Christmas 2B: Matthew 2:1-12, “Where Did Your Star Stop?”
Today’s scripture lesson is a favorite Christmas story. “In the time of King Herod after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking ‘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.”
Children especially love this story because, in modern terminology, the baby Jesus receives “Christmas presents.” Children love presents. Adults, too, like this story for its exotic character. These men from the East, not Jews, maybe Zoroastrians, following a star, perhaps knowledgeable in astronomy or astrology, just picking up and following that star! Those who have “We Three Kings” in their hymnals love singing that as well. We really don’t know that there were three, or that they were kings. Matthew calls them “magi,”which means wise men.
Perhaps thinking that King Herod would know where this child was who was to be the king of his people, the Magi stop off at his palace to ask directions. It makes sense. Wouldn’t one think that a baby king would be found in the palace? There were no babies in Herod’s palace. In fact, he had already killed off three of his sons and a wife out of paranoia arising from his belief that they wished to overthrow him.
And so the questions of the Magi were of great interest to Herod. He was filled with fear that yet another entity would try to take his thrown from him. The shrewd Herod hatched a plot to find the child through the Magi. “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.”
The Magi then went out again in search of the newborn king. He was not at the palace as they had expected. Perhaps he would be elsewhere, but most likely in a grand home. Sermonwriter Dick Donovan posits that by the time the Magi found Jesus, he was probably at home in Nazareth. This would place Jesus in the home of Joseph, the carpenter. It was surely a modest home—not at all what you would expect as the home of a future king. Such a structure would never get code approval for a home today. No electricity, dirt floor, no tempered glass in the windows. Not much of a house by our standards, and surely not where the wise men would expect to find Israel’s future king. We can almost imagine them standing outside saying “Surely, this can’t be the place!” But it was. Whether the place was Nazareth or Bethlehem, it was crude by today’s standards. And perhaps by theirs as well.
Let’s pause for a moment to move this story into our own lives. Please take a moment to think about the stars that you have followed in your own life. Where did you think you were headed when you were, say, 20 years old? Did your star stop in that place? Many of us have lofty ideals as 20 year olds. “I am going to rise in my field.” “I am going to get a terminal degree (doctorate) in my field.” “I am going to make a big impact in my field.” “I am going to make a million dollars.” “I am going to get married and live happily ever after.” “I am going to have a big house, new car, and great exotic vacations.” Do you remember those daydreams? Yes, many of us set out in pursuit of a star that we thought would stop over a palace—only to have it come to rest above a modest house.
Donovan, who is himself recently of retirement age, thought long about some of his retired friends. Many of them had really looked forward to retirement, proclaiming, “Won’t it be wonderful when I can retire and we can have time to do all the fun things we want to do?!” He concludes that most retired people enjoy retirement, but reflects on several others. He shares that one friend started drinking. Others decided to go back to work. The star they dreamed of did not, in fact, come to rest over a palace, but over a modest home.
He quotes Robert Heilbroner, a successful economist who wrote books, one of which sold four million copies. In Donovan’s words, “Even successful people have their moments.” Here is what Heilbroner had to say:
“It’s great to have two cars and a swimming pool. But there are disappointments. After you’ve made some money and acquired some things, and after the initial excitement has passed, life goes on, just as bewildering as it always was, and the great problems of life and death once again come to the fore. We reemerge from our love affair with goods and know that consumption isn’t the answer, and we ask ourselves what is.” Apparently even people whose star comes to rest over palatial homes have problems.
What can we do when our star disappoints us—when it comes to rest over a less grand place than we feel we deserved? We can take our lead from the Magi, who could have followed the star to a humble abode or manger and said, “This can’t be the place!” They could have set out on foot again to look elsewhere. But they did not. Scripture tells us “When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.” They understood that Divine Light was guiding them and they trusted that. When the star stopped, they knew that they were in the right place, and they were JOYFUL.
If your star didn’t come to a rest over a palace, take a close look at where it did come to rest. There might be a great deal of joy awaiting you there, even if it isn’t where you thought you were going. Yes, there might be a great deal of joy there if you are willing to embrace it.
Has anyone ever heard of a sportswriter named William Merrit Lancaster? I had not, but found his story compelling. As a child, he longed to be a professional baseball player. His father had been a semi-pro player who earned the nickname “Speed.” Alas, son Bill lacked the talent, and his nickname was “Sloth.” He couldn’t even make the high school junior varsity team. But his dad didn’t act disappointed. He said to his son, “You know, a lot of guys who didn’t make it in sports ended up writing about it.” Looking back at that time in his life, Bill said, “Like most muscle-headed teens, I had no clue what to do with my life. But my father’s common-sense wisdom somehow seemed right. I enrolled in a journalism class the next semester and found my calling.” His calling was not to play baseball, but to write about it.
As I pondered in my mind and heart the places I wanted to take my message for this morning, I began applying the very questions we asked ourselves about where we hoped our star would stop to the nations and the religions of the earth. Sometimes when I read the Psalms, I hear people asking God to smite their enemies. I hear a form of boasting about the superiority of a religion or of a people. Surely we have all been there, especially in our adolescence. In the words of one writer, adolescents dream in a world of superstars and miracle men. “But they look in the mirror for signs of greatness, but see only a terminal case of acne.”
Are we old enough now as religions, as nations, to give up our delusions of grandeur about ruling the world and the world’s wealth? Can we give up our dreams of a palace for ME and trade them in on a home for EVERYONE? Today, after fellowship, we will consider a number of books for a four month Wild Rose Church book study, which will take place on first Sundays, following fellowship, beginning in February. Several of the books I’ll share from address this topic of finding unity is these modern times. I’d like to share a paragraph written by Thomas Keating, a Roman Catholic, in his Afterword to the book The Common Heart: An Experience of Interreligious Dialogue. In this paragraph, he uses the word “Ultimate Reality,” which is capitalized, to stand for our word “God.”
“Those who seek Ultimate Reality perceive themselves as citizens of the Earth. Their first loyalty is to the entire human family. They transcend the particularities of race, nationality and religion without reacting against them or trying to destroy them. They recognize the profound human values that the world religions enshrine. They work to preserve and enhance these values, but not at the cost of dividing the fundamental unity of the human family. They belong to an emerging global community.
All seekers, especially adherents of the world religions, have an obligation to contribute to the cause of peace.”
I think the star that Keating is following is world peace. Not everyone follows that star. Some are more like Herod, reacting in a paranoid fashion to anyone who can usurp their concept of power. Please pray that they may be brought along to transcend their private interests, their perhaps-adolescent desires for power. It is one of the gems of our own tradition that we, like the Magi, can come to see that the star doesn’t always lead to a palace. For those of us who love Christ and his teachings, the star lead to a place where we can love God and neighbor—where we can serve God and neighbor. And in that loving and serving, God will give us joy. Amen.
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