Have You Seen His Star?

Introduction

We spend more time trying to figure out what the star was than what the star means.

Was it the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn?

Was it a super nova

In the process of trying to figure out the star we have lost the sense of mystery that surrounds the star.

It seems that today’ culture doesn’t like mystery. We have know how everything works. We feel empowered when we know how something works.

You’ve heard it said that knowledge is power. So we want to know the star. We want to figure it out as if somehow know what the star was will empower us.

The mystery of the star is wonderful. How does it appear to the magi in the east? How does it appear to move and settle over the home where Jesus is residing with his parents? Can we make peace with the fact that we will never know and instead focus on what the star does. More importantly how people respond to the star. Let me read the story one more time. This time I want you to think about what the star is doing.

Transition: There are a group of people today that are not depicted in the story of the Messianic star. They might have been present in Jerusalem, and I would guess that they are there. This is a group of people who don’t give the star much thought.

Pointing to the One Who Doesn’t Mean Much in My Life

It is interesting to me in the text that it took people living in the far East to recognize the star. Think about that for a moment.

The Jews were expecting the Messiah, but they didn’t recognize the star.

Unless the star only appeared to the Magi, the people in Jerusalem were privy to the same star.

I don’t know about you, but I was a little let down by the Christmas star. I was expecting a Hollywood style appearance when Jupiter and Saturn aligned. Had I not read the news, I wouldn’t have paid much attention.

Maybe that’s what was happening in Jerusalem. People saw the star, but they didn’t see it. It didn’t mean anything to them.

There are those who hear the message of Jesus and it just doesn’t mean anything to them. It’s not that they are angry or upset about Jesus, it’s that they don’t see his relevance in their lives.

Can that also be true of us. Can we be so busy that the star doesn’t mean anything to us?

Transition: Though there might not have been this apathetic group present in our text, there was another group who were pretty troubled by the message of the star.

Pointing to the One Whom I Must Eliminate from My Life

When we don’t ignore the star there is no sitting on the fence in our response to the One to whom it points. Either we will find every means to rid our lives of this baby, or we will fall on our knees and worship him.

Herod made every effort to eliminate this baby from his life even that would eventually mean killing small children to do so.

How far will people go to eliminate God from their lives? Some of you here today know because you spent a great deal of your life trying to get rid of the baby’s influence on you.

Story of man in bar telling us that we couldn’t talk about God in that space.

This is not an attempt to make you afraid of people who don’t want the name of Jesus spoken in the public square. It’s just that we shouldn’t be shocked when people try to eliminate the message of Jesus in their lives.

It shouldn’t surprise us when TV shows and movies make Christians look like morons.

It shouldn’t surprise us that there are people in our nation who want any mention of God removed from our national vocabulary.

It shouldn’t surprise us that are people who stop talking with us when simply say that we are Christians or that we believe in Christ.

Jesus himself said that he didn’t come to bring peace but a sword. Why a sword? Because when people see the star pointing to the Christ child they also see the Christ child pointing their hearts.

By the way, aren’t there times when we have the same reaction?

Transition: There is a third group that is also impacted by the appearance of the star. The Magi can’t wait to get to Bethlehem and when the star guides them to the Christ child, they have only one choice to make. They had to worship the baby even if they didn’t fully understand who the child is.

Pointing to the One Whom I Fall Down and Worship

We often think that there was deep understanding of God by these Magi, these wisemen. But that’s not the case.

They didn’t have all their theology straight. But did you notice what they did?

They fall on the ground. When was the last time that you and I literally fell on the ground before our Savior.

They worshipped. Did you notice that this act of worship happens far away from the temple in Jerusalem. It happens in a home in Bethlehem. And it happens in community. It was a small community, but it was community.

Worship not only happens in this place, but it happens in our homes. It happens in the mountains. It happens on the street corners of Colorado Springs.

That doesn’t make worship a solo event. Just because we worship in many and various places, we are still called to worship as a community.

The community admits its need for the Savior

The community celebrates the Savior

We understanding of God isn’t always correct nor do we get all the nuances of faith, but our growth in faith is rooted in the One that we are getting know better and better. It is rooted in this baby born for us

Conclusion

We make a big jump in Jesus life from this week to next Sunday. Next Sunday we gather again as a community to celebrate Jesus’ baptism. Even though there is no appearance of star, what the star has done for us today will once again happen only this time it will be a voice that points to Jesus. Once again, we will be called to fall down and worship as we see Jesus inaugurated into his ministry of suffering, dying and rising for us. Amen.