Matthew 2:1-6,9-12

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star where it rose and have come to worship him.”

3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel….’”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

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Like many of you, Dale and I have been looking at the sky this year. It started on April 8 with the total solar eclipse. We then were able to see two instances of northern lights from our front yard. We drove on country roads searching for the comet C/2023 A3, but we were unable to locate it. We do not have the technology and telescopes to get the wonderful pictures that some people took. We were in Maryland and used our special glasses for the eclipse; we used our phone on night mode for the northern lights; and we used the directional guide on our car to make sure that we were heading west for the comet. We also depended on the news media to let us know the day, time and direction to look.

I find it amazing to think that the Magi in this passage looked at the sky with no special aids like we have today and journeyed to Jerusalem with nothing but faith and this magnificent star to guide them.

I marvel at the faith of the Magi. They had the faith to make the trip; the faith that this was the star of the King of the Jews; the faith to travel further to Bethlehem; and the faith that the child was indeed the King of the Jews and to worship Him. Then listening to a dream, they returned home by a different route, thus saving Jesus from Herod.

May we have the faith and the wisdom of the Magi to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and to not let the world distract us.

– Mrs. Kim Cain