EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS — YEAR A
WEEK 5 — SIGNS AND WONDERS
February 2 – February 8, 2026
Last week, we followed the call of Jesus — the invitation to leave behind the nets, the tax booths, the safe places, and the illusions of security. We saw how discipleship begins with a simple yet world-changing command: “Follow Me.”
This week, the story shifts from calling to confirmation — from faith that follows to faith that witnesses. The Gospel writers call them “signs” — moments in which something more than a miracle is happening. A sign doesn’t just display power; it points to purpose. It reveals who Jesus is, what the Kingdom of God looks like, and how heaven breaks into earth through acts of compassion and authority.
In Week 5 — Signs and Wonders, we watch Jesus turn water into wine, silence unclean spirits, lift up the fevered, touch the untouchable, forgive sins, restore mobility, and even raise the dead. Each story unveils a different dimension of His glory: His joy, His authority, His tenderness, His compassion, His creativity, and His power to bring life where there is none.
Epiphany is, after all, a season of revealing — and through these signs, we see not just what Jesus can do, but who He is: The Lord of transformation, the Master over chaos, the Healer of the broken, the Friend of the outcast, and the Life-giver to those beyond hope.
This Week’s Focus: Revelation Through Action
Faith deepens not only when we hear Jesus’ words, but when we see His works — and even more, when we allow Him to work through us. The question echoing through this week’s readings is:
“What sign of His glory is Jesus inviting you to witness — or to become — in your world today?”
DAY 29 — Water into Wine: The First Sign
Monday - Scripture: John 2:9-11
"When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, 'Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.' Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him."
In 1982, a young chef named Wolfgang Puck was working at a struggling restaurant in Los Angeles when the owner ran out of money for ingredients. Instead of closing, Puck took leftover vegetables that most restaurants would throw away and created something entirely new—a California-fusion cuisine that combined French techniques with fresh, local ingredients.
The first night he served his "leftover" creations, customers were amazed. What had seemed like scraps became gourmet meals. Food critics raved. That restaurant became Spago, and Puck became one of America's most celebrated chefs.
Years later, Puck said: "The best transformations happen when you start with what seems ordinary and let creativity reveal its hidden potential."
Reflection:
Jesus' first miracle wasn't healing the sick or raising the dead—it was turning water into wine at a wedding party. He could have chosen to reveal His power through more "religious" means, but instead He chose joy, celebration, and ordinary social life.
The servants knew exactly what had happened—they had filled the jars with water. But the transformation was so complete that the steward thought it was the finest wine he'd ever tasted.
Jesus specializes in taking ordinary elements of life and revealing their extraordinary potential. What "ordinary water" in your life might Jesus want to transform?
Prayer:
Lord, help me recognize that You work through ordinary moments as well as dramatic ones.
Transform the everyday elements of my life into something that brings joy to others.
Give me eyes to see the signs of Your glory in unexpected places.
Amen.
DAY 30 — Authority Over Unclean Spirits
Tuesday - Scripture: Mark 1:23-25
"Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.' But Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be silent, and come out of him!'"
In 2019, Dr. Rachel Levine was working in an emergency room when a patient was brought in who had been struggling with severe addiction for years. The man was hallucinating, violent, and convinced that everyone was trying to hurt him. Most staff avoided him, but Dr. Levine sat with him calmly.
"I see you," she told him quietly. "You're not your addiction. You're not your fear. You're a person worth saving." She spoke with such quiet authority that the patient gradually calmed down. Later, he said those words were the first time in months he remembered who he really was underneath the chaos.
Dr. Levine said: "Sometimes people aren't just sick—they're lost. The right words spoken with real authority can call them back to themselves."
Reflection:
The unclean spirit recognized Jesus immediately, even when many people couldn't see who He really was. Evil always recognizes authentic authority. But notice Jesus' response—He didn't engage in debate or explanation. He simply commanded, and the spirit obeyed.
There are forces in our lives and in our world that respond only to authentic spiritual authority. Jesus doesn't negotiate with destructive patterns—He commands them to leave.
What "unclean spirits"—destructive thoughts, addictive patterns, or harmful influences—might need to hear Jesus' authoritative word in your life?
Prayer:
Lord, speak Your word of authority over every destructive force in my life.
Help me recognize the difference between Your voice and the voices that seek to harm.
Give me confidence in Your power to set me free from whatever binds me.
Amen.
DAY 31 — Healing Peter's Mother-in-Law
Wednesday - Scripture: Mark 1:30-31
"Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them."
In 2018, Maria Santos was bedridden with severe depression after losing her job and going through a difficult divorce. Her daughter Carmen was caring for her, but Maria felt hopeless and useless. She kept saying, "I'm nothing but a burden now."
One day, Carmen's pastor visited and simply sat with Maria. He didn't preach or quote scripture. He just listened to her story and then said, "Maria, I see someone who has spent her whole life serving others. This season of rest isn't punishment—it's preparation for what comes next."
Something shifted in Maria that day. She began getting up a little each day, then started cooking for neighbors, and eventually launched a catering business that employed other women facing similar struggles.
Reflection:
Jesus didn't heal Peter's mother-in-law so she could rest more comfortably. He healed her so she could get back to what she did best—serving others. Her healing was complete because it restored not just her health but her purpose.
This wasn't about returning to obligation but returning to joy. When Jesus restores us, He doesn't just take away what's wrong—He gives back what we were created for.
How might God want to restore not just your health or circumstances, but your sense of purpose and ability to serve?
Prayer:
Lord, when You heal me, make the healing complete—restore not just my body but my purpose.
Help me serve from joy rather than obligation.
Show me how my restoration can become a blessing to others.
Amen.
