Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!psuvax1!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: philpot@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov (philpot) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Starry starry night . . . Message-ID: Date: 15 Jan 91 09:37:22 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA Lines: 57 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article kilroy@gboro.glassboro.edu (Dr Nancy's Sweetie) writes: > On this, the first Sunday of Epiphany, I noticed that I've never heard > a sermon on Wise Men that addresses the astrological aspect. We had a very interesting and even novel sermon at my church the 2nd Sunday of Advent that did deal with this part of the account. > Christians generally disapprove of astrology ... > If astrology really is bad, why doesn't anybody tell the Magi? And if it's > really so much hokum, what do we make of there being a Scripture story that > describes successful predictions based on positions of stars? The sermon basically identified the three kinds of people in the story and then looked at their reactions to Jesus' birth: 1. Herod, when he found out about Him, considered him a threat to his own power and carried out a campaign of infanticide to try to eliminate this threat. Category: Fear 2. The religious leaders, when queried by the Magi as to where the prophecies indicated He would be born, looked in the Scriptures and knew the right answer, but didn't really act on this knowledge. Basically, what they had awaited their entire lives was happening in their midst, and they didn't go out of their way to check it out. Category: Ambivalence 3. The Magi, who were foreigners and of a different religion, gave him gifts, acknowledged His lordship and fell down and worshiped Him. Category: Sincere seeking The developement was that this was of course just a prefiguration of God's inclusion of all peoples in the New Covenant. The wonder of the visit of the Magi was not that they themselves (via astrology) found the Christ child themselves, but that God decided to reveal this wonder to them (non-Jew, foreign, sinner=astrologer, distant) of all people. The sermon went on to characterize the gifts they brought: * gold - worthy of a king * incense - recognizing Him as a priest * myrrh - embalming material, foreshadowing His saving death to emphasize the depth of worship the Magi had for the child. This may not adequately represent the content of the sermon, nor may it really deal with astrology per se, but I found it nonetheless a welcome break from the typical Advent treatment of the story. kilroy@gboro.glassboro.edu Darren F. Provine ...njin!gboro!kilroy "If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance." -- John Andrew Holmes ______________________________________________________________________ Andrew Philpot Internet: philpot@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov Usmail: NASA Ames Research Center, MS 244/17, Moffett Field CA 94035 Phone: (415) 604-1105