Star Struck
Mark 2: 1-15
Right here, right now, you are a part of change. Not only because today marks our first Sunday holding two worship services but because liturgically the stars are in alignment, bringing us into the season of Epiphany. Epiphany refers to those light bulb moments, those light filled revelations that strike our consciousness; times when we know that we know that we know- in this instance that something is different and that we are part of history. It’s peculiar how we know instinctively, even spiritually when something is proportioned as an epiphany, yes?
Not long ago when President Obama was elected, the air was electric with this same kind of proportion. People who would typically not attend a presidential inauguration traveled great distances at great personal cost, in order to be there at that moment of change. To say it was historic was an understatement. No matter your political party, it was a molten moment. The power base as we understood it was no more. A non-white man with slave heritage would now lead the world’s most powerful nation. The country held its collective breath as we considered all of what it could mean. Make no mistake we were star struck that January day.
It happened again when Michael Jackson died. People boarded planes, trains and automobiles for a ticket to attend his memorial service. I wrote in my blog, “an Icon has died and yet–an icon can never really be put to rest. Icons live with us; live in us; live through us and Michael was most definitely an icon. Jackson presided over every decade of music since his childhood. You did not have to know him personally for we knew him intimately. Michael was a modern day Mozart There was epiphany in his influence and again, we were star struck.
This morning I’m inspired to inaugurate a new word for the historic occasion that draws us together today. Two thousand TEN years ago something of epiphonic proportions also happened. That’s my new word, “epiphonic.” Jesus’ birth was an event of epiphonic proportion. The epiphany that the world experienced then was that Jesus’ star power was no longer local—it was global. Word of his “star” had spread.
King Herod had heard about this new star Jesus and he was frightened and all Jerusalem with him. He was fearful of what Jesus’ birth might mean for his personal kingdom.
The Wise Men observed his star at its rising and they responded in humility by mounting their camels and heading towards the star. They understood astrologically and spiritually that they had to be present to witness the birth firsthand and to pay homage.
As for Herod, he knew that this Jesus was no mere political opponent. I infer this because of the phrase in our scripture, “a ruler who will shepherd.” Walter Bruggeman notes “shepherding is not associated with political power is it?
“Rulers rule. Presidents preside. Leaders lead. Executives execute. They don’t shepherd! Shepherding implies compassion, care and a courageous life-sacrificing quality that few powerful people would understand, know to practice, or want to practice.”
King Herod was not a shepherd. “He was a power player and man of maneuvering. He could not begin to think of his leadership in those terms. Herod knew that this was not how he came to power, and this was certainly not how he was going to stay in power. So he turned his focus to bloodshed and destruction and is forever remembered as the butcher of the Bethlehem innocents.”
Even today, especially today, I wonder how we are reacting to the reality that there is now one among us who challenges our thinking and our behavior. This holy child whose birth we have just celebrated last week can challenge us daily, not annually.
As we pack up our Christmas decorations, do we also want to “put him away” this Epiphany? Can we simply pack this shepherd king away with the Christmas tree and lights, assigning him to the basement shelves until next Advent?
Herod would have. He was comfortable with his kind of kingdom and his kind of tyranny. He was scared to death with what he feared Jesus represented for his power. Herod hid from grace and terrible destruction was the fate and fruit of his life from then on.
The only good in that legacy is that it can teach us how not to respond.
What if we were to allow this child Jesus to continue to grow in our “homeland”, to disturb our own comfortable kingdoms? This year, could we risk doing it differently?
The mystical magi are knocking on the door. It doesn’t matter if you believe there ever were magi or not, believe in what they represent. They speak to us of stars and destiny, and shepherds who can lead us to God. They speak to us of enough humility to risk not knowing in order to be led on our own journeys of destiny.
Will we allow them to disturb us enough that we might join their caravan of change? That’s true faith. The wise men put everything they had on the line on the hope that Jesus would become who and what he was foretold to become. And so they followed a star in order to show us how to do the same. They risked being star struck for us. May we be star struck in response. May we carry the light of Christ to our world.
Amen.