He is the star of the story. - Isaiah 60:1-6
The story of the wisemen has captured the imaginations of Christians for thousands of years. Who were they? Where did they come from? Why did they follow the star? What was the star? What, exactly, were they looking for? And why were they looking for it? The story of the wisemen is shrouded in mystery which is perhaps the reasons it stirs the imagination.
In the gospel of Matthew, the wisemen are called Magi from the east. The Magi are an ancient society that seem to have had significant influence over the kings and kingdoms they rule. We first meet the Magi in ancient Babylon. In Daniel chapter 2 King Nebuchadnezzar summons his Magi to interpret a dream that troubled him. When the Magi failed to interpret the dream, Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the wise men (or Magi) of Babylon be put to death. Among those wise men were Daniel and his friends (the same Daniel who would later survive a night in a lion’s den). Thankfully, before the executions took place, the LORD revealed the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel and when Daniel explained the dream to the king, Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel “ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men (Magi).”[1] As leader of the Magi it is highly likely that Daniel shared with them the promise of the Messiah God would send to be ruler over Israel “whose origins are from old from ancient times”[2], who would be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”[3], who would sit on the throne of His father David and rule over His kingdom forever[4].
More than 500 years after Daniel was put in charge of the Magi, a group of them set out for Bethlehem. We like to imagine there were three Magi that set out because in a moment we will hear of the three gifts that were given, but others have imagined there were up to 12 Magi that set out for Bethlehem. We don’t know exactly how many there were or why they waited 500 years to make the trip. All we know is what they say to king Herod when they arrive. “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”[5] The Magi were renowned astronomers, but why they chose to follow this star at this time is a mystery. (I like every other theologian have a theory about the star, but I’ll get to that in a moment). Whatever the reason, the Magi decide to follow the star wherever it might lead them. We imagine them coming from a great distance and traveling in camel filled caravans through vast deserts. In the desert, the night sky would be filled with thousands of stars, but we imagine one burning brighter than all the others. This brightest of stars ultimately lead the Magi to the baby Jesus. As the Magi stand before the baby Jesus, we no longer need to use our imaginations. Matthew tells us, before the ruler whose origins are from old and ancient times, before the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, before the descendant of David who would rule forever, before the promised Messiah the Magi “bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”[6]
The story of the Magi; wisemen from the east is a fascinating story that captures our imaginations. But as our imaginations seek to unravel the mysteries of the Magi, let us not overlook the main character in the account of the mysterious Magi. I am of course talking about …. The Holy Spirit. For those of you who were thinking I was going to say the main character in this story is Jesus it is not a bad thought. 99.9% of the time Jesus is rightly the main character in any and every story. But in the account of the mysterious Magi, the star of the story, if you will pardon the pun, is the Holy Spirit.
Before they arrived in Bethlehem, before they caravaned across the desert, before they saw the star shining in sky, long before Daniel shared the ancient prophecies with the wise men of Babylon, The Holy Spirit saw the Magi coming to Jesus. Through the prophet Isaiah the Holy Spirit proclaimed, “3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn… 5… the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.” The mystery of the Magi is not mysterious to the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit does not need to use His imagination to fill in the gaps. The Holy Spirit knew this story before it happened. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the one who made it happen. The Holy Spirit is the one Who caused Daniel to plant the seed of the gospel among the wise men of Babylon. For over 500 years the Holy Spirit is the one Who preserved and protected the gospel until it was time for the nations to come to the light and kings to the brightness of the dawn. Yes, there was a star shinning in the sky, but it was the Holy Spirit who guided and directed the Magi to Jesus. The Magi bowed to worship the Messiah, gave Him gifts of gratitude, and proclaimed His praise all because the Holy Spirit led them to Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is the star of this story. The Holy Spirit is the one who led the Magi to Jesus and the Holy Spirit has done the same for you. The Holy Spirit is the star of your story; the Holy Spirit is the one who led you to Jesus. It is good for us to be reminded that the Holy Spirit is the star of our story because it is easy to allow our imaginations to run wild.
