Father Peter F. Hansen

Sermon for the 1st Sunday after Epiphany

January 11, 2004

Following a Star

“When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. ”

      First, we don't know their real names, or if there were three or another number of them. We only read that they brought with them gifts for a king: gold, frankincense and myrrh. The word St. Matthew, the only Gospel writer who discusses the subject at all, uses to describe them is “ magi ,” a term for a mystic scientist, probably Zoroastrian, and from the area near Babylonia or Media in the Persian Empire. These priestly wise men studied the heavens for signs portending great events, and they were occasionally rewarded by arriving with words of divine revelation to world leaders when they read the signs in the sky correctly. What sign was the Star of Bethlehem and why did it bring these magi to the crib of Jesus?

      Many theories have been offered over the two millennia since then. With today's astronomical science, we can look backward in time to find past galactic events and current evidence of them. Comets return like clockwork, supernovas leave vast clouds of nebulae in the sky from the explosion of stars, and the planetary convergences are as regular as a train schedule. What is difficult about the Star of Bethlehem is that it was remarkable enough to bring these ancient students of the sky, but not remarkable enough to cause anyone else in Israel to notice the occurrence, understand it, or record it.

      In an interesting study done on The Star of Bethlehem by astronomer Mark Kidger published in 1999, this author-stargazer notes some important facts, and lines up candidates for the Star. He first recognizes that the original dating of Christ's birth by Dionysius Exiguus, calculated in A.D. 525, that gives us our modern calendar, missed the year of Christ's Nativity by at least 5 years, due to missing years of the reigns of certain Caesars. We can forgive this Scythian monk his mistake, but it makes awkward now a reference to Jesus' birth as taking place in 5 B.C., or 5 years “before Christ.” Anyway, the error was corrected when historians learned the real year that king Herod died in Jerusalem: which was in 4 B.C., around March of that year. So, Jesus could not have been born later than 4 or 5 B.C. What events happened in the ancient skies around that time?

      Frustratingly, no single event seems to have happened that this alone would have brought wise men some 3 months' journey from the other side of the Fertile Crescent. But in his intriguing study, Kidger has assembled a series of celestial events that would certainly have led the astrologers to the infant king. In 7 BC there was a triple convergence of Jupiter and Saturn . Between May and December, these planets that normally passed—Jupiter racing by Saturn—stopped separating and seemed to revert, Jupiter passing Saturn again backwards. Then the effect reversed again and Jupiter passed Saturn and kept going. This woke up the wise men. They kept watching.

      Right after this convergence ended, in February of 6 B.C., Jupiter, Saturn and Mars came within 8 degrees of one another in the constellation Pisces . This was also unusual, but not so much so that it would have seemed to be a star, nor a conclusive event. The wise men noted this fact, and kept looking.

      One year later, in February of 5 B.C., a new crescent moon passed very close to Jupiter, while Mars and Saturn paired off slightly west of them. This series of curious planetary occurrences seems to have set up the magi to look for a final sign in the heavens. They were not long to wait: for in March of 5 B.C., according to records now found in China and Korea, a nova , an exploding star very distant from earth, but visible in its death agony, blazed between Capricorn and Aquila . The nova was seen in the east at the first light of dawn. It shone for over 70 days, just long enough for them to travel to Bethlehem before it disappeared. They already knew this was about Israel and a king. But how?

      During the Hebrews migration from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan, another wise man named Balaam prophesied over the children of Israel, saying: “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel… and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion.” Numbers 24:15-19 The wise men were Persian or Babylonian, and had had close connection to the Jews and their sacred literature for centuries since the Captivity. The Persians especially befriended the Jews, and had restored them to the lands from which the Babylonians had taken them in the 6 th century B.C. From this relationship, a sharing of cultures and wisdom enriched both nations. The magi , who would not have distained the prophecy of a God-believing Gentile like Balaam , may have long pondered the meaning of this Star that would announce a great king. The position in the skies of the planetary convergences and gatherings indicated Israel. The nova set their feet racing to saddle their camels and depart: westward leading , star before them. After concurring with king Herod in Jerusalem, the capital city, their path was set for Bethlehem, just a few miles to the south.

