His Star

 "For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him" (Matthew 2: 2b)

St. John Chrysostom preaching this text to the congregation in Antioch in the late fourth century makes it crystal clear that St. Matthew is not endorsing astrology, and he argues for this star not being actually a phenomenon in any sense but a special object which appears solely for this purpose. Thus you mustn't think astrology explains the star. This is a special incidence all the way around, and note they don't say the star leads them toward Jererslum. Its appearance somehow told them that the long-awaited Jewish King had been born. They think they know then where to go...

Luther loved to point out that though nature announced His birth, it did not direct the Wisemen where to actually find the King. Using human reasoning, they landed in Jererslum, the capital city of the Jews. What human reason was hopeless to achieve was locating Him, for you needed the Word of God. You needed the writing of the Old Testament - the prophets would proclaim where you could find the King of the Jews (Micah 5:2).

So they make the journey a tad farther south to Bethlehem (verse 9). The appearance of the star was quite miraculous, and one more time it appeared before them, but this time it led the way like a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night had led the Israelites. So this star miraculously leads them to the very place where the Child is. Artist probably does us no favors is showing it nice and bright high in the sky. You, well know no one can see from that; the star is over a particular place. No, the text suggests, as St. John Chrysostom noted, that it appeared as a bright light right above the house, pointing it out showing its supernatural nature. It's not any phenomenon of the cosmos but a very grace of God. It behaves as no natural star can, but it leads to the Child confirming the very words of the prophet Micah that this newborn King was birthed in Bethlehem, the ancient home of King David.

-Pr. Will Weedon