From beliefnet.com:
Advent Prayer, Day 18: Going the DistanceWednesday December 16, 2009
Categories: Advent, Advent Prayer, Bible, Jesus, Prayer
By Claudia Mair Burney
Wednesday, the third week of Advent
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns." Isaiah 52:7 NRSV
I wonder how many people reading this scripture realizes that the image used in this verse is of a messenger who ran--not walked--from Babylon to Jerusalem, covering a distance of about six hundred miles. That's a long run! But he knew his message was urgent. I'm sure his feet hurt, blistered, and generally looked rough after only a few miles on all that hot sand. Yet his feet were beautiful because he bore the long awaited news: the God of Israel, Yahweh, was King over all other gods. And the exiles could return home. We too, have been given good news, but it came much further than six hundred miles. God stepped from eternity into time, an incomprehensible distance, to be with us; to save us; to bring us home. He reigns in our hearts, and will soon rule over all the world. This is welcome news for those who have languished here, so far away from our soul's home. It's good news to the "Nth" power.
God who goes the distance,
There is no greater news than that which is found in the gospels, which tell us the story of how Jesus came to save us from our sins. We are to sing for joy, as the Israelites did, for in plain sight the Lord returned to Zion. Even as I lay in ruins because of my own choices, you come in plain sight, making it hard for me to miss you. I rejoice, because your presence brings comfort to your people. You have redeemed me, and all of those who are your very own. Come my happiness and strength.
"Come, Lord Jesus."
Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/prayerplainandsimple/2009/12/advent-prayer-day-18-going-the-distance.html#ixzz18F66Nrk3
Day Eighteen:
Star of Wonder
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
What was the star the Wise Men saw? Matthew's gospel records that the Magi seeking the King of the Jews "observed his star at its rising," but little is known about what they meant. Some modern-day astronomers continue to be fascinated by the celestial sign.
Star Light in the Sky
Two Bible scholars explore the powerful symbolism of light that guided the Magi to the baby Jesus.
BY: Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan
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The stories of the first Christmas are resplendent with light. In Matthew, the star of Bethlehem shines in the night sky to guide the wise men to the place of Jesus' birth. In Luke, the night is filled with light, radiant with the glory of the Lord, as angels bring the news of Jesus' birth to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks: "And the glory of the Lord shone all around them." And more, two of the hymns in Luke's story climax with light imagery: "The dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness" (1:78–79); Jesus is "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel" (2:32).
Light is an ancient archetypal symbol. It is also central to ancient Judaism and early Christianity, the context in which Matthew and Luke wrote their stories of Jesus' birth.
And, to say the obvious, light in the darkness is central to the Christian celebration of Christmas. Jesus is born in the deepest darkness—in the middle of the night at the winter solstice. This is not historical time, not a historical fact about the date of Jesus' birth, but parabolic time, metaphorical time, sacred time, symbolic time. The symbolism is perfect.
Light Imagery in Matthew's Story
Matthew uses the symbolism of light in his story of the star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to the place of Jesus' birth. The most widely known episode from Matthew's birth narrative and a centerpiece of Christmas pageants, it is part of the larger story of Herod who, like a new Pharaoh, seeks to kill the infant Jesus. As one born to be "King of the Jews," Jesus is a rival king in the conflict of kingships that runs through Matthew's story.
Here we focus on the use of light imagery in the story. In the relevant portions of Matthew 2:1–12, references to the star are italicized:
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born King of the Jews?
For we have observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."
Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time
when the star had appeared.
Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." 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. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
Virtually every year in the weeks before Christmas, stories appear in the media that seek to identify the star of Matthew's story with some natural phenomenon. The most common suggestions are a comet, a conjunction of planets, or a nova.
But attempts to identify the guiding star with a natural astronomical event are misguided. The star in Matthew's gospel does not simply shine in the sky; it moves. It not only leads the wise men westward to Jerusalem, but then turns and moves south to Bethlehem. There, "
it stopped over the place where the child was.
" It leads the way to the place of Jesus' birth with the precision of a global positioning device. This is no comet or conjunction of planets or nova. The story of the star does not make a statement about an astronomical phenomenon, but a statement about Jesus: his birth is the coming of the light that draws wise men of the Gentiles to its radiance.
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The uses of light and darkness in this parabolic narrative are thus many and rich. Jesus' birth is the coming of light into the darkness. But the darkness seeks to extinguish the light (Herod's plot to kill Jesus). Drawn to the light, wise men from the nations pay homage to Jesus. Jesus is the light of the nations. Thus Matthew's story makes the point made in only slightly different language in John: "Jesus is the light of the world."
Of course, no concise set of sentences can capture all the meanings of this story. It cannot be reduced to statements. The narrative retains its evocative richness and metaphorical power. Like metaphorical narratives in general, it has a surplus of meaning. But we do think Matthew's story of the star of Bethlehem means at least as much as what we have suggested.
