Epiphany of Light

This happens at a specific moment in the history of Judea and Rome.

During the approximately 40-year reign of King Herod, client king of Judea with Rome’s backing.

Through Herod, Rome made certain concessions to the Jewish political/religious ruling elite of Judea, who were charged with keeping their own people in line.

In exchange, Rome extracted oppressive taxes and forced labor to fund the army and any Roman building projects, and those taxes came with extortion by those who collected them.

Herod was of half Judean and Idumean descent, so not properly “the king of the Jews” but a steward of the throne.

Herod was around 70 at the time.

Wise men (magi), from Arabian and Persian nations, arrived, asking about the birth of a new king of Israel.

Astrology seems to be at least one of their preoccupations because they observed the stars and seemed to follow a tradition of correlating a new star with the arrival of a new king.

This should not be surprising for anyone in ancient times of the near east, as it was from an older tradition.

They came to pay homage to the new king.

Following the star seems to have only taken the wise men as far as Judea.

They assumed the current king would know where the next one might be born.

The wise men don’t inquire about a son of Herod.

Herod immediately reacts with terror.

In his advanced age, he is reportedly extremely paranoid to the point of murdering some of his own family members out of suspicion.

He is terrified of a child.

Herod was no practicing Jew.

He didn’t know the basics of the Messianic prophecy.

So, he assembled the chief priests and scribes to inquire about prophecy.

The definitive prophetic statement about the birth of the Messiah was from Micah.

A ruler would be born in Bethlehem of Judea to be a ruling shepherd of God’s people.

The chief priest and scribes seem to do nothing beyond this.

They don’t try to inquire about the star or the child, failing to see any significance whatsoever.

Herod seems to act upon his terror and paranoia by meeting the magi in secret.

To extract any information they had about the star and the child.

Then Herod attempts to engage these foreign wise men as informants, feigning devotion, “that [he might] go and pay him homage.”

The text gives no indication that the wise men understand his request as deception.

Awful things happen when we fail to recognize the potential for evil or good.

Even worse is when we recognize the potential for evil and do nothing about it.

Civil rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. expressed unhappiness with people who were unwilling to support his efforts due to apathy or fear. He used the phrase “appalling silence”.

In his 1963 essay, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he wrote, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.”

There is a conflict within us, between wanting to joyfully serve Christ as king, and resisting any rule, or doing nothing to stop evil.

Herod personified false devotion to God, evidenced by his duplicitous and evil actions.

The high priests and scribes personified unfaithful devotion to God, evidenced by their apathy.

GT: A star draws pagan wise men to worship Jesus as king.

Isaiah 60 showed that they should have expected those of other eastern nations to come and worship the Messiah using camels and bringing gifts of gold and frankincense because the light of God comes to them through him.

The wise men likely had spent a year or more gathering their gifts and traveling to find one person.

Being told of the prophecy, the wise men went on their way to Bethlehem, and “ahead of them, went the star.”

It seems that this is no naturally occurring phenomenon that could be reasoned by anyone observing the stars, and these wise men did it all the time, yet they were astounded by its occurrence.

They were drawn by the sign of the star but were provided deeper meaning and further direction through scripture.

The prophecy of Balaam in Num. 24:17 spoke of a star “come forth out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”

As the Magi journeyed, they were filled with joy; they find what they were looking for.

When they found the house, they saw the child and his mother, and immediately knelt and paid homage to him and gave him gifts worthy of a king.

God warned the Magi of Herod’s evil intent in a dream, so they decided not to inform Herod.

All the action shown here was called into movement by God, the Father.

Mary appears but is not heard, Joseph is not even mentioned, and Jesus does nothing but exist.

Not only did God, the Father, provide Jesus the love and support of human parents and friends, but also the kingly honor that was due him at his birth.

The gifts that the wise men gave him would have provided for their temporary emigration to Egypt as Herod attempted to kill him by infanticide.

Wherever we are in life, God reveals himself.

Before we believe, God shows us signs and wonders throughout creation and the love of others.

When we first believe, we receive divine wisdom by his Spirit dwelling within us.

God’s working always points us to Jesus Christ, who is worthy to be praised and followed.

This is what happens when “religious people” aren’t paying attention to God.

God finds other people, gets their attention, draws them to him, and gives them love, peace, and joy like they have never known.

This is what scripture means that he was to be a shepherd of his people.

Far from being apathetic or appallingly silent,

When we are drawn to the light of God, we lift our voices and engage our bodies to love God and all those whom God loves.

This is how great God is and why God is worthy of our devotion and praise.