Kathy Donley
Taylorville, IL USA
Matthew 2: 1-12
Bethel Baptist Church
Sometime in the last month, someone sent me an e-mail of a
picture of earth taken from a satellite. This picture was taken at
night. It is a fascinating picture. It isn’t the blue and white world
that I’ve often seen in photographs from space. This one is black
and white. You can see most of the outlines of landmass and you
can tell where the oceans are. What is most striking about the
picture is the places were there is light. The picture, taken at
night, shows the whole world in light and darkness. You can see
Chicago and New York because they are just lit up. In fact, almost
all of the United States is lit up, except some desert places in the
West. You can tell by looking at this picture where there are a lot
of people and where there are just a few people or where there
might be a lot of people living without electricity to light up the
night sky. A few days after I had seen this picture, someone else
wrote to talk about what a problem the night lights are for
astronomers. Astronomers cannot see the stars during the day
because of the brightness of the sun. And it seems that we are
lighting up the night sky so much that there are few places where
astronomers can still see the stars at night. One of my favorite
childhood memories is of going to my grandmother’s farm and
going out to see the stars at night. She refused to have a pole light
and so on a clear night, the stars were the most visible of any place
I’ve ever seen. I remember the night I spent there on my way to
college for the first time. It was August and there was meteor
activity. I watched shooting stars from a lawn chair in her yard for
hours. When you get out where you can see the stars like that and
you’re quiet for a while, some funny things happen. Sometimes
when you watch the sky, the stars seem so close, like you could
reach up and touch them. And other times, when you think about
how many worlds there are out there, how big the universe is, you
seem very small and insignificant. I wonder if Jesus were born
today, could the magi follow a star to find him or would the light
pollution make it impossible?
The magi, we usually call them The Wise Men, were from Persia.
They were a small tribe who had lived in the land before it was
conquered by Persia and when it was, they become a tribe of
priests. Ancient Israel had a similar tribe called the Levites, the
tribe from which the priests were chosen. In Persia, these priests
were the teachers of the Persian kings. No sacrifice could be
offered unless one of the Magi was present. They were respected
as men of holiness and wisdom. They were astrologers, star-
watchers. Today, we think of astrology like fortune-telling and
reading tea leaves. But in those days, the magi were scientists and
philosophers. They paid attention to the world around them, to
the sky and the stars. And they noticed something. We don’t
know exactly what it was – some say a comet, some say a normal
star out of place in a constellation that the magi found significant.
I don’t think it matters. What matters is that the magi paid
attention, noticed it, and responded to it.
Luke and Matthew tell us different stories about Jesus’ birth. Luke
tells us about the angels who sang in the heavens announcing that
Jesus had been born. Matthew doesn’t mention the angels or the
shepherds. Matthew tells us about the magi who follow a star.
And there’s a difference in those experiences, don’t you think?
The shepherds have everything laid out for them. The angels
speak their language. They said words which the shepherds
understand, even if it takes a while to make sense of them. They
are told to go to Bethlehem and find the baby wrapped in
swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. It may have been
frightening to get that visit from the angels, but after they calmed
down, the shepherds were pretty clear on the message they’d
heard.
The magi, on the other hand, didn’t hear any message at all. They
were minding their own business, doing what they always did and
one day they noticed a star that was different from the rest.
Different from their star charts. How many days do you think they
saw it before they decided to do something about it? If you and I
could see the stars and we paid attention to them on a regular
basis, what we do if we noticed something different? It’s not like
there was a sign flashing in the sky saying "Go to Bethelehem" but
somehow the magi got the message to do something. And what
they did was to take a long trip, to follow the star.
It was commonly believed at the time that the stars forecast
important events on earth. Appearances of unusual stars were
associated with the birth of Emperor Nero and Alexander the
Great and others. So, the magi, had some reason to believe that
this star was associated with the birth of someone who would one
day be king.
This story has become so much a part of our Christmas traditions,
that I’m not sure we stop to think about what it must have been
like to be those magi. They left their homes. They gathered up
and packed provisions for a journey. They travelled at night to
follow the star. They end up in Judea, a little province that means
nothing to most anyone. And all because of a star and some belief
in what they’re doing. No angel’s voice, no message from a
prophet, no burning bush. Just a star that gets their attention, that
seems out of place, that shines more brightly than it should.
I read this story and I think about what it might take for God to
get my attention. Especially at this time of year when there seems
to be so much to do, so many places to go, it is hard for me to be
still, to quiet down enough to pay attention to the stars or my own
heart or what God might be saying inside me. But the magi were
able to do it, to pay attention to a silent star.
