A Stellar Anomaly
Matt 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
A Stellar Anomaly
I found a little jewel in the rough in Hoda Kotb’s words to live by for 2021. Today’s words are about going places, specifically for parents, but I think it applies to all of us. We spend 50% of our time preparing to go somewhere, 1% of our time there and 49% of our time getting ready to move on.
How much time did you stop and rest with Christmas vs how much time you prepared? Think designing cards, buying, addressing and sending them. Think getting the tree or getting it out, decorating, and don’t even get me started on the effort to cook and plan the perfect gatherings. Look at it more theologically – we spent four weeks in the series The Redemption of Scrooge. Then, we sit ONLY one day on Christmas eve - and two Sundays officially in Christmas for the pastor to remind us that this is a season. And still, we are thrown off by a star in January! A star on a day that ends Christmas.
This day is actually January 6th every year. It is epiphany. From a secular definition, epiphany is that aha moment: an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking.
For Christians it is also a day when we remember Jesus being honored by some smart guys from a different country. We are a people who want to prepare and make things neat and tidy, to make them fit our definitions. We aren’t prepared for this. We aren’t prepared so we ‘fixed’ the story. We embellished epiphany to the point it is tamed - not surprising if you recall how much we tame Mary to make that peaceful picture of a young virgin, or how we tamed the birth of Jesus to be a quiet night.
In the words of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, “An epiphany enables you to sense creation not as something completed, but as constantly becoming, evolving, ascending. This transports you from a place where there is nothing new to a place where there is nothing old, where everything renews itself, where heaven and earth rejoice as at the moment of creation.” So rather than rush past the story or tame it to our expected picture – let’s live in it for a moment. Let it evolve, listen again:
They saw a bright star to the west but it was far away - maybe in the distant land of Herod. They divined in their crystal balls, read the tarot cards, and debated the alignment of the astrological signs. Then packed the camels, bundled up the kids, struck the tents, and the crowd was off on a two-year journey. In Jerusalem, the women asked everyone they saw, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
King Herod was worried about this gaggle of foreigners in HIS land looking for King of the Jews. The Jewish leaders were disturbed too – who are these strangers coming here and kicking an ant hill. If we had a new king – we would know!
A committee met with all the experts, head priests and teachers. Where are they going, Herod demanded? Where will this messiah be born?
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written.” And they quoted their prophecy about a new shepherd.
Herod went behind their backs and called the strange astrologers. Give me details and go search for the child in Bethlehem. Herod asked them to let him know when they found this messiah so he could worship him too.
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, the group saw the toddler playing in the courtyard with his mother Mary, and they crowded around, bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their wagons, unloaded treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they took their families home to their country a different way.
Why do we edit the story? Why do we hurry through the gift of Christmas? We reduce magi to wise men because that is easier to accept. As James Howell writes, “Do we ever hold the truth in our hands but miss the living Lord? God is determined to be found, and will use any and all measures, even tomfoolery (like astrology!), to reach out to people who are open.” Like the trip planning Kotb tells us about, we plan and position how we are going to receive things. Bundle even Christmas in our approved packaging. So much we miss the umph, the real purpose of everything.
How well do you know the story of Epiphany – how many wise men were there? The usual answer is three. However, three wisemen is not indicated in the gospel. We even name them. Anyone know their names? Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar Where do we get that? You probably already guessed – not from the bible. The names come from a treatise by the Venerable Bede. He or someone even created descriptions: Melchior was an old man with white hair, Gaspar was young and beardless with a ruddy complexion. Balthasar has deep purple, black skin and is heavily bearded. The supposition is that we came up with three wise men because there were three gifts.
The three gifts were in treasure chests rather than as we might often picture each man carrying a smaller gift. The gifts are mentioned specifically, yet we add on the symbolism that is in the gospel for these gifts. The gold is a gift worthy of a king, the frankincense would have been associated with an offering to divinity. The myrrh was often used in embalming and is thought to look forward to crucifixion. It is questionable about the historic accuracy, but the symbolism and message is still valid.
