In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
“O star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright; westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!” The Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ centers on a star. The star attracts the attention of these magi from the east and leads them to Bethlehem to pay homage to the infant Messiah. The star of Bethlehem led these magi to faith. It could be, but I very much doubt that any of you have come here tonight because you followed a star here. But something did draw you here tonight. I wonder what it was?
As we consider this story from Matthew, keep that question in the back of your mind – what brings you to faith? What draws you into the mysteries of Christ? Maybe it was a person, maybe it’s beauty, maybe it’s an experience you had, maybe it was a star. Whatever it is that brings you to faith, treasure it.
This story of the Epiphany is an odd story, and it should be read as one. We tend to approach the Bible so reverentially that we sometimes miss its humanity. Certainly, the Bible is Holy Scripture and should be treated as such, but the Bible ought not to be treated dryly. Just think about how this story plays out. Some strange wanderers show up at the king’s palace asking for the newly born king of the Jews. This frightens Herod, which is absurd. Why is the king scared of a baby? It reveals just how fragile Herod’s ego is.
Then it turns into a comedic scene. Herod whispers to someone “I don’t know what they’re talking about, do you?” That advisor admits that he does not, and everyone starts exchanging blank stares until someone thinks to ask the priests and scribes about it. When the king asks you a question, you find an answer. So they pull some obscure passage out of Micah and say “Here it is, he must have been born in Bethlehem.” This is comical because no one actually was looking for the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem.
Many translations call these visitors “wise men” and sometimes you’ll hear them called “kings,” but neither is quite right. The Greek that Matthew uses is magoi, so magi really is the best way to translate it. They were astrologers and magicians. Throughout the Old Testament, these sort of people are spoken of in dismissive terms. Calling them “wise men” is actually the opposite of how any person hearing this story in the 1st century would have understood them. Magi were fools because they lived their life by the stars. In the same way that astrology is dismissed today, it was then as well. But it was only these fools who had enough sense to come and adore the Christ-child.
And from comedy, the story turns into fantasy. Notice the star – the magi noticed it when they were home back East and followed it. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but stars don’t get any closer to earth regardless of where you travel. But then Matthew writes “ahead of them went the star they had seen at its rising.” Stars don’t go anywhere, by definition. But even if this is some sort of special star, maybe a comet or a shooting star, Matthew then says that the star stopped over the place where Jesus was. So we’ve got a star that moves and then stops. Matthew’s original audience might not have had a space program or the Hubble telescope, but they weren’t stupid; they knew this is not how stars behave. They would have seen the immediate absurdity in this text. But instead of letting the story speak to us, so many modern Christian try to defend the story or explain it.
So let this story be strange. It’s okay if it doesn’t make complete sense. It’s not as if we can wrap our minds around the Creator of all that is taking on human flesh and living among us, so don’t worry about trying to get our minds around this particular story. Only if we let this story remain weird might the Gospel shine through it.
The fact that a motley crew like these fools from the east were the ones that came to visit Jesus tells us something about the character of God. God had bigger things in mind in Jesus than being a Jewish messiah for the Jewish people. No, God intended to bring salvation to all of Creation through the Messiah. Jesus did not come to those in power, he came to the lowly, to the rejected, to the outcasts. And if we try to turn these magi into kings, we lose the radicalism of their presence in the story.
Astrology was a rejected discipline – but God says “The Messiah is born, let the whole earth know of this.” And so, because God knew that some people were watching the stars, God uses a star to bring the world to Christ. God will use any means necessary to spread the Good News of salvation to this world. God may well get your attention through a star, or a sunset, or a piece of music, or an act of charity, or a worship service, or a television show. Because if God can bring those crazy star watchers to faith with their silly astrology, then God can and will summon you to faith.
