How Do You Follow A Star - Ruth Fehlker

Homily for the Feast of Epiphanias
Matthew 2, 1-12

How do you follow a star?

Ruth Fehlker

If you look at it practically: it doesn’t actually work. At least not in the way the gospel describes it in this story. A star that guides the wise men along and then stops above a house? A single star is much too far away to actually indicate a certain place on earth – it is a little like looking for the end of the rainbow.

And then there’s the figurative way of understanding it – a hallmark saying to “follow your star” meaning – follow your destiny. But does that work here? And if that is what the wise men are doing, how do they know what their destiny is?

The people for whom the evangelist Matthew was writing probably had a little more understanding of this imagery. It was an image known to them from coins – a star above the head of ceasar meant: “this one is divine – from God”. The star in this narrative tells us: Jesus is from God (so far, so easy, at least for us.) And it is a “real” star, not just a symbol.

Stars are too far away to indicate a small place on earth – and often we feel that God is too great and too far away to care for our small human life. But with the birth of Jesus it becomes evident: God wants to be so close, he literally crawls into our world, into our lives. And thus the star in the story is also close. (It’s basically turning things upside down: the star on the coin was meant to elevate the human ceasar to the heavens, the star above Bethlehem is meant to indicate that God is on earth.)

More than many other biblical stories this tale asks us to see ourselves in them – in the three wise men. Why? Because, and this is really important, Matthew makes clear that Jesus isn’t there just for a small group, not just for the Jews, not just for the chosen few, but for everyone. For everyone who is willing to see the signs, to start the journey and to be led by Christ. And if this idea hadn’t made it through we wouldn’t be here like this now, we would never have become Christians.

It becomes clear: being a Christian is not a question of belonging to a certain place or a certain people, not even a certain time – it is a question of choice/decision.

How do the wise men of the tale follow the star? It’s a little fuzzy in the details. But I imagine they need the longing for change. And attentiveness for the signs of the times. They need courage to journey into the unknown. They need to weather danger. They need to ask for directions and to change course. And they need the ability to recognize the unexpected as their goal.

Because what is at the end of their journey? Nothing spectacular. A family in a stable, vulnerable and uncertain.

The star shows: God is here.

Really. For us to touch. To love. To feel the pain. To be complicated, endangered, messy and poor. And: unfinished. Nothing means potential as much as a human baby – so much that can still grow! The goal of the wise men is not an end to their journey, but a beginning of their journey with God. Their journey will be different and their lives too.

And maybe that is exactly the way that I – that we can follow the star of Bethlehem: To make the choice every day. To set course every day. To have longing and courage. To ask for directions and change course. And to dare to be unfinished.

Nice images. But what do they mean?

It means to feel what my longing is and to follow it, even if cannot see whether and how it may be fulfilled. To be open for encounters and change, even if it is hard to give up the status quo. And the hardest and the best thing: To take those parts of my life where things are hard, painful and shameful. The places I can hardly look at myself. The places where anger and fear and shame seem to suffocate all the good. And to presume God exactly there and to learn how to see God there.

Where will this road lead? The star will show us. It will be unexpected and unfinished. And God will be there.

Ruth Fehlker, January 2019

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Ruth Fehlker studied Catholic Theology at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. She is a Pastoral Officer at St. Lamberti Coesfeld in Coesfeld, Germany where she frequently preaches.