      The Star of Bethlehem was not a myth. It was a quiet sign, just made for the mystery-seeking magi . It brought Gentiles to recognize the king who was born not only for the Jews, but for the world and gives us the season of Epiphany , a shining forth , with the symbol of the star. Could any such thing happen today? What could this strange meeting of Persian wise men and the tiny family of David's bloodline mean today?

      In this year, 2004 AD, Persians will mark 25 years since the fall of their Shah and the rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the violence and insanity of that revolution, millions of Iranians, mostly of the educated classes, departed their homeland destined for Europe, Australia, and America. Their higher learning and work ethic has made them successful immigrants wherever they have gone. The shadow of Islam, now 14 centuries old over Persia's ancient civilization, has passed from most of those fleeing Khomeini and his henchmen, seeing in them the ultimate fruit of Mohammedanism: hatred and death. They no longer see themselves as Moslems. A very religious people by nature, they are stripped of the religion that robbed them of their homeland.

      My Persian wife, Giti, became a Christian 25 years ago, even during the revolutionary times that raged over her birthplace of Tehran. While Americans were learning the word, I-RAN , for the first time, she was praying that her people, the Persians, might become Christian. No one believed her prayers were possible . Many felt them ill placed: these were the enemy . Why should they be saved? She kept praying. Some 9 years ago, Giti and I learned of Iranian Christians International , a group that was also very interested in the conversion of Iranians to Christ. We attended a five-day ICI convention in Costa Mesa and she joined for the first time the worship of Jesus Christ in Farsi , the Iranian dialect of the Persian language. Many Persian Bibles and networked connections later, she has now joined with Persian Christians to begin a Persian Church here in Chico, using the Persian language to reach the Diaspora Persians with the Gospel. These fine people, who have been sickened with the failure of their own religion, are primed for the realities of the Messiah who comes for all people.

      Today, thousands of Iranians are becoming Christian, in the West as well as in Iran. Friends of ours transmit satellite Christian television programming in Farsi to all points on the globe from San Jose, using telephone links to talk to new believers in Iran live on TV. The testimonies of these new Christians is remarkable. In some recent cases, whole villages have been given night visions of Jesus Christ during Ramadan, the Moslem month of fasting, and been led to seek Jesus and His Church . Now imagine this: in a year or maybe less, the Islamic Republic falls and the mullahs are discredited. The power that the Arab conquest of Persia and its religious imposition 6 centuries after the Apostles first took the Gospel to Persia loosens its grip on the minds of millions of Iranians. They have always quietly resented this oppression. Now they come to Jesus Christ as their own true Savior, and the country that today is the major source of Islamic terrorism becomes a haven for Christians and a light to the entire Middle East. Could this happen?

      It has already begun. The signs are scant, but discernable. They are much like a few planetary convergences: not very remarkable unless you add them up, unless you know the prophecies. Jeremiah 49:39 reads, after a longer prophesy about the downfall of Elam, or the Persian land of the Medes, “But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord.” The captivity of Elam could easily be described as the capture of Persia by Islam, an exodus of its people across the globe, and then a return to Persia orchestrated by God Himself who loves the Persian people, the people who first of all the Gentile world came from afar to worship the king of the Jews.

A star was seen in the East. Wise men followed the sign to bring their people's praises to Him. The wise seek Him still today. Would you join my wife and I now in her prayers for the Persian people to come to the light of that star? Your prayers could truly change the course of human history, even stop a world war, even save millions to Christ, even end the falsehood of Islam deceiving a billion people. Is that worth looking to heavens along with the magi 2009 years ago who saw things they thought they understood and so set out following a star?

             PFH+