That is how it felt on Sunday when I preached at the morning service at Lancing Tab. I spent 23 Christmases there and have preached on all the usual texts, some more than once.
I was asked to preach on Matthew 2:1–12 and my topic was ‘worshipping Jesus’.
Perhaps the most intriguing characters in the Christmas story are the ones that feature in this reading. We are not even sure about what to call them: Wise men, Sages, Philosophers, Kings, Magi, Magicians, Stargazers, or Astrologers. We do not know how many there were or where exactly they came from (‘From the East’ is a bit vague!).
They only have one sentence to speak in the story:
“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.”
Augustine reflects on their approach:
“They make an announcement and ask a question, they believe and they seek; representing those, as it were who walk by faith and long for sight.” (Augustine sermon 199:2)
I asked two questions in the sermon:
Firstly, “Why did they come?” (We will look at question 2 next week)
- They had seen an astrological sign in the sky. Quite likely a comet or a supernova — this was a moving object that would be observable in the sky for several days both day and night.
- In the ancient world such unusual astrological signs were taken to be an indication that a special person had been born.
- These travellers make a connection between this astrological sign and the specific birth of a king in Israel. I had not noted before that the Magi speak about “his” star. I guess that they must have been relatively sure that they were not embarking on a wild goose chase.
These men may have come from Babylon, where Judah had been exiled and the prophet Daniel had prophesied. Perhaps they had put two and two together and concluded that the stars and the times had aligned in a significant way.
They followed all the pointers, a star, a hunch, a Bible study initiated by King Herod finally got them to their destination.
One commentator observes:
“The star (revelation of Creation) leads them to Israel’s Scripture in Jerusalem (revelation in Scripture) — which in turn leads them to the child in Bethlehem (Revelation by Christ). The star itself does not lead them directly to Christ, the star brings us to Jerusalem; only Scripture brings us to Bethlehem, … To be sure, the star reappears, but only after the Scriptures say Bethlehem.” (Bruner)
I am fascinated that initially the star only got them so far. They were six miles short of Bethehem. They needed Scripture to complete the journey.
I finish with a bit more from Augustine:
“They had the answer at their fingertips, but not in their hearts … Having pointed out the fountain of life, they themselves die of thirst … They pointed to Bethlehem, but did not then seek Christ who was born there … They show the way but don’t go themselves.” (Augustine sermon 204a 1)
There is a warning here for all preachers:
It is perilous to know the right answers from Scripture but not act upon them.
Photo by Inbal Malca on Unsplash