In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed
his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard
this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem
with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people,
he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In
Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you,
Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of
Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact
time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently
for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go
and pay him homage.”
When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead
of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over
the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they
were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary
his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their
treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And
having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own
country by another road.
***
Jed, what is it exactly that you do?
Observational astromnomer, professor at Willamette University.
When you read this passage as a scientist how do you
understand it?
- hunky dory, there isn’t anything which goes against science
- People have looked back historically for records but have been unable to find any of a star besides the biblical record (With regards to the second bullet point about how I understand the story (or feel about the story) as a scientist, I'll clarify that people have tried to go back and look for heavenly occurrences that could have occurred around the time of the Christmas story, and in some cases they've found potential candidates. But with the exact timing and dates being fuzzy, it's hard/impossible to say if any particular occurrence is "the one”)
What would the magi have noticed?
- bright like the North Star
- irregular pattern
What kind of star?
- a comet
- a supernova
- conjunction of planets
What is the difference between a comet and a supernova?
- Comet
- frozen snowball
- periodic rotation
- move in even paths
- in a particular time
- a number of years to a millennium
- you would spot it in a different spot each night
- can be predicted
- comets stay in the sky a very long time
- Supernova
- a star burning out and exploding at the end of its lifetime
- “going supernova”
- has no warning
- as bright as the moon
- would decidedly stand out
- conjunction of planets.
- Basically, realize that Jupiter and Venus generally appear as the brightest objects in the sky (besides the moon) normally.
- At certain times, Jupiter and Venus can appear so close together that they appear to be one SUPER bright star/object.
- Planetary conjunctions also sometimes are tied to "signs" or "portents" as well in astrology, and planetary motions were at least tracked at the time.
- Why would they follow it?
- Telescopes were not invited yet, if you wanted to understand it you had to follow it and watch with your eyes
- Scientists would have tracked it
- Today a supernova would still be ver exciting, it would be in our news, scientists would be investigating it
- Same with a comet, if you remember Hailey’s comet? It was a big deal in the news as well.
- The would be out of the normal, people would have followed it
- Why do you feel it was a star that is connected to this passage?
- Stars live in the heavens
- they have inherent mystery and spirituality
- as a sign it makes sense.
- Do you feel like you as an astronomer study the heavens or the stars?
- the heavens are not just stars
- you look at the images from the humble telescope
- incomprehensible
- stunningly beautiful
- its why I am an observational astronomer rather than a theoretical
- its fun to look at and ponder
- New Years Eve went out at midnight
- observing the sky
- it was quiet
- and cold and clear
- and I pondered
- you get to do that because it is so quiet and you feel so close all by yourself
- It’s interesting that it was quiet. The Christmas story I always imagined was loud, with angels and all the animals, the manger and the sheep, but this is quiet. What do you feel that might tell us about the character of God?
- God sends a sign for everyone. God sends a sign to the shepherds with the angels, its crazy and its loud and there is celebrating, but God also sent a sign in the silence of the night to the wisemen. The wisemen might not have responded to angels. They respond to stars. Likewise, with their sheep out in the field a star might have been noticed by the shepherds but they, with their sheep would not be able to follow it such a journey.
- I hear you taking this historical scientific event and reading God into that in general.
- I think that’s how God works.
- God uses science and history to show us signs and wonders, in ways we can see.
- In ways that are unique to who we are.
Katy closing
What I hear is that the star was a fitting sign in and from
the heavens, a place of mystery, it that brought the wonder of God to all
people, in this case the scientists following an amazingly bright star. And
from your personal experience, this still happens in the quiet of a new year’s
eve late on a clear night. That God gives us mystery to ponder and discover.
