Advent, week three

I love the lectionery readings for Advent:

The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of the man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled.
I see him, though not now;
I behold him, though not near:
A star shall advance from Jacob,
and a staff shall rise from Israel. (from Nehemiah 24)

In our scientifically minded world, we sometimes can spend a lot of time puzzling on the miraculous elements of the Bible. We wonder if they even happened, or if they did happen, what was their cause?

One of the ones people puzzle over is whether there was a star over Bethlehem on a night two thousand years ago. Scientists have spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what celestial event might corelate with the 6-4 BCE date that is suspected for Jesus' birth.

From my perspective, this prophecy gets it right - the star we really have to focus on is not a celestial light, but the light that entered the world, and which the darkness has never extinguished. Just as another prophet predicted the people of Gallilee, living in darkness, would see a great light, so this one has predicted a star in the line of Jacob.

It came - and today, we are the bearers of that light. We are to be the light of the world, and the salt of the Earth. At our best, we should be the light over the manger, for all to see, people of faith who bring hope to those who need it, and light to those in the dark. It is what Jesus meant for us - he didn't die so some shmoes could get a free ticket into heaven. He meant to set an example of love and selflessness.

So this Christmas, let each and everyone do his or her part. Be a light to your family, your friends, and even a stranger. If we do, then nobody will doubt about a star over Bethlehem.

For they will have seen it.