Isaiah 50. 1 – 6
Matthew 2. 1 – 12
The Epiphany
Fr Alex
I had occasion to kill a few minutes of time the other day, and flicked through a nearby magazine. I came across the horoscope predictions for 2025, and thought it was a good opportunity to find out what awaits me and my fellow Capricorns.
Apparently this year I will need to “stick to routines and face career challenges head on.” Despite this penetrating and revealing prediction, I’m not sure exactly what routines these might be – perhaps the rhythms of daily prayer and worship? That sounds ok.
As for the “career challenges…” I’m a priest in the Church of England, no doubt there will be plenty of those.
It’s certainly not a new thing to try to seek meaning in the stars. The strange visitors to the stable whom we commemorate today are called in our reading “wise men.” Their wisdom lay in their ability to read the stars, to work out the most auspicious time for going to war, or gathering the harvest, or making the appointed sacrifices.
They’re often called the “three kings,” and although Matthew doesn’t mention kings in his account, this tradition draws on Old Testament prophecies in Isaiah and the Psalms, that the Messiah will be worshipped by kings.
We heard it this morning: “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn … They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”
The word Matthew actually uses is ‘magi,’ a word referring to the sorcerers and astrologers of the eastern religions. It’s where we get our English word ‘magic’ from.
Some people still look for meaning in the movement of the stars today, either in the horoscopes, or in random coincidences of nature: “the universe is looking out for me today,” or “thank my lucky stars,” are things they might say.
And of course there are other kinds of ‘star’ that are all too influential in the lives of so many – the stars of film, or music, or the internet – the celebrities. There are more abstract stars such as the star of our own ego, and the individualism that leads people to live only for themselves. There are the stars of superstitions and conspiracy theories, fake news and true lies. There are plenty of stars that promise to lead people to the answers to the problems of life.
So what was so special about this star that dragged these wise men so far from their homes? These experts in the stars, who could’ve discerned any meaning they chose from its appearance?
This star was not like any other star, literal or metaphorical. It could not lead to a wrong interpretation, or lead people astray. It was the star of truth. It was the star of Christ.
Christ himself is both the star by which we seek him, and the one to whom we are lead. He is the one who calls us to follow, and is the end of all our searching.
The wise men weren’t just guided by a light, they were brought into the presence of the Light itself: the “true light, which enlightens everyone,” which had now come into the world, as St John said.
And this star is truth. Later in the season we’ll hear the account of the presentation of the infant Christ in the temple, and Simeon will prophesy that “This child is destined for the falling and rising of many … and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed.”
We see this in the different reactions of those who are confronted with this truth, and their true nature is revealed. The innocent shepherds, content with their lot, “glorify and praise” God for all they hear and see; the guilty Herod, ever seeking after power and status, responds with death and destruction.
The false stars of the world will always promise us happiness and fulfilment, yet our following of them will invariably leave us disappointed. They can only ever lead to the fear and suspicion and jealousy of Herod.
The star who is Christ will also leave us dissatisfied: but only with way of life we leave behind, as this light reveals to us the truth of God’s love and purpose for our lives. The only light that can illuminate the “thick darkness” that covers the earth and the peoples, as Isaiah said.
We have a special vocation in this time to guide people back towards that star that is Christ, as they navigate through the constellation of distractions and challenges of modern life.
They are all searching for him in the end, I believe, though many don’t know it: all the different things that have replaced faith in the lives of so many, are inevitably gropings after the divine truth that they have rejected or forgotten.
And the truth is that our incarnate God has walked this earth in the person of Christ; he has revealed the astonishing depth of his love for us in his life, death and resurrection; and he has given us a token of his everlasting presence with us, in the form of bread and wine.
May we keep our eyes fixed on the star that is Christ through the course of this year, whatever distractions or other appeals to truth there may be.
Like the wise men drawn to the stable, may we follow him wherever his light draws us: and witness to his truth wherever there are Herods or other false stars who try to obscure it.
And like them, may we open our own treasure chests and give to him: not gifts of gold, frankincense, or myrrh, “but hearts and voices raised in praise of Jesus Christ, our light and our salvation.” Amen.