How would God send you a message? Have you ever thought about that? You know yourself better than anyone – how would you send yourself a message to get your attention? God knows you at least as well as you know yourself, so you might consider the ways in which God is communicating love and grace to you in the midst of your life. Those magi were so used to looking at the stars, they could have overlooked this one. One Jewish scholar said that the amazing thing about the story of Moses and burning bush isn’t that the bush is on fire, but rather that Moses actually noticed it, because every bush is ablaze with the glory of God. Our lives are so busy that I wonder if we’d even notice something as dramatic as a star moving. And if we’d miss that, I’m not sure that we’d realize that when someone forgives you, or loves you, or helps you in a time of need that those are testaments to God’s grace that is always with us.
Magi, in addition to studying the stars, were also known for their interpreting of dreams. At the end of this passage, Matthew notes that it was in a dream that the magi were warned to not return to Herod. A lot of times, people will talk about how they didn’t feel adequate to do something, but that God helped them. And I absolutely believe that to be true. But what doesn’t get enough credit is that God more often than not will use the things that you’re good at. If you’re a great cook, God can use you to feed others. If you’re good at listening, God can use you to support those going through a crisis. If you’re good at singing, God will use you to help others sing praise to God. If you’re good with children, God will use you to bring a new generation to faith. Every single one of you is fantastic at doing something. Maybe it seems small to you. Maybe it seems “out there” like interpreting dreams, but God can and will work with that. So think about the things that you’re good at, and ask God to put those skills to work.
Notice what happens after the magi arrive at the place where the star stopped – they realized that the star was nothing more than a sign. They then went in the house and knelt down and paid homage to Jesus. They forgot about the star because it had served its purpose. And yet, today you can still find Christians that try to explain that the star was the alignment of planets or something else. But that completely misses the point – it was never about the star, it was always about the one to whom the star pointed.
The Church is always in danger of idolatry because we stand so close to the holy. Whether it’s having beautiful music, or strong liturgy, or gorgeous vestments, or profound sermons, or strong theology, or vibrant ministries, or full pews, these things can all become very dangerous if we treat them as anything more than disposable vehicles to bring us closer to God.
God may well use you, just as God used the magi to announce the birth of the Savior of all Creation to the Gentile world, but the magi are not the point of the story. Humility is always needed when it comes to how God will use us. You and I will be used by God to do grand and wonderful things, but it is never about our glory or fame. If people notice the light of God shining through you, how wonderful that is. But remember that it is not your light that people are attracted to, it is God’s grace in you. We are signs that can point to God, but we should always resist becoming an object of admiration, as God alone is to be praised.
And as the magi leave, they go home by a different way. It’s not only a practical bit of the story as Matthew wraps up this scene, but also a metaphor for the fact that an encounter with God changes you. After you’ve been summoned by a star and encountered the light of God, you can’t just go back to the way things used to be. When God summons us by a star, or any other means, it’s not just that we have a nice little visit with God, but rather that God begins a process of transforming us.
TS Eliot wrote a poem called “The Journey of the Magi” in which he puts these words into the mouths of the magi: “We returned to our places, these kingdoms, but no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, with an alien people clutching their gods.” Jesus disrupted their lives and they couldn’t go home the same way or be at ease there. If we’d kept reading in Matthew, we’d come to Herod’s reaction to this new king – he orders that every male infant in Bethlehem be slaughtered in a feeble attempt to protect and preserve his worldly power.
Jesus doesn’t make life comfortable, he doesn’t help us fit in, or find success. Jesus makes us different. And so once we have seen the light of Christ, we can no longer be at ease with the darkness of the world. We can no longer worship at the altars of fame, glory, wealth, and prestige once we’ve knelt at the crib of the Messiah. People like Herod will be seen for what they are – weak pretenders who will be nothing but a footnote to history. Once we’ve come to know Jesus, nothing can ever be the same. What lies ahead of us is the path of an unfamiliar, even odd, road, but it is the way to abundant and eternal life. As we travel that road, giving God thanks for the unique ways in which God calls us to faith, might our song ever be “Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright; westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!”
