In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
How many, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in our society are yearning? For what? They might not know but something is pricking their conscience, they have a nostalgia for an unknown memory, a homesickness despite them thinking they are already at home, a wistfulness and longing for something on which they cannot quite place their finger. So they get on with their lives: what else is there to do? They try—some more successfully than others—to gain wealth, to maintain their health, to form relationships. But there’s still something missing and in the end death ensnares all.
For some of these they stop and think to themselves, “there must be more to life than this!” Despite the technological, scientific, medical, digital and other progresses made by our race we have still not arrived in utopia. There is still suffering, there is still injustice, there is still wrongdoing, and perhaps the recognition of the stalling of progress in recent years has laid bare the lie of modernism: while a secular and atheistic society promises an ever improving world if only we submit to it, if only we worship it, it cannot even deliver on its promise. And the yearning—for so long drowned out in the background by growing wealth, technology and entertainment—can once again be heard by a larger portion of the population.
And they step forward and seek that which they do not know. Various names and ideas get bandied about: being authentic, being real, seeking truth, seeking reality. They find a name around which a nebulous of an idea can coagulate and thicken and they follow that star. And they come to us for directions.
Herod, too, was seeking the one born King of the Jews. But once he found even the idea of Him it had to be destroyed. For him, the existence of authenticity and truth had to be removed from the earth because it pointed towards his sin and his need to repent: he would rather be enslaved to the cares of this life—which he believed had served him well and would continue to serve him—not realising death was ever tightening its grip.
And we face a choice, a crisis, a cross-roads. When those who are seeking reality come to us, they are really seeking Christ because Christ is the Truth of God. When they come will we send them on, as did Herod, so that we may find and destroy Christ? That we like the slavery of our race and will do anything and everything to preserve the current destiny. Or will we say to them, “We have been seeking to follow Him with all our heart, come join us!” We, like Herod, do not possess Christ, but we must follow Him.
My dear brothers and sisters, let us ever seek to follow our Lord—follow Him to Bethlehem and to the cave and witness His humility and gentleness, follow Him to the Jordan where the Spirit will descend, follow Him about Galilee and witness His teaching and His miracles, follow Him to Tabor and see the uncreated Light shine out, follow Him to Jerusalem, follow Him to the betrayal, follow Him to the Cross, follow Him to the depths of Hades and its annihilation, follow Him to Resurrection and Life. And more so, let us follow Him together. And when others would seek Him let us not, as Herod, see this as a way to discredit Him, rather let us follow Him together. And when we are brought to the heights of rejoicing let us follow Him together, and when we are brought to the depths of pain and suffering let us follow Him together. Let us see those who are brought to Christ by whatever means, even through a star, as causes to rejoice in the Lord Who has redeemed us from slavery to sin and the tyranny of death and calls us to follow Him together to Life, abundant Life, Life without end.
That we may offer true praise, glory and worship to our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who deigned to be incarnate and placed in a manger that through the Cross and Resurrection the whole world might be brought to Life, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir of God through Christ.
— Galatians 4:4–7
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.’ Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
— Matthew 2:1–12