This story has given birth to an entire season in the church calendar called Epiphany, where disciples of Jesus remember Jesus' earthly life and his mission to draw peoples of all backgrounds to himself. Today as we read this text and begin this season of Epiphany, we will see how Jesus desires to reveal himself to people we would have never expected and wants to involve us in ways that will challenge our prejudices, our control, and our comfort. So instead of beginning this year by making plans to take back control of our lives, what if we were to plan for Jesus to disrupt our sense of control and lead us to the surprising people, places, and purposes where he wants to reveal himself?