It seems that every day we wake up to unimaginable negative news. Illegitimate acts of war, hostile actions towards marginalized people, overt racism and sexism, blue-eyed Jesus paintings being sold for over $2 million, more acts of white supremacy. All of it is meant to drive us into a state of fear so fearsome that we simply believe the light of the world has indeed been overcome by darkness.
And, yet, the stars still shine! The stars shine in 
the daylight, under the cloud cover, in the brilliance of a cloudless night, in the fierce light of the sun (which is a star) – the stars still shine! Fear has not overcome the light; darkness has not overcome the light.
It doesn’t overcome the light now, and it didn’t overcome the starlight of a newborn baby which the Magi – the wise ones – recognized as the King of the Jews – as the Son of God who would transform the world. The Magi – foreign, Gentile, male and female, not important in Jewish imagination, but the first to recognize who this baby really is.
They come in humility and wonder, following the light of a star. They enter King Herod’s territory and begin to ask – Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east and we’ve come to honor him.
Now remember who King Herod is – a violent, paranoid, Roman empire puppet of a leader. His whole reign is rooted in fear and terror. What do you think his reaction will be to hearing about this baby? Yay! Can’t wait to meet him! Or fear that he might be displaced or overthrown. Later we see what his fear leads to – the order to kill every baby boy two years of age and younger. Devastating acting out of paranoid fear.
He gathers all his chief priests and hears the prophecy that out of Bethlehem, in the land of Judah will be born one who will shepherd the people. Herod is not pleased at all. As Rev. Dr. Boyung Lee points out in her commentary on our Gospel passage this morning: “Herod represents the worst of power – one who responds to threat not with humility, but tyranny.”
That is Herod – doing the worst to remain in power – to show that he is a powerful force to contend with. Herod cares nothing for the people, particularly those who exist on the margins – he cares solely about wealth and power, and nothing and no one will get in his way.
But the Magi don’t see it Herod’s way. Their journey will not be interrupted or coopted by the Herod’s of the world. They have seen a star symbolizing an important event – the birth of Jesus who will be the healer of the world – a healer whose power is not rooted in fear but in Love!
The Magi find the star and the baby and they honor him with gifts. They practice humility before him, bowing down and giving him their loyalty. Herod has done nothing to deserve their loyalty – Herod will never deserve or get their loyalty because his empire has done nothing to serve and be love. Herod’s empire is rooted only in evil and violence.
Then the Magi, through a dream, do not do as Herod has requested – returning to him to reveal where Jesus is. They go another way home. They have experienced an epiphany – a sudden, profound moment of insight or realization that this baby is important to their lives and really to all lives.
Their epiphany, which led them to follow a star and continued to guide them in evading Herod and going home another way. Do we believe that this epiphany did not change them? Or do we believe that it transformed them in some way? Do we believe that this epiphany led to the way of fear for them or to the way of Love?
Is a new way home as Dr. Lee points out really the beginning of a new path? A new way of seeing and following God, Jesus, Holy Spirit? Could the Magi’s epiphany lead to our own epiphanies? What would it mean for us to really follow Jesus, not empire? What would it mean to let go of our fear of the chaotic world we live in and move toward the way of Love? What would it mean to understand that who we consider to be on the margins of our community are the ones we need to be serving, holding up, walking alongside?
What would it mean to let our epiphany – our following the star and finding Jesus, bowing down before him with humility – guide us on a dangerous and perhaps disruptive journey? Can we see that that journey might actually lead us into a powerful expression of love and mercy and grace towards each other and our neighbor? Can we see that that journey will move us as a community of faith from fear to love?
So many questions, but as Mary ponders, let us ponder too. Who are we in the stories we have heard through Advent, Christmas and now Epiphany? Who do we want to be? What star will guide us? What word might we select today that will be our guiding word for 2026?
And that leads me to the star words we offer today as a gift. I have found the words I have received over the years to be powerful in my faith journey. And believe me, I don’t know the meaning right away – it takes prayer and reflection on the word to begin to understand it’s impact on your life.
So you are invited to pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance and then to choose one of the cards. Flip it over and see what your word is for 2026. And, no you may not put it back! Last year, my word was cleansing and the person who chose it for me apologized because she couldn’t see what it might mean. But over 2025 I came to see what it meant for me.
Follow the star – believe the star of the East still shines today and will never, ever be overcome by darkness. Follow it, be guided by it, bow down before Jesus not empire, let your fear go and follow the way of love. May it be so for all of us. Amen.