Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterwards, some men who studied the stars came from the east to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2, GNT

 

Stars have always fascinated me to the point that I have bought myself a telescope. I enjoy going to my brother-in-law’s farm in Namibia where there is no light or air pollution to interfere with my stargazing. It was wonderful to be able to see Saturn with its beautiful rings for the first time.

 

Long before the birth of Christ, people were also fascinated by the stars and other heavenly bodies. Greek philosophers, scientists in Persia and other eastern countries studied the stars, and deduced a lot by the stand of these heavenly bodies. It was a mixture of astronomy and astrology. One night, some of the wise men who studied the stars saw a new star, which they believed heralded the birth of a king in Israel. Many people have tried to explain what kind of star it was, but we still do not know and it does not really matter.

 

What does matter is that some time before the birth of Jesus, these men received a “message” about the birth of a king. In this story, that is only recorded in the gospel according to Matthew, we must look at the different ways that King Herod and these wise men viewed this birth. Herod saw this message about a new king being born as a threat to his throne, while the wise men, who were not even Jews, saw it as the birth of the “king” of the Jews.

 

Quite strange – one would think that Herod would have been very excited about a new-born king. Although not born as a Jew, Herod was raised as a Jew and the Jews were looking forward to the birth of a king from the house of David. “It is Him,” the wise men proclaimed. “Kill Him as soon as possible,” was Herod’s reaction.

 

What Herod didn’t know was that what he wanted to do would happen some years later, when Jesus was indeed killed on the cross, not to save the Jews from the Romans, but to save the whole world. The star did not point to the birth of a worldly king, but to the birth of the King who would die and who would be resurrected to conquer death itself.

 

Prayer: Lord, we praise you and worship you as our King; a king not for one group of people, but King of the whole world for ever. Amen