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They Followed A Star

Matthew 2:1-12

January 4, 2003

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¹In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men^£ from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, “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.” ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah^£ was to be born. ⁵They told him,

            “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

⁶            ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

            are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

            for from you shall come a ruler

            who is to shepherd^£ my people Israel.’”

⁷Then Herod secretly called for the wise men^£ and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” ⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,^£ until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped,^£ they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

There is a beautiful old tradition about the star in the East. The story says that when the star had finished its task of directing the wise men to the baby, it fell from the sky and dropped down into the city well of Bethlehem. According to some legend, that star is there to this day, and can sometimes still be seen by those whose hearts are pure and clean.

There are other legends about this story of the wise men from the east. For instance, how many wise men were there? In the old days in the east, they believed that there were 12 men who made the journey, but now most everyone agrees there were three. One old legend even tells us the names of the three. Melchior was the oldest of the group, with a full beard. He gave the baby the gift of gold. Balthasar also had a beard, but was not as old as Melchior. He presented the gift of myrrh. The youngest of the three was Casper, who had no beard, but presented the gift of frankincense to the baby.[1]   Another legend says that the three men were kings, Melchior, the king of Arabia, Balthasar the king of Tharsis and Casper, the king of Ethiopia.[2]

There’s not only a wide variety of stories that surround the wise men, but also in the traditions that celebrate and remember them.

On January 6, many in Mexico celebrate “El Dia De Reyes”, the Epiphany, remembering the day when the Three Wise Men following the star to Bethlehem, arrived bearing their treasured gifts for the Baby Jesus.    

A couple of days earlier, the children write their letters to the Wise Men, or to their favorite asking for the presents they would like to receive.[3]

As many of you know I’m sure, January 6 is also the time that Armenian Christmas is celebrated.  For reasons that have as much to do with ancient Armenian politics and history as anything else, Armenians in the traditional Apostolic church celebrate both Epiphany and Christmas on January 6.  The High Holiday is called “Don Soorp Dznntyan Yev Asdvadzhadnootyan” or “Feast of the Nativity and Theophany of the Lord.”  I’m told that the gift giving of this season was never done in relation to Christmas but in relation to New Year’s and January 6 was a time to simply go to church and worship for the occasion of Christmas.  December 24 and 25 were just ordinary days on the calendar.

Even today, according to the calendar of the Reformed church, all protestant churches around the world celebrate Epiphany on January 6.  Epiphany is the day when Christ is revealed to the world.  It happens as the first gentiles, the wise men from the east, encounter Jesus.

Which brings us back to that star.  How was it that the wise men found their way to the baby?  What kind of star did they follow?  What kind of star travels across the sky in such a way as to allow folks to follow it from one part of the world to another?  There are many attempts at explanations for this phenomena.  Some say it was a shooting star, others say it was a comet, some say it was a supernatural occurrence, something that stands outside the explanation of science.  Maybe it was some sort of vision that these three men or perhaps their leader saw that drew them to the baby Jesus.

There are many things left unexplained and unsettled in this story so central to Jesus’ birth and revelation.  But one thing is vital to this story.  Vital in that it is important to the story.  But Vital as well in that it gives life.

These men, these magi, wise men or kings felt a stirring, in themselves and in the world and they set out on a journey to find the answers.  On that journey, they were led by a star.  Perhaps it was a comet, perhaps a shooting star or a series of shooting stars, perhaps a vision.  They were led by some light in the sky.  And by the light of the star they came to the Holy Family in Bethlehem.

Only when it is dark can we see or need the light. [4]

In the bushes in front of our house, right there across the lawn, are some Christmas lights.  They are on a timer, they stay on for several hours and then they go off.  Once or twice last year, before I got a handle on how to use the timer, I left them on during the day and I didn’t know it.  I couldn’t see the lights shining on bright sunny days unless you look closely to see if there are on.  However, at night, you could see they were NOT on, because of how dark it was. 

