Meditation: LED BY A STAR by John de Gruchy

LED BY A STAR

Matthew 2:1-11

“…there, ahead of them, went the star they had seen at its rising.”

The Christmas Carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" traditionally begins with a Partridge in a Pear tree and ends with Twelve Drummers Drumming.  But there have been many versions of the carol since the 18th century.  There is even a South African version which begins with a Hadeda in a Gum Tree! 

The "twelve days of Christmas" start on 25th of December and end on January 6th, the feast of Epiphany.    “Epiphany” means manifestation of the light and, in particular, the manifestation of Christ as the light of the world not just for Jews but for Gentiles as well.  So Epiphany is the day on which we remember the Wisemen who came from the East to visit the Christ-child, being led by the light of a star.

We don’t know exactly who these Sages were except that they came from the East, maybe modern-day Iran, and  that they were pagan astrologers who believed that their lives were determined by the stars.  So led by a star they journeyed to Jerusalem to enquire about the birth of a king.  But Herod “and all Jerusalem,” were scared out of their wits by this enquiry.  Worried by the news and scheming how he could deal with it, Herod got all his court theologians together to ask their opinion.  And they, guided by the Scriptures informed him that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, a small town not too far from Jerusalem.  So the Magi continued their journey and, lo and behold, “there ahead of them, went the star they had seen at its rising” until it hovered over a cave in Bethlehem.

There are several layers of meaning to this magical story.  Matthew is telling us, that right from the beginning the coming of Jesus was welcomed by some but not by everyone.  There were those who, like Herod, were afraid of the arrival of the Christ-child because they sensed that he would challenge their authority, their status, and their religious convictions.  Matthew is also telling us that among those who celebrated that first Christmas were Gentiles and pagans.  Jesus appeal is not exclusive to some race or tribe or religious group, but universal.  Everyone is welcome at the manger.  He is also telling us that people come to Jesus by various paths and they start their journey in many different places 

The Wisemen came from the East guided by their own reading of the signs of the times in the heavens, though they also needed the guidance of the Scriptures to know more precisely where to find Jesus.  But when they arrived the star that had first evoked their keen interest and had gone before them. was already there!  And that is the point of the story – it was the light of the world symbolically reflected in the star that drew them to Bethlehem from afar.  Or as the prologue to John's Gospel puts it: "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world."

Now it is this insight which Matthew captures in his telling of the story that is important for us today in a world where so many people insist that their way to Jesus is the only right way.  The story of the Wisemen suggests otherwise.  For the light that came into the world at Christmas attracts people in many different ways and for different reasons. As we read the stories of Jesus’ encounters with people, we are continuously aware of how each person is different, each is at a different point in their life's journey.  They not only come from different backgrounds and walks of life; they also range from the pious to the profane; they have different needs, different questions and expectations. But they are all in one way or another drawn to the same Jesus who attracted the Wisemen from the East and the Shepherds from the surrounding hills.  Some came well versed in Scripture, as did Nicodemus; some came endowed with authority, as did the Roman centurion; some came desperate for love and compassion, as did Mary of Magdala; some came because they were blind, or possessed, or crippled, and in need of healing.  The Wisemen from the East came because they were following the light they had received far from the land of Moses and the prophets, but which also brought them to the Christ-child. 

It does not matter who you are, where you come from, how much knowledge you have, what religion if any you espouse – what matters is whether or not you are willing to follow the God-given light that leads you.  This does not mean that everyone will arrive at Bethlehem or become a follower of Jesus, for the testimony of the Scriptures was necessary for the Wisemen to complete their journey and find the Christ-child.  But, if it is true that Jesus is “the light of the world that enlightens everyone,” then it could well happen to anyone, as it happened to the Wisemen, that they arrive at the manger where with the Wisemen "they are overwhelmed with joy… "  

But, as the poet T.S. Eliot perceptively noted, their journey did not end in Bethlehem, in a sense, it only really began there.  For when they returned to the place from which they originally came their lives were changed forever.  

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears,  saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped in away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

John de Gruchy

Volmoed 7^th January 2016