As they followed the star, they came into Judea. Jerusalem was
the capital city of Judea and Herod was King. It was natural for
them to expect that the next King would be born in Jerusalem,
probably into Herod’s family, and so they went there to ask about
the birth. And when Herod heard about it, he was troubled and the
text says, "and all Jerusalem with him." The people of Jerusalem
knew to be troubled with Herod was upset. If Herod ain’t happy,
ain’t nobody happy. Herod did some good things as king. He was
the only Roman ruler of Palestine who ever succeeded in keeping
the peace. He was a great builder; he had rebuilt the temple in
Jerusalem. He had even melted down his own gold plate to buy
corn when his people were starving during a famine. He did some
good things, but he had one terrible flaw in his character: he was
insanely suspicious. Today, we might call him paranoid. The older
he grew, the most paranoid he got. Herod did not need anyone to
spell things out for him. On the flimsiest of evidence, on just
getting the notion into his head that someone was out to get him,
he got them first. He murdered his wife and her mother. He also
assasinated three of his own sons, all because he suspected that
they wanted to take the throne. So, you can see why the magi’s
search was troubling to him. Any baby who would grow up to be
king was a rival to Herod and Herod wouldn’t stand for it.
Remember that I said that the magi were priests and scholars
in their home land? Well, Herod had his own priests and scholars
and when he needed help, he called them in. They were the chief
priests and scribes, the theological scholars, the experts. Herod
asked them where the Messiah was expected to be born. And they
quoted the prophet Micah to him and told him in Bethlehem.
Herod’s experts were also wise men, probably just as
knowledgeable about science and philosophy as the magi. They
even knew something that the magi didn’t – that the Messiah was
supposed to be born in Bethlehem. If the magi had known that,
they probably would have gone there in the first place and left
Herod out of it. But when talk about the Wise Men at Christmas
time, we’re never talking about the chief priests and scribes in
Herod’s court. We’re always talking about the ones who didn’t
know the right answer to the question about where the Messiah
was to be born. We’re talking about the ones who took the risk,
who took the journey, who followed the star. The first group of
wise men, the ones who were Herod’s experts, they knew the right
answer, but they didn’t do anything about it. They stayed aloof.
They didn’t get involved.
The magi, on the other hand, got very involved. They took a risk.
There was the risk of inquiry: who knew what they might learn?
And the risk of journey: who knew what might happen on their
way? And the risk of search: who knew what they might find, or
better still, whom they might find?
This short story has captured the imagination of centuries of
Christians. Matthew is considered the most Jewish of all the
gospels, and yet it is the only one that tells us about the very first
Gentiles who worshipped Jesus. God is not mentioned in this
story. It is as if God is at work behind the scenes, moving the star,
guiding the magi on, but working silently, almost invisibly, only
apparent to those who are paying attention.
Matthew seems to see that God is at work like God has been at
work in human history before. One of the great stories of Israel’s
experience with God is the deliverance from Egypt. Like Israel,
the child Jesus and his family would go down into Egypt and
return again to the promised land. Later in the story, angels will
warn Joseph to flee into Egypt and then to return when Herod is
dead. These words echo the words God spoke to Moses telling
him to return to Egypt because those who wanted to kill him were
dead. Herod’s slaughter of the innocent children recalls Pharoah’s
slaughter of the Heberew children. Jesus is like a new Israel, a
new Moses. Matthew understands that God’s action in the person
of Christ has similarity and continuity with God’s saving actions in
the past. God’s coming in the baby Jesus has God’s fingerprints
all over it. It’s just the sort of thing God would do. Those who
pay attention will see God.
William Barclay was a Scottish theologian and pastor. In his
commentary on Matthew, he says that there are three reactions to
Jesus in this story. The first reaction is that of Herod, the reaction
of hatred and hostility. Herod was afraid that Jesus was going to
interfere with his life, his power, his plans and so his first instinct
was to destroy him. There are still those who would gladly
destroy Jesus Christ because they see in him the one who interferes
with their lives, their plans, their ambitions.
The second reaction is that of the chief priests and scribes, the
other wise men. It is the reaction of complete indifference. Jesus’
presence did not make the slightest difference to them. They were
so engrossed in their Temple ritual and their legal discussions that
they completely disregarded Jesus, even though the coming of the
Messiah was foretold in the prophets they studied.
And the third reaction was that of the magi, the reaction of adoring
worship, to lay at the feet of the Jesus, the noblest gifts they could
bring.
Some of us may come to faith like the shepherds. In one great
moment, we get a message from God. It comes to us clearly and
directly and we respond. It changes our lives and we follow the
instructions we receive and never waver.
Others of us are like the magi. The message that we get from God
is not so direct. It isn’t the boom of a loudspeaker, but something
much quieter, like the shining of a star or a persistent feeling that
there is something we need to pay attention to. We are like the
searchers, the Magi. We have difficulty with the larger questions
of life and faith. We are harassed by modern Herods who throw
their power around and abuse others. We wonder about family
life, AIDS, violence, illness, cancer, tragedy and death.
The magi didn’t have all the answers. Neither do we. But on their
life travels, they did have fellowship with each other and the light
of Christ to guide them. And so do we. At the end of their
journey, the magi found what they were looking for. And so will
we. Amen.