For a moment, we return to the truth of parable and the question of historical factuality. We do not think Matthew's story is historically factual. In our judgment, there was no special star, no wise men, and no plot by Herod to kill Jesus. So is the story factually true? No. But as parable, is it true? For us as Christians, the answer is a robust affirmative. Is Jesus light shining in the darkness? Yes. Do the Herod's of this world seek to extinguish the light? Yes. Does Jesus still shine in the darkness? Yes.
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Home > Faiths & Prayer > Christianity > Science Offers New Theories on Star of Bethlehem
Science Offers New Theories on Star of Bethlehem
Authors argue that the Magi observed astrological portents involving the planet Jupiter.
BY: Margie Wylie
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In the Gospel of St. Matthew, it's the apparition that heralds the birth of Jesus. Today, it features in Christmas trappings from tree toppers to carols to cards. No children's Nativity play is complete without its tinfoil likeness above the storied stable.
But what was the Star of Bethlehem?
Suggestions have included a comet, a supernova, meteors, bright-shining planets--even a UFO. The truth may be more subtle.
Using reconstruction software and the historical record, astronomers increasingly have come to believe that the three wise men "following yonder star" may have been interpreting astrological omens so esoteric that only the learned would have noticed anything unusual in the night skies.
While scientists disagree on the particulars, "one thing is absolutely certain," said Mark Kidger, an astronomer with the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias in Spain's Canary Islands. "Whatever the Star of Bethlehem was, it was not an extraordinarily spectacular object."
King Herod hadn't seen the sign that drew the Magi to Judea. Even the meticulous astronomical observations of the Chinese show nothing truly spectacular in the years around Jesus' probable birth date.
In fact, this "star" may not have been visible at all. Michael R. Molnar proposes that the heavenly sign was an eclipse of the planet Jupiter that took place in the constellation Aries, among other regal portents, on April 17 of the year 6 B.C.
That morning, just before dawn, Jupiter, a planet associated with kings, emerged from behind the sun to rise in the east, appearing as a morning star. Later that day, the moon moved in front of--or occulted--Jupiter.
While such events can be dramatic, this one was invisible, lost in the glare of the noonday sun. Even so, the Magi would have predicted it, argues Molnar, a retired Rutgers University astronomer who lives in Warren, N.J.
"It was something very subtle, only something an astrologer would have seen as important," he said.
The occultation happened in Aries, which ancient astrologers thought ruled the fate of several Near East kingdoms--including Judea, which was struggling under the yoke of Roman rule. Hence, Molnar concludes, the wise men would have read the birth of a new Jewish ruler, perhaps even the long-prophesied Messiah, in this configuration of heavenly bodies.
Kidger, author of "The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's View," disagrees. Occultations aren't rare and so wouldn't have excited seasoned skywatchers, he said. He noted that the moon occulted various planets almost 200 times between 20 B.C. and 1 B.C.
Kidger argues that what the Magi observed was a series of astrological portents, each of which has been individually suggested as the star. Together, they led up to a not particularly brilliant, but long-lived nova--a distant, exploding star--recorded by the Chinese in 5 B.C.
Three times in a few months during 7 B.C., Jupiter and Saturn came close together, or were in conjunction, in Pisces. In 6 B.C. Kidger notes both a massing of planets in Leo and Molnar's occultation in Aries.
To the Magi, "any single event wouldn't have been special enough," Kidger said. Instead, "They saw something that made them sit up and pay attention and cast their horoscopes and wait."
As sign followed sign, culminating in the appearance of a "new star," they struck out for Jerusalem, site of Herod's court.
According to Chinese records, the 5 B.C. nova appeared low in the eastern sky in the constellation Aquila and lasted 70 days. If the Magi arrived in Jerusalem two months after they set out, Kidger said, the new position of the Earth would have made the nova appear to hover in the south over Bethlehem--where Herod directed them.
Molnar begs to differ.
Tying a rational explanation of the star to pagan superstitions can make scientists uneasy, so they often start by searching for a unique astronomical event and then attempt to tie it into the astrology of the time--as Kidger has done, Molnar said. But, he argues, Hellenistic astrology was the high science of its day and surely the lens through which the Magi would have viewed the world.
Astrologers' associations of Pisces or Leo with Judea date to the 15th century or even later--long after the time of Jesus, Molnar said. Likewise, he sees no reason for ancient astrologers to associate a nova, even one lasting 70 days, with Jesus' birth, since new stars were ignored in Hellenistic astrology.
But in the case of the 6 B.C. occultation of Jupiter, he argues, there were many impressive portents in play.
Not only was Jupiter occulted by the moon, which greatly increased its power and influence, but the planet had just emerged from behind the sun and was stationed in the east--two more factors pointing to a regal birth. In addition, the sun, moon, Jupiter and Saturn all were massed in Aries, characteristics of the horoscope of a "divine and immortal person," as one prominent Roman astrologer wrote.
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