Luke’s gospel has the angels proclaim to the shepherds, but there is no star to guide them – they go immediately to Bethlehem based on the Angels proclamation. Maybe this is why we envision the newborn baby with the wise men. Yet, Herod went after all boys under the age of two. So, the arrival of the wise men could have been much later – the scripture simply says ‘in the time of Herod after Jesus was born.’ Did Mary and Joseph stay in Bethlehem longer than we might ‘remember’?
For a well-known story, there are lots of questions. Over time, we have added imagery and moved details to fit our expectations. One of the biggest things that we have altered is the wise men
Who knew all that was packed into such a few verses? After all this is epiphany and however morphed God’s message of the magi spread far and wide. They followed star to see the good news.
Even the star we try to explain. A star that maybe wasn’t a star that we anticipate and explore is an anomaly breaking into our lives. A few weeks ago, Saturn and Jupiter were alignment in our night skies. If you are anything like me, you set reminders and waited for the recommended time and night fall to catch this once in a lifetime event. What is an anomaly? This was supposed to be spectacular. And it was, but how much of it could you see? I was expecting spectacular and knew to look in the skies for it, so I think that I saw a bit of a ring around a planet and a blurry shadow maybe right next to it. Cool – I can say I saw that. But, if I am honest it was a little bit of a let down. Then, along comes the guy with the right lens and the right camera. He made it pop, he saw this amazingly bright shining planet – two of them, together throwing off light. You could see rings, moons – a real show-stopper of a display that he even enhanced with the mirrors of his telescope. How was this an incredible event for me still? The last guy I would expect to have something neat or earth shattering to share, the slightly nerdy scientist with a telescope, star map, and a bit of creativity handed me something precious.
I expected the star, I had been led to believe it was coming and would be amazing, but I needed help. I needed someone to share – to carry the light in a new way – to me. These strangers from a foreign land shared it with me.
The message of the star has arrived in our midst. What is our epiphany for the year? We make New Year’s Resolutions, but these often don’t take us very far.
We are called to follow the star to act in transformed ways by the gift that the star led to. God’s gift to us. Each of you should have received a star with a word printed on it in the mail – more than one family member, draw a star randomly. Missing one, let me know later and I will send you one (
viewing this online, see The Nor'kirk Presbyterian Facebook page for online star word distribution).
This is your star gift for 2021. I invite you to ponder what significance this word might have in your life and how God might be speaking to you through this simple message. As Christ’s people, we receive so much from our God breaking into our world in surprising ways little and big. God blesses us, and then we are invited to respond with our gifts and ourselves.
As you see your random word this morning, allow it to speak to you. Explore the meaning no matter how familiar, much like our story today – toss assumptions and explore exactly what this says to you. I invite you to place this word somewhere that you will see it daily – your mirror, your computer monitor, the refrigerator. As you go through 2021, the meaning may shift. Allow it to morph and grow with you.
Like any other gift, star gifts can either be received with joy or forgotten or thrown away. Epiphany like the stars we receive today calls on us to respond intentionally. Is this something that you will just put by the wayside or is this a new discovery? An opportunity to reflect on how God speaks to us? How are things revealed? In one simple word.
It might bring true wisdom and not just be an astrologer’s trick. May these words open us to epiphanies in the little things and in the big. May they remind us to be thankful for the many gifts from God around us every day. God surprising us in revelation and wonder. May our eyes be open to seeing and believing even if the story is not running on our script.
If foreigners in hippy skirts with tattoos baubles came to worship would we see. What about atheist scientists with Slide rules suddenly converted and bowing down, in our parking lot would we see them? We reduce magi to wisemen because that is easier to accept than a revelation from the fringe. We reduce the crowd to three because it feels less like being told the outsider is blessed, less like welcoming an invasion of the unknown. A cleaner picture of a toddler being worshipped by three acceptable men rather than a motley, dirty crowd of charlatans. Charlatan who he welcomed, charlatans, outsiders who saw, who worshipped, who knew God had come into the world. We are challenged by anomalies and struggle with seeing God in the many ways God bursts in on our average and ordinary pressing us with spectacular and mysterious, unconditional love. In Dante’s words, “God is the love that moves sun and stars.” No anomaly is too small, no paper inspiration too trite, no star big enough to encompass all God did, does and will do to be with us, live in us and surround us in love. Amen.
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