God not only reaches down to shepherds, he reaches out to the peoples of the East. This Gospel written by a Jew for Jews begins with a reminder that the comming of the Messiah was for the world, for he has the whole world in his hands, as the Spiritual Song from the African-American community reminds us. The nineteenth century Dutch theologian and Prime Minister Abraham Kuyper takes up the same thought, declaring, “There is not one square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ…does not cry out, ‘Mine.’”

If the respectable in Israel looked down on shepherds, the theologians denounced the astrologers. Indeed, their
clairvoyant arts are condemned in a number of places in the Old Testament, and the Jews were strongly rebuked for consulting them. They should have known better, because they had a surer guide in the law God had revealed to them
through Moses and through the pronouncements of the prophets. Yet, with the people of Babylon, who knew no better,
God was more accommodating. More than that, he chose to reveal himself to the most revered scholars of the day, astrologers, who sought significant portents from the movement of the planets.

The astrologers witnessed a strange astronomical phenomenon, the precise nature of which scholars has argued over for centuries. Was the bright star caused by the conjunction of the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn that occurred in 7-6 BC, or was it the appearance of a comet or the exploding of a supernova? We will probably never know, and its only importance is in the dating of the birth of Christ. At any rate their investigations led them to the conclusion that this sign in the sky announced that the Messiah-King had been born to the Jews. Who supplied them with this clue to the significance of the astrological phenomenon? The most likely explanation is that they learned it from the Jewish community who were still in Babylonia centuries after the bulk had returned from their Babylonian exile.

The intensity of their interest is indicated by the fact that they were prepared to make a long journey to find the newborn child and that they brought with them costly gifts worthy of a king. They naturally go first to Jerusalem, the holy city of the Jews to confer with the religious leaders to discover the birthplace of the Messiah.

Their joyful eagerness stands in stark contrast to the suspicion and unease of King Herod, who considered their questioning to be so politically explosive that he needed to become personally involved. In response to their request, he feigns cooperation by consulting with his religious advisors and giving their consensus to the scholars from Babylonia. The location of the birth predicted by the prophets in the Scriptures was Bethlehem. He then arranged a secret meeting with the scholars to instruct them where to search and to make a private arrangement for them to return once they had found the baby. His intention is not to follow their example in worshiping the infant-king, but to ensure the baby’s death before the news got out and he became the center of a popular uprising.

The contrast between the response of the Jewish king and his advisors and the scholars from the east could not be more stark. King Herod began to plot his death, his advisors showed no further interest; whereas the scholars from the east had traveled many miles to find the baby and worship him. Today, throughout the Western world religious sociologists report a widespread spiritual search underway. But unlike the scholars of the birth story of Jesus, today’s seekers do not know where to look, and are put off from looking where their search could find fulfillment by the very people who describe themselves as Christians.

How can the followers of Jesus respond to God’s surprising initiatives in our day? We describe highly creative and unconventional people as those who “color outside of the box.” That description fits God’s surprising initiatives in today’s readings where he does the unexpected. Due to our assumptions and prejudice that determine in our thinking how we think God should be acting, we often miss what he is actually doing. Today’s stories alert us to the fact that God is working among the most unlikely people and in the most unexpected places. By his loving generosity he is reaching down through the layers of society to those who are the most despised–as well as up to those whom we consider or, who consider themselves, to be out of reach. He is also working with people who from our vantage seem far away geographically or culturally. God has both a great heart and incredibly long and powerful arms–sufficient to reach out to you and me, and to those whom we might otherwise be tempted to consider beyond redemption.