Daily Devotion

Matthew 2: 1-2, 9-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ² asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,^[b] and have come to pay him homage.”  ⁹ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹ On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Just after dusk on December 21 I got in my car to find a place where I could get a clear view of the night sky.  I guess I drove about three miles when I found a spot to pull over.  I looked up and sure enough there it was, the great conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn or as it had been dubbed in the media, “the Christmas star of 2020”.  Apparently those planets had not been that close to each other or as clearly visible for 800 years.  It was the hype in the media that had drawn me out of my warm house to see this great thing in the night sky and to be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed.  Now, I do need to confess that I was only looking with the naked eye—and my eyes aren’t that great—but I guess after the hype I was hoping to see something a little more spectacular.  

We aren’t sure what drew the Magi out of their warm houses to follow the star to Bethlehem 2000 years ago.  Unlike me, they were regular watchers of the night sky—in fact they were probably the local experts on astronomical things.  If there was any media hype about this strange star appearing in the sky, the Magi were the ones the TV stations would have been eager to interview about it.  

When they saw the star they started to follow it, but their journey was not a quick three mile drive down the road.  Those Magi might have traveled for weeks or months or even years.  However, in the end they were not underwhelmed—the story says they were overwhelmed with joy.  This joy didn’t come because of the star, but because the star let them to Jesus. 

In this season of Epiphany—what things help lead you to Jesus?  Bible study?  Listening to sermons?  Time in deep conversation with friends?  Prayer? Do you ever find yourself underwhelmed by such things?  I think we all do, at times.  However, maybe that’s because we are too focused on “the thing”-- the star in the sky-- rather than what the star is leading us to.   Our spiritual practices won’t always “wow” us, but if we are faithful in the journey—if we keep plugging along, mile after mile, day after day, prayer after prayer, we will be drawn closer to Jesus and maybe even an overwhelming joy.