Dear Parish Family, 

Herod the Great had been called "king of the Jews" by the Senate in Rome for almost 40 years at the time of Jesus’ birth. He ruled with heavy hand and killed even his sons whom he thought would usurp his throne.  But no one called him Messiah. Messiah means the long-awaited God-anointed Ruler, who would overcome all other rule, and bring in the end of history, and establish the kingdom of God and never die or lose his reign. We don't know how the wise men from the East got their information that there was such a king coming. But it is clear that Herod got the message: these visitors to his palace are not searching for a mere, ordinary, human successor to him. They are searching for the final King, to end all kings. This was disturbing news! He didn't even know the simple Scriptures about where the Messiah was to be born. So he asks the scribes, and the one text that they focus on is Micah 5:2,6 "And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler who will shepherd my people Israel." Now that doesn't sound very extraordinary either. The reason is that the only purpose for which the scribes quoted the text was to answer Herod's question: Where? And the answer is Bethlehem.

But what if Herod had asked them, "Who?" They might have read on in Micah 5: "(2) His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. . . . (4) And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth." So this king is not just coming into being in the womb of his mother. "His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." Or, as John's Gospel says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). And this king would not be limited in his realm to Israel. "He will be great to the ends of the earth."

Over and over the Bible baffles our curiosity about just how certain things happened. How did this "star" get the magi from the east to Jerusalem? It does not say that it led them or went before them. It only says they saw a star in the east, and came to Jerusalem. And how did that star go before them in the little five-mile walk from Jerusalem to Bethlehem as verse 9 says it did? And how did a star stand "over the place where the Child was"? The answer is: We do not know. There are numerous efforts to explain it in terms of conjunctions of planets or comets or supernovas or miraculous lights. There are some half-a-dozen movies that try to solve the mystery. “The Star of Bethlehem” movie is a good and scientific edge of the seat feature. But what we do know is what it all means: God guided these people from far away to experience the birth of His son. Their visit puts His people on an imminent alertness and us on a wondrous quest to meet the Christ child.

These wise men combined faith and intellect: they had secular learning that helped them know what to expect to see in the skies and they were curious when they saw something other than they expected–and they had the faith to pursue it, the faith to worship the baby, and the faith to listen to directions telling them how to get home. Their journey was many hundreds of miles–perhaps a thousand. And they went home by a different route, because the Lord directed their feet. Similarly, as we choose to follow Christ we will journey far beyond the familiar and comfortable, but the warning voice of the Spirit of the Lord will be there to guide us far from trouble, if we will but listen to it. We will find ourselves on an unknown route, not of our own choosing. There is no way that the wise men–or us–can return home on the same path, because it is not possible to be the same person that you were before you met the Savior of the world.

Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.