Today is Epiphany.  The "last gasp" of the Christmas season, Epiphany (a word meaning, literally, "the manifestion of a divine being"), reminds us of the faith of a group of Persian travelers in the Zoroastrian and biblical prophecies about a coming king.

     These texts, the travelers concluded, predicted that this king would, in contrast to other royalty, emerge in humble circumstances, a stable outside Bethlehem, a tiny and forgettable village in southern Palestine.
     In addition, this king would be, these travelers concluded, human and divine.  Small wonder that they made the arduous journey over the Zagros Mountains, across the arid expanse of Arabia, and onto the international trade routes that coursed through the Levant.  Who would have imagined such a thing?
     And that's the point:  who would have imagined that transcendence, God, would appear as a human being?
     Epiphany reminds us that only when we open ourselves to the possibilities of transcendence (which are nearly countless) will we understand what the world is really all about.