Star Struck

The Epiphany of Our Lord

January 5, 2025

Matthew 2:1-12

 “Star Struck”

Have you ever met someone famous? Someone who is instantly recognizable, in the news, like a celebrity or sports figure? Living here in the shadow of our nation’s capital, there are lots of movers and shakers around us. It may well be that some of you, because of your job and what you do, have been in close proximity to some of these leaders and influential people. What’s that like? The closest I’ve come to this is when my wife and I were returning from our overseas travel during my sabbatical in the summer of 2023. We stopped in Iceland on that trip, both coming and going, and while we were waiting in the airport terminal for our return flight home, there across the way was the TV producer, Phil Rosenthal. This is the man who produced the sitcom series, “Everybody Loves Raymond,” but he also did a Netflix series, “Somebody Feed Phil,” which focuses on how food brings people together throughout the world. Anyway, we both saw him and his family walking through the airport, and just as we were going to go and get his autograph, he was swarmed by people and so we lost our opportunity. Oh well… Sometimes it happens that people can be “star struck” when they actually do meet someone famous. Maybe that’s happened to you. Suddenly, in the presence of this celebrity, your mind goes blank and you can’t say a word. It happens. As we celebrate the Epiphany of Our Lord today, there is a different kind of “star struck” as these mysterious wise men, led by a star, come to worship and offer their gifts to the Christ Child. This becomes the theme for preaching today. May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Up to now, the birth of Jesus was a very local event centered in and around Bethlehem that concerned only Hebrew people. But that was all about to change with these mysterious visitors from the East. Suddenly, the birth of Jesus takes on wider, even global, meaning that includes not just God’s chosen people, but all peoples, tribes, nations and languages. What was prophesied by Isaiah in today’s Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 60:1-6) was fulfilled in the coming of the wise men in the Gospel lesson. “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising… They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.” Although likely not kings, the wise men “were an old and powerful priestly caste among both Medes and Persians. These priest-sages, extremely well educated for their day, were specialists in medicine, religion, astronomy, astrology, divination, and magic…the wise men were pagans, not Hebrews, and the fact that gentile magi performed the same adoration as Jewish shepherds symbolized the universal outreach for future Christianity” (First Christmas: The True and Unfamiliar Story, by Paul L. Maier. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1971; pp. 66-67). Guided by a star, they were literally star struck. They traveled an enormous distance, some 1600 miles following ancient roads and mountain passes, a journey that may have taken as long as five months. Their journey likely began in Babylon, since this was the capital of both the Babylonian Empire as well as the Medo-Persian Empire.

We see two different reactions to the birth of Jesus in today’s Gospel lesson. The first is that of the Gentile wise men, who were awed by the coming of this divine King. At great expense and risk, they traveled a vast distance to come in person and worship him, presenting him with costly and extravagant gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They did all of this from a sense of great urgency in order to seize and act upon the window of time indicated by the star that led them to the Christ Child. The other reaction we see is that of Herod the king, who viewed all of this as a threat and responded out of jealousy and fear in order to eliminate a potential rival to his power. What are the reactions we see to the kingship of Jesus today? Despite what many think, the opposite of love is not hatred, but apathy. For many today, they are too busy, too preoccupied, too self-absorbed to be concerned about the kingship of Jesus. For those who are in power, like Herod, they may find the claims of Jesus’ kingship to be a threat. Throughout the centuries, rulers have gone to great lengths to eliminate Jesus from their rule, but it comes to nothing. These rulers pass away, but the reign and rule of Christ are eternal. And what about us? Will we, like those wise men, press on with a sense of great urgency in order to come and worship Jesus as King and God and Sacrifice, like we sang in our opening hymn? Will we open our treasures and offer to him what is precious: our selves, our time, and our possessions? This King came not to be served, but to serve, and to offer his life as a ransom for us all (Mark 10:45). This King came to reveal his power in humility and loving service (Philippians 2:1-11). This King came to wear not a crown of gold, but of thorns, and whose throne would be the wood of the cross. What began at his humble crib in Bethlehem would end at his cross outside Jerusalem, all for us and for our salvation.

Even as we grieve the terrible loss of life from the terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, we also pay tribute to our longest-lived President, Jimmy Carter, who passed away on December 29 at age 100. His funeral services, both here in Washington as well as in Georgia, will take place this week. As  has been widely reported in the media, during his presidency, in July 1979, President Jimmy Carter challenged Americans to acknowledge personal failings that he believed were compounding very real public problems in a speech that came to be called, “A Crisis of Confidence,” sometimes referred to as his “malaise speech” (From the archives: Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech - "A Crisis of Confidence" | Watch). In this, he said: “Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption ... Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.” Regardless of what you may think of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, we will remember his long life of service to humanity after his presidency. In his speech, he asked a deep and probing question about what it is that we worship. The wise men, we are told, had come to Jerusalem specifically to worship him “who has been born king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2). The original word (προσκυνῆσαι) means to bow down, to prostrate oneself, in adoration. At the beginning of this new year, what is it that we worship in our own lives today? What is the star we are following? There are many things vying for our attention and allegiance, but there is only one thing needful (Luke 10:42). Let us follow in the steps of those wise men and come to worship Jesus, not just with our lips, but with our whole lives.

May this Epiphany, Jesus’ revealing himself to the world beginning with these first Gentile wise men, be a time when we see more and more how Jesus is revealing himself to the world today. May we be star struck by all that he is doing for our good and for the glory of his holy Name. Amen.