 |
| The Three Magi, Byzantine mosaic, c. 565 |
commemorates the journey of the wise men who followed the bright star to Bethlehem.
“Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matt 2: 1-2)
I remember, some years ago now, getting off the Qantas jet at Orlando airport in Florida, totally exhausted. It was about 2:30am in the morning. I had got onto a flight in Melbourne and flown seventeen long hours to Los Angeles International Airport.
Then I’d waited another couple of hours and got a connecting flight to Dallas, a three hour trip. Then another long wait, and then another nearly three hour flight to Orlando.
So, I got off the plane totally tired and over-caffeinated. My head was singing with weariness. You know how you can become almost over-alert when you haven’t slept for two days.
I was in Orlando to participate in the Exponential church-planting conference and also catch up with my daughter, who was working at Disney World. So at around 3am, I picked my rental car, packed my stuff in the boot and plugged in my GPS system.
I had NO idea where I was going, all I could do was punch in the address and keep reminding myself over and over again: “They drive on the right hand side of the road here.”
The awesome GPS kicked in, with a comforting Aussie accent. “In two kilometres turn right. At the round-about in 500 metres take the third exit.”
I could even choose whether to read it in miles or kilometres.
And the tiny arrows on the little screen reminded me to keep right not left.
Even 15,000 kilometres away in totally foreign territory, at 3am in the morning in pitch black, it got me right to the front door.
How awesome to hear a voice that guided me so confidently in a strange land, especially when I was too weary to even think it through myself.
At the start of this new year, 2026, we need God’s light; God’s guidance for a new and uncertain year.
We use the word “Epiphany” to mean a revelation – a sudden God-given insight or clear guidance! It’s an “Ah-ha!” moment!
More formally, Epiphany is the Christian feast intended to celebrate the “shining forth” or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus.
It’s a reminder of that bright shining Christmas Star — God’s GPS system, that guided a group of Persian priests, the Magi (Senior advisors to their king) all the way to Bethlehem where they met with the one who was the “Light of the World.” The date of the feast was fixed on January 6. That helps differentiate it from Christmas day, because they would not have arrived till much later, maybe two years after the birth off Jesus.
One of the things that can slip by in the retelling of the story is the question the Magi asked when they reached Jerusalem: “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.”
The wise men came seeking a great King.
 |
| Window of St. Deiniol's Church in Hawarden, Flintshire |
From that time the Magi ceased to have any ambitions for power or prestige, and became a tribe of priests. They became in Persia almost exactly what the Levites were in Israel. They became the teachers and instructors of the Persian kings. In Persia no sacrifice could be offered unless one of the Magi was present. They became men of holiness and wisdom.
These Magi were men who were skilled in philosophy, medicine and natural science. They were soothsayers and interpreters of dreams and of the heavens.
In later times the word Magus developed a much lower meaning, and came to mean little more than a fortune-teller, a sorcerer, a magician, and a charlatan. Such was Elymas, the sorcerer mentioned in Acts 13 and Simon who is commonly called Simon Magus in Acts 8. At their best the Magi were seekers after truth.
The Magi believed that they could foretell the future from the stars, and they believed that a person’s destiny was settled by the star under which they were born. It is not difficult to see how that belief arose. The stars pursue their unvarying courses; they represent the order of the universe. If then there suddenly appeared some brilliant star, if the unvarying order of the heavens was broken by some special phenomenon, it did look as if God was breaking into order, and announcing some special thing.
 |
| Persian observatory near Meraga 1259AD |
We cannot tell what star the Magi saw; but it was their profession to watch the heavens, and some heavenly brilliance spoke to them of the entry of a king into the world.
Interesting that it was Magi – sorcerers; magicians who in the darkness, used what little light, the light of the stars, superstition and tradition, to guide them to the true light the would blaze into the world
It may seem extraordinary that those men should set out from the East to find a king, but the strange thing is that, just about the time Jesus was born, there was in the world a strange feeling of expectation of the coming of a king.
Suetonius the Roman historian wrote: "There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judaea to rule the world" (Suetonius: Life of Vespasian, 4: 5).
Tacitus, another historian said:"There was a firm persuasion ... that at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers coming from Judaea were to acquire universal empire" (Tacitus: Histories, 5: 13).
According to Josephus the Jewish historian, the Jews had the belief that "about that time one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth" (Josephus: Wars of the Jews, 6: 5, 4).
Almost at the same time as Jesus was born we find Augustus, the Roman Emperor, being hailed as the Saviour of the World, and Virgil, the Roman poet, writing about the golden days to come.
“When Jesus Christ was born into this world, there was an eagerness of expectation. Men [sic] were waiting for God. The desire for God was in the hearts of men. They had discovered that they could not build the golden age without God. It was to a waiting world that Jesus came; and when he came, the ends of the earth were gathered around his cradle. It was the first sign and symbol of the world conquest of Christ.” (William Barclay)
So what does Epiphany say to me about God’s leading; about God’s light shed on my path? How might navigate 2026? What epiphany will God give to you or me as we watch and listen.
For more, click here ...
