Sermon from December 24, 1999
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him, (Matt. 2:1-3). The visit of the Magi brought other disturbances as well.

One additional disturbance has to do with what kind of star the Magi meant. Had they seen a comet or a nova or a supernova, or had they seen an unusual conjunction of stars and planets? All our Christian art pictures the star of Bethlehem as an inescapable heavenly phenomenon. Why then did Herod not see it? He seemed to be in the dark about the portentous star the Magi had seen.

But suppose they were not talking about an inescapable heavenly phenomenon. Suppose they were talking about what they had seen in a horoscope. That seems more likely to have been the truth. Magi were a cross between astronomers and astrologers. They were ancient-world experts on the stars and planets. Rutgers University astronomer, Dr. Michael Molnar, sets forth a compelling case for what the Magi saw that brought them to Judea and ultimately to Bethlehem. His book is called The Star of Bethlehem.

All of which is interesting, but it raises another disturbance. Jews of that era had nothing to do with astrology, which they considered a pagan practice. So, what induced Matthew, a Christian Jew, to include a piece of Gentile astrology into his gospel, even if the Magi got it right? Probably what induced him was that they got it right.

If the God of Israel chose to make the signs in the heavens point to the birth of the Messiah, who was he, Matthew, to be so fastidious as to leave it out? He whose gospel ends with the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations shows how God had already gone there first. Actually, I find this encouraging in an unexpected way.

God acts humbly toward the world He made. That is, human life at least seems to some people to have gotten out of His control, and He does not do anything drastic to reclaim control. The brutalities of the 20th century have made some people conclude that no God exists, and if He did, they want nothing to do with Him, because He did not step in to stop the Holocaust or Hiroshima or the genocide in Laos.

In a certain frame of mind I can see how people might think that way, although the majority of people who might think that way do not. And there is something else. God leaves little calling cards around the universe to let us know He is still in charge. The Magi fround one of them in the Zodiac, and the speculations of the heathen confirmed the scriptures of Israel in a way that was most disconcerting to Herod.

You may find one of them any day. As C.S. Lewis once said, "A young Atheist cannot guard his faith too carefully," (Surprised by Joy, 226). Just when you think you have escaped God, He turns up on the seat next to you. I myself believe we have stumbled upon another of His little calling cards – those little reminders that not only is He in control of our incipient chaos, but He is present with us right down in the jungle of our lives. Let me show you what I mean.

The National Football League plays most of its games on Sunday. Many times a team will fly on Saturday to the city where they are to play. They will not be doing that next week, because next Saturday is January 1, 2000. Instead, they will fly in on Friday, December 31. It is their conceession to fears about the Y2K computer problem, the so-called Millennium Bug. I am sure that team officials would say, "We don't think there will be a problem, but just to be on the safe side, we are flying in on Friday."

NASA has been deliberate about bringing back the space shuttle before year's end. They say there is no problem with on-board computers or with the Global Positioning System. They don't really think there will be a Y2K computer problem with local utilities in Cape Canaveral; but just in case, they want the shuttle back safe in the nest. They and we think everything is going to be okay, but we are uneasy.

At midnight, January 1, 2000, both the digits 99 will roll over and become 00. Even into the mid-nineties many computers were programmed in such a way that they had room for only the last two digits of the year. As a result, they will not know next Saturday if the year is 1900 or 2000. Programmers did that originally to save precious space. As computer hard drives had more and more space, failure to change the problem seems like negligence. Billions of dollars have been spent to fix the problem. We will know in a few days what got fixed and what did not and what matters.

All this has taken place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet Isaiah (29:14-15):

"Therefore once more I will astound these people
          with wonder after wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
          the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."
Woe to those who go to great depths
          to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their work in darkness and think,
          "Who sees us? Who will know?"

But He does see. He does know. He penetrates right into the heart of Silicon Valley, right into the command and control center of the CIA, right into the "unuprooted corners of evil" in every human heart and in all human hearts. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world with the Millennium Bug? (1 Cor. 1:20). He has at least made it look foolish, but His purpose is not to mock us but to call us to repentance. He has left this little calling card in strategic places in order to extend His love and authority over ever-increasing circles of human existence.

Thus, on this final Christmas Eve of the Second Millennium after Christ, the nations of earth are to a degree united by two digits embedded somewhere in millions of computers, and we make our preparations.

Some prepare for the catastrophic. Many prepare for relatively minor inconveniences. Many think only of themselves; others think of how they might help those who failed to prepare adequately. As in the presence of all unknown dangers, we do well not to panic, but at the same time to make prudent preparations for things within our control, including preparations to help those who may be in need.

I said a moment ago that God acts humbly toward the world He made. He is willing to be thought weak and foolish in His actions. But whether it is the matter of computer dates or the star in the east or the humble Birth in Bethlehem or the degradation of the Cross on Good Friday, the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength, (1 Cor. 1:25). In reverence let us prepare for the advent of the third millennium in the most fitting way open to us. Let each of us acknowledge Jesus Christ to be Lord – Lord of the stars, Lord of life, Lord of all.