It is easy to imagine that your journey to Jesus was one of self-discovery or intellectual exercise; that you, through your wisdom and insight and spiritual awakening, came to find Jesus as your Lord and Savior. But If you are so arrogant as to believe you are the one who led you to Jesus then why not let your imagination run wild! Why not also imagine that you are the reason the flowers bloom in the spring, you are the one who commands the winds to blow, you are the cause for the sun rising in the morning. But, if you want to imagine you are the one who led you to Jesus, you will have to pretend that somehow when God looked down from heaven to see if there are any who understand any who seek God and saw that everyone had turned away and become corrupted by sin[7], you were the one and only exception. You will have to imagine that you, unlike all others were able to navigate through what the prophet Isaiah describes as “2 the darkness that covered the earth” and the “thick darkness” that was “over the peoples”. My friends, there is only one star in this story, and I am sorry if this bruises your ego, but that star is not you.
Perhaps your imagination is not so arrogant as to claim you are the one who led you to Jesus. Perhaps your imagination is more whimsical in nature. Perhaps you imagine your journey to Jesus was full of chance meetings, unusual circumstances, and coincidental events. Perhaps you don’t imagine a star leading you to Jesus but rather you imagine a series of unlikely events or accidentally being in the right place at the right time is how you came to find Jesus as your Lord and Savior. But such imaginings are incredibly insulting to God. It would be like showing up to a dinner party to discover the table has been beautifully decorated, the food has been meticulously prepared and plated, the cocktails have been artistically garnished, and at one of the seats of the dinner table there is a name tag with your name carefully written in calligraphy AND you say, ‘Wow! What a coincidence; what a happy accident that I arrived here at this place to find these things!’ You will offend the hostess; you will likely not get invited back and you will look like a fool. To imagine that you came to Jesus by some twist of fate is to ignore the work of the Holy Spirit; it is to act as though what the prophet Isaiah describes as “2… the LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you” is an accident. Such imagining is incredibly insulting to the Holy Spirit and you risk losing your dinner invitation. There is a star in the story of your salvation. Ignoring Him makes you look like a fool.
Thankfully the Holy Spirit pierces the darkness of our arrogance and ignorance. As He saw the Magi from the east, so also The Holy Spirit saw you coming to Jesus. In Genesis 3:15 the Holy Spirit promised Eve’s “offspring” that Jesus would “crush” the serpent’s “head”. In Psalm 22:27 the Holy Spirit promised that “the nations” shall “come and bow down before” the LORD. In Isaiah 52:10 the Holy Spirit promised “all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God”. Long before you were born the Holy Spirit saw the gentiles, the nations, the peoples; He saw you coming to Jesus. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the one Who made it happen.
The Holy Spirit led you to Jesus, not by the light of a star, but by the light of the Word and Sacraments. The Holy Spirit inspired every word written in Scripture so that those words would lead you closer to Jesus. The Holy Spirit attached a promise to the waters of baptism so that those waters would create faith in your heart; faith that leads you closer to Jesus. The Holy Spirit miraculously combines body and blood to bread and wine so that your sins are forgiven and you are led closer to Jesus. The star in the story of your salvation is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit brought you here today and put your butt in that chair so that you could do what the Magi did; what the prophet Isaiah proclaimed people like you and I would do when he wrote that our people would “6… come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.” If you needed directions to get here this morning, it is more likely that you used the GPS on your phone than the guidance of a star. I didn’t see any of you show up to church this morning on the back of a camel and it is unlikely any of you are going to be putting gold, frankincense, and myrrh in the offering plate. But because of the Holy Spirit, like the Magi, you have come before the ruler whose origins are from old and ancient times, you have come before the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, you have come before the descendant of David who would rule forever, you have come before the promised Messiah to bow down and worship, to offer your gifts of gratitude and appreciation for your salvation, and to proclaim your praises to Jesus.
Long ago the Holy Spirit saw you coming to Jesus. He saw you bowing down to worship, offering gifts of gratitude and proclaiming praises to your Savior. The Holy Spirit saw it because He is the One Who made it happen. Maybe your story isn’t as fascinating as the story of the mysterious Magi of the east, but by the grace of God we all have a story of how it is we came to Jesus. Today as we hear the story of the mysterious Magi from the east following a star to the baby Jesus, we remind ourselves that the star of all our stories is the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Daniel 2:48
[2] Micah 5:2
[3] Isaiah 9:6
[4] Isaiah 9:7
[5] Matthew 5:2
[6] Matthew 2:11
[7] Psalm 53:1-3