DAY 32 — Touching the Untouchable
Thursday - Scripture: Mark 1:40-42
"A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, 'If you choose, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I do choose. Be made clean!' Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean."
In 1987, Princess Diana shocked the world when she opened the UK's first HIV/AIDS unit and shook hands with patients—without gloves. At the time, fear and misinformation about HIV was widespread, and many people refused even to be in the same room with AIDS patients.
One patient later said: "When Princess Diana shook my hand, she looked me in the eye and smiled. For the first time in months, someone treated me like a human being instead of a disease." The photograph of that handshake appeared on front pages worldwide and helped change public perception of AIDS.
Diana said: "HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it."
Reflection:
Leprosy in Jesus' time didn't just affect the body—it destroyed social connection. Lepers were required to shout "Unclean!" and stay away from healthy people. This man had probably not been touched by another human being in years.
Jesus could have healed him with a word from a distance. Instead, He touched him first, then healed him. The touch was as important as the healing—it restored the man's humanity before it restored his health.
Who in your life might need to be "touched" before they can be healed—shown that they're valued as a person, not just seen as a problem to be solved?
Prayer:
Lord, help me see people as You see them—not just as problems to solve but as humans to love.
Give me courage to reach out to those others might avoid.
Teach me that sometimes touching comes before healing.
Amen.
DAY 33 — Faith That Breaks Through Roofs
Friday - Scripture: Mark 2:3-5
"Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'"
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina trapped thousands of people in New Orleans without power, food, or rescue. While official relief agencies struggled with bureaucracy and logistics, a group of neighbors in the Bywater district took matters into their own hands.
They broke into abandoned stores to get water and supplies. They hotwired boats to reach stranded families. They tore holes in roofs to rescue elderly neighbors. When authorities told them to wait for proper channels, they ignored the rules and kept saving lives.
One rescuer later said: "When someone you love is drowning, you don't wait for permission to throw them a rope. Sometimes love has to get creative and break a few rules."
Reflection:
The paralyzed man's friends faced an impossible situation—they couldn't get through the crowd, and their friend couldn't walk. Instead of giving up, they got creative and determined. They climbed up on the roof, dug through it, and lowered their friend down to Jesus.
Jesus was amazed not by the paralyzed man's faith, but by his friends' faith. Their willingness to break through barriers, ignore social conventions, and take dramatic action moved Jesus to healing.
Who in your life needs you to "dig through the roof" with creative, determined love? What barriers might you need to break through to get them to Jesus?
Prayer:
Lord, give me friends who will dig through roofs for me, and make me the kind of friend who will dig through roofs for others.
Help me be creative and persistent in bringing people to You.
Show me how to break through barriers that keep people from experiencing Your healing. Amen.
DAY 34 — Healing at the Pool
Saturday - Scripture: John 5:6-8
"When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, 'Do you want to be made well?' The sick man answered him, 'Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.' Jesus said to him, 'Stand up, take your mat and walk.'"
In 2010, James had been unemployed for three years after losing his job in the recession. Every day, he went to the unemployment office, applied for jobs online, and waited for someone to call. He had developed a routine of explaining to anyone who would listen why he couldn't find work—the economy, his age, the competition.
One day, a career counselor asked him a strange question: "James, do you actually want to work, or do you want to want to work?" The question stopped him cold. He realized he had become so comfortable with the identity of "victim of circumstances" that he was afraid to take responsibility for changing his situation.
That conversation changed everything. James stopped waiting for perfect opportunities and took the first job offered, even though it paid less than he wanted. Within a year, he had been promoted twice.
Reflection:
Jesus asked a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years a startling question: "Do you want to be made well?" It sounds obvious, but sometimes we get so comfortable with our limitations that healing feels more threatening than staying sick.
The man's immediate response was to explain why healing was impossible—he had no one to help him, others always got ahead of him. He had become an expert in his own helplessness.
Jesus didn't engage the excuses. He simply offered healing: "Get up, take your mat, and walk."
What limitations have you grown so comfortable with that healing might actually feel threatening? What "mats" might Jesus be calling you to pick up and carry instead of lying on?
Prayer:
Lord, show me where I've become comfortable with limitations You want to heal.
Help me want to be well, not just want to want to be well.
Give me courage to get up and walk when You call me to wholeness.
Amen.
DAY 35 — Raising the Widow's Son
Sunday - Scripture: Luke 7:12-15
"As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, 'Do not weep.' Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, 'Young man, I say to you, rise!' The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother."
In 2016, Susan lost her teenage son in a car accident. For months, she barely left her house. Friends tried to comfort her, but nothing helped. She felt like her life was over too.
One day, a neighbor whose daughter had died years earlier knocked on her door. "I'm not here to tell you it gets better," she said. "I'm here to tell you that you will learn to live again, and when you do, you'll be able to help other mothers who are where you are now."
That neighbor spent hours just sitting with Susan, not trying to fix anything, just being present. Slowly, Susan began to engage with life again. Three years later, she started a support group for grieving parents that has helped hundreds of families.
Reflection:
Jesus didn't plan to raise the widow's son from the dead—He encountered the funeral procession by chance. But when He saw the mother's grief, compassion moved Him to action. He couldn't walk past such profound loss without responding.
Notice the progression: Jesus saw her, had compassion, spoke comfort, then acted with power. The miracle began with seeing and feeling, not just doing.
Where might Jesus be inviting you to really see someone's grief or loss? How might your compassion become the beginning of God's intervention in their situation?
Prayer:
Lord, give me eyes to see the grief around me and a heart that responds with compassion.
Help me not just feel sympathy but act with Your power to bring hope.
Use my willingness to enter others' pain as a pathway for Your healing.
Amen.
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