It wasn’t until it was bleak and dark that the wise men realized that they needed the profound light from heaven.  It wasn’t until it was bleak and dark enough to see the light of the star that they could embark on their journey toward the light.

What Is Light?  You can sit in physics class and learn a lot of things about light. Ask Stephen Hawking, who some say is a genius. He will tell you that light is the ultimate constant in the universe, that it always travels at 186,000 miles per second, that light transmits energy, radiation, and information. Or ask a third-grader to put a sunbeam through a prism and you will see the spectrum of a rainbow. Physics can tell us a great deal about light. But there’s one thing physics has never explained, namely, what exactly do we mean by that word “light”? What is it? We know it when we see it, but we can’t really explain what it is. Unlike space or time, light cannot be defined over against anything else. Light simply exists.[5]  And without it we would not survive

The wise men were looking for light, light to give them answers to the darkness of their lives.  They found that light in the star which led them to the One Light, the Light of the World

They were looking for hope and reason for carrying on and they found it in the place where their star led them in a child who would give them hope for everlasting life and the principles of love upon which to establish their lives.

A man by the name of Gerhard Frost wrote in a book entitled Seasons of a Lifetime: "If I am asked what are my grounds for hope, this is my answer: LIGHT is lord over darkness. TRUTH is lord over falsehood. LIFE is lord over death. Of all the facts I daily live with, there is none more comforting that this: If I have two rooms - one dark, the other light - and I open the door between them, the dark room becomes lighter without the light one becoming darker. I know this is no headline, but it's a marvelous footnote, and God comforts me in that."

The dark room becomes lighter without the light room becoming darker. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."[6]

This is the kind of hope that the wise men were looking for, following that star.  They were looking for light such as Gerhard Frost knew and enjoyed in his life. 

Yet its not always easy to accept light when you’ve found it.  For where there is light, darkness has been and will inevitably return.

There was a priest in a Midwestern city who wanted to help inner-city children. He wanted them to see something more than the hardship of their own situations. He put them on a bus and took them to see some things of great beauty. They went to the art museum and saw paintings by the masters. They went to a symphony matinee and heard beautiful music. They went for a walk through a row of homes that were done over by a creative team of architects. That young priest showed those children the best and brightest things he knew. Then they climbed back on the bus and went home. That night one of those young boys set his apartment house on fire. They rescued the neighbors and family, but the place burned down. The priest was in tears when he visited the boy in a detention cell. “Why did you do it?” he asked.

“I saw all those beautiful things,” said the boy, “and then I came home and saw how ugly my world was, and I hated the ugliness, so I wanted to burn it down.” Shine some light in a dark place and there’s no telling what will happen. When all you have ever seen is darkness, that is all you know. And when light comes, it makes for a contrast.  Yet, darkness is never fully distinguished.  Darkness remains a choice. In fact, it is possible for light to come into the world, and for somebody to say, “Turn out the lights!” It is possible for the Light of the world to shine on people, and those people not accept it.[7]

We all search for light, and often we find it.  Even if we find our star as the wise men did, even if we find the babe in the manger who is the Christ and the source of all light, even if we accept Christ, and usher in the era of light into our lives we cannot expect to live exclusively in light all the days of our lives.  Night inevitably comes again until we can find that star and find Christ in the dawn yet again. 

Despite our best efforts to create an atmosphere of cooperation and kindness, it is unrealistic to think we are going to eliminate from the face of the earth divisiveness, or evil. Our only choice, unless we want to give in or give up, is to work around the evil.

Yes, this is an imperfect world, but that does not relieve us of our responsibility to work for what is good and right. If anything, the evil present in our world only accentuates the need for us to do something.

Someone penned a few thoughts and titled the piece "Anyway."

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway!

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway!

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway!

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway!

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway!

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway!

Offer the world the best you have and it may be refused.  Give the world the best you have anyway! [8]

To attempt these things is to embark on a journey towards light, following a lighted star.  Encountering the light of Christ gives hope and life and vitality to continue the journey until the coming of the kingdom.  Amen.