Happy Epiphany 2026

“In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage?’”  (Matthew 2:1–2)

Happy Epiphany 2026! Yes, we’ve reached that strange liturgical borderland where the ghost of Christmas joy still lingers in the yet-to-be-taken-down decorations, but the crowds have gone, the leftovers are questionable, and the world has moved on. It’s just us now—the faithful remnant—with Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus—our baby Jesus … and the three wise men, of course. Who let them in?

As I do every year at this time, in honour of those ancient astrologers who followed the star to Bethlehem, I consult my horoscope. This year’s forecast (taken from News18.com) tells me (Aquarius) that 2026 “will be a year full of change, confidence, and progress… awakening hidden courage, creativity, and leadership abilities”. That sounds promising, though it also warns of stress, overthinking, and the need for discipline, which makes it sound a lot like last year.

I wasn’t too enamoured with that, so I tried the astrological predictions in Marie Claire, where I read, “After August, a soulmate enters your orbit who elevates everything.”  I stopped reading at that point and decided I’d stick with the stress and discipline of the first horoscope.

In truth, the Scriptures do not encourage us to consult our stars. The prophet, Isaiah, calls astrologers “stubble” (Isaiah 47:14), destined for the fire, and Jeremiah warns Israel not to be “dismayed at the signs of the heavens.”  (Jeremiah 10:2). The New Testament doesn’t improve the reputation of stargazers—Elymas the false prophet (Acts 13) and Simon Magus (Acts 8) both fit the description, and neither inspire confidence. Even so, the Nativity story as depicted in Matthew’s Gospel has a very small cast, and at least a third of that cast are astrologers!

No, they are not kings, despite the carol. We don’t know if there were three of them or thirty-three. They were almost certainly not named Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, but they were ‘magi’—magicians, astrologers, Persian scholars and Zoroastrian priests, most likely. What we can be certain of is that they were religious and cultural outsiders From a Biblical point of view, they were pagans – people who, by every measure of ancient Israel’s faith, should not have been anywhere near the Messiah, and yet… no Nativity scene is complete without them.

This is what we celebrate at Epiphany – that the first people to recognise Jesus are not the insiders – the priests, the Torah scholars, or even the faithful remnant of Israel. No! It’s shepherds and a group of foreigners – practitioners of a highly suspect religion. They are the wrong people from the wrong place who followed the wrong methods to get there. So … why are they there? They are there because God invited them.

Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t teach universalism – that all religions are the same. Indeed, Matthew is indeed the most Jewish of all the Gospel writers, depicting Jesus as the fulfilment of ‘the law and the prophets’. Even so, Matthew begins his Gospel with this story in which the first worshippers of Jesus are people whose entire worldview the prophets rejected. God, it seems, had been whispering hints of Christ not only through the Hebrew prophets but also through the sacred texts of other religions. God, it seems, is not confined to the boundaries we draw.

Epiphany is about revelation – God showing God’s self to the world; not just to Israel, not just to the church, and not just to those who already believe the right things or worship in the right way. Epiphany tells us that the light of Christ shines for everyone. And that includes the people we least expect.

On the evening of the Christmas day that we just celebrated, Joy and I, and my daughter, Imogen, accepted an invitation to attend a Christmas dinner at the Muhammadi Welfare Association centre in Kemp’s Creek, where about fifty wonderful Muslim friends put on a Christmas dinner for us.

It was the initiative of my dear friend, Sheikh Shoaib Naqvi, who would always attend my annual ‘Carols on the lawn’, which I held each Christmas Eve in Dulwich Hill for the thirty years I was there. For each of the last few years I held it, Shoaib would turn up with a crew from the Muhammadi Welfare Association, decked out in his robes, looking like one of the wise men, and he always came bearing gifts!

This time he was the host and we were his guests, as he and his community honoured Jesus as they understand Jesus from within their Shia Muslim tradition. Shoaib has read about Jesus in the Qur’an, and he offered blessings, and once again he gave us gifts, and his community stood alongside us in love and friendship. It was, in the truest sense, an Epiphanic evening.

What we celebrate each Epiphany is that our baby Jesus is also their baby Jesus. The light that shines shines for all nations, and the child in the manger was never owned by the church. Jesus is God’s gift to all of humanity, and it’s often the people we consider outsiders who see the rising star that we miss.

Epiphany is not just a story about who came to Jesus; it is a story about who Jesus came for. The magi stand beside the manger as God’s declaration that the Gospel is not a tribal property but a gift meant for the whole world.

So as we step into this new year, let us be Epiphany people—people who expect God to appear in unfamiliar places, who welcome strangers as bearers of truth, and who believe that the light of Christ is already shining somewhere in every culture, every community, and every human heart.

The star has risen, the world is watching, and Christ is waiting to be recognised again—through us. Happy Epiphany!

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, and Tom Toby and David Baldin will be back with me on the panel. Tom is back in Australia, so we’re not likely to get any live tour of any sacred shrines this time. Even so, I’m very much looking forward to reconnecting with them both. I’m sure you are too.

Do join us if you can, and invite your friends by referring them to our Facebook Event Page or the Streamyard page. Join us from midday via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia, Streamyard or TheSundayEucharist.com.

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What’s On?

• Sunday, January 4th – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard
• Tuesday, January 6th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
• Thursday, January 8th – Online Bible study group meeting from noon @ www.thesundayeucharist.com/bible
• Thursday, January 8th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
• Saturday, January 10th – Boxing at Legend’s Gym in Kensington from 3 pm

I trust that you’ve had some rest over this holiday period. It feels as if a big year is looming ahead. Of course, there will always be wars and rumours of wars. Even so, the world seems to be spiralling at the moment, and I’m not sure what comes next.

My goal for this year is to become a more effective troublemaker, and it seems to me that the fastest route to achieving that will be to get a high-profile fight. Accordingly, I’m promoting my “Father Dave is looking for another opponent” video aggressively.

The video has had more than 50,000 views thus far on YouTube and Facebook. I’ve had lots of comments but very few offers to fight. If you could do me a favour and share the video with anyone you think might be interested, I would be grateful.

May God go with you into this New Year. In the spirit of Epiphany, I trust it will be a year of adventure and discovery for all of us!

Your brother in the Good Fight,