Epiphany | Stars
“IN THE TIME OF KING HEROD, AFTER JESUS WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM OF JUDEA, WISE MEN FROM THE EAST CAME TO JERUSALEM, ASKING, ‘WHERE IS THE CHILD WHO HAS BEEN BORN KING OF THE JEWS? FOR WE OBSERVED HIS STAR AT ITS RISING, AND HAVE COME TO PAY HIM HOMAGE.”
MATTHEW 1:1-2
Noticing stars, for most of us, requires intention. To see stars, we must venture out into the night and look up. Epiphany reminds us that it is in dwelling in deep darkness and in gazing out into the vastness of space that we find the star that leads us to Jesus. Finding Jesus calls on us to step into unfamiliar night places and dare to look beyond the few feet ahead of us, to expand our purview and our risk-taking for Christ.
The coming of the three kings from far-away places --- whose pilgrimage led them long, hazardous distances through the dark, ever looking up and following a star --- calls us, the present day Jesus-followers, to question our inclinations to remain safe and live small. Discovering Jesus, being found by Jesus, moves us to go out, to see beauty where we never noticed it before, to be unafraid, to linger in the dark. Epiphany invites us to think and act expansively and with trust, to consider not only our immediate circumstances and circles, but the concerns of the whole of creation Jesus came to redeem.
FOR REFLECTION
When have you struggled to look up and out? What keeps you from venturing out in search of Jesus?
When have you been struck by the beauty of the night sky? Might you go outside and stargaze tonight? Ask yourself: What do I think and feel?
Where might your search for Jesus take you in this new year?
Lord of sea and sky, you create the earth and all that is within it, the moon and stars, the sun and clouds; no place is off-limits to your goodness. As we reflect on those strangers who came from far away to find Jesus, we rejoice that we know and worship him, too. When we become fixated on ourselves and the short distance ahead, move us to go out and look up, to remember you are the Lord of all and that when we seek you, we will find you. Amen.