I have come to the end of my commitment to write in my blog through the Christmas season.
Today is Epiphany. I have no idea why it has that name! It is best known as All King's Day - or in Spanish Dia de Los Reyes - the day set aside to celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men from the East. They were astrologers who watched the stars and one night in the night sky they discovered a new star - a special star that somehow they knew to be the star of a new king, and they followed the star. It has never occurred to me before this morning that when they set out on their journey they had no idea how long the journey would be - they were just compelled to follow, curious to know where it would lead them and determined to honor this new king.
Ultimately it led them first to Jerusalem - where they asked Herod where the newborn King of the Jews was so they could worship him. Herod summoned the wise men to meet with him privately, and asked them when the star had appeared. That was very important information for him to know. He lied about wanting to go worship him, too.
After the astrologers left Herod, the star led them to Bethlehem - and it stopped right over the house where the young child was living!
There is sooooo much to wonder about! How many men were there in this entourage? How long did the trip take? Did others join them as they traveled and pointed out the phenomenon? Precisely where were they from? How did they know this was the star of a King, and particularly the King of the Jews? And what compelled them to follow it? What kind of star was this - that could lead them, and could hover over the specific location where the young child was living when they arrived?
It was an "epiphany" for me when I first paid attention that they visited Joseph, Mary, and Yeshua in a house. The astrologers were not there at Jesus’ birth. There were no camels "from the East" and their riders beside the manger - but the star that arose at his birth was what led them to the house where the little family was living. The astrologers were certainly anticipating finding this baby King, but I have to assume Mary and Joseph didn't know they were coming. We are not given any information that would lead us to that conclusion.
The wisemen went into the house - and brought expensive gifts - and worshipped the little boy who would grow up to save ALL people who were willing to accept God's offer of salvation. Then, being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they left to go back home via a different route than they had come.
That night, after the astrologers left the house, and Mary & Joseph had fallen asleep, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the child and Mary and flee to Egypt, for Herod was about to search for the child to destroy him.
And Herod did try. He was absolutely furious that the astrologers didn't come back and report to him precisely where he would find this child who was to be king so he could kill him, but since he had learned from them when the star first appeared, he had every little boy age 2 and under killed to "be sure" he killed this one who was to become king. That is the heartbreaking part of the story.
Another epiphany was when I realized that the way this family managed financially to flee to Egypt and survive there until after Herod died, was those expensive gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh were all costly, and valuable as items to sell to get what they needed. God met their needs in an incredible way.
While we celebrate the arrival of the multiple 'kings, wisemen, astrologers' (as they are alternately referenced) we celebrate most of all the One who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and get to marvel at the miracles of protection that surrounded him.
No comments:
Post a Comment