It’s late and cold on the roof yet here I am. The moon is full and its light hides most of the stars, yet in the west, I can clearly see a new star. It must be incredibly bright to be visible right now – and it just appeared out of nowhere – no warning. It’s not shooting across and disappearing in a ball of flame so it can’t be a meteor so what is it? I must talk to Caspar and Melchior about it. This is big – it must be a sign. What should I do about it?

Caspar and Melchior have come over and we’re discussing this new star trying to make sense of it. It is shining in the west over the land of Belteshazzar (Daniel’s Babylonian name) — my servant’s family is descended from the Jewish exiles perhaps he can give some wisdom. Melchior thinks it must be a new king sent by god – I think he’s right. Caspar is excited quote Only a God could have put it there and what else would be more important than declaring a new king unquote. We really need to check this out; a star of this magnitude. Melichior is packing his bags already to make the trip to see what has happened. Caspar says we should all go. My servant Daoud say that his people are awaiting for a “messiah”, could this be a sign of his coming?

The three of us are ready to set out. Horses, food and tents though I hope we find decent inns and be able to rest in comfort on this trip. We will need to careful as we have costly gifts with us for the king and we will be heading into Roman territory. The Romans get touchy about kings unless they control them. I doubt that this king will be under the Roman thumb, Roman’s can’t put stars in the sky. It is told how Belteshazzar’s god allowed him to walk unscathed among hungry lions so what is a few bandits or Roman soldiers.

To keep an eye on the star we will need to mainly travel at night that will be slow and risky. As we set off I’m struck how easy it is to stumble and fall in the dark. Fortunately, the star’s light guides us otherwise; we would be lost and stumbling.
Traveling by night, I wonder about what it would be like to dwell in darkness the difficulty to get anything done properly. Daoud my servant is in a philosophical frame of mind and recites a quote “the people who dwell in darkness have seen a great light” apparently it is from one of his prophets a man called Isaiah. Well we have darkness and starlight – he says Isaiah was talking about a child to be born. A messiah who would be king and do great things. Our records talk of the Jewish god being powerful able to work wonders; Melchior is convinced that we are going to see more than a king, A bright light; having stubbed my toe again in the dark, I want a bright light to see where I’m going. Is this what the child is going to be – a light to stop us getting lost in the dark world?

Today we rested Caspar is not a young man anymore and the cares of this life have aged him. He finds it hard traveling in the dark. We would offer to lead his horse so he could just ride but I don’t want to injure his pride. However, Caspar is no fool he knew at his age the trip would be hard yet he was eager to make it. I will talk to him, pride shouldn’t stop him seeing this child but I will be careful. Often pride can keep us from what is good.

We continue on with sore feet not knowing how far we still have to go. The star is still bright and leading us. Still there in the west. Funny we know the direction to go but not how far. Life is like that if we’re honest we know what we should do but not if we can keep it up. Just take it one step at a time, as Caspar says keep on keeping on. We must see this child and keep on the right road.

It looks more and more like we’re heading towards Israel the land of Belteshazzar and the God who protected him in the lion’s den. Who is this God who acts so powerfully and who is this child he is sending? Isaiah paints a picture of just ruler, a good government and a servant king. It is all very strange, what awaits us?

Melchior been thinking – I think he is right, again, if we’re going to Israel then logically a king must be in Jerusalem the capital. We are planning to go to the palace, ask for an audience with the king, to see the child. Knowing where to go we can push on during the day. It cannot be far now.

Well I did not see that one coming, king Herod didn’t know about the child! What’s going on‽

Well not all kings are clued in but he does have advisors who know their stuff. Apparently there is a text in another of their prophets “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” Herod’s wise men says we should head for Bethlehem. It is only 8K away. It should be easy enough to check it out. Apparently, Bethlehem is a small town so we should not be too hard to find a king but we decide to stick with the star this time. Before we left Herod gave us instructions to come back and tell him where the child is: he says he wants to worship him too. Caspar doesn’t like him; he seems a bit shifty. Why hasn’t his people gone to see him, it’s only 8 km could be there and back in a morning. Not clued in and lazy, odd but par for a Roman puppet.

What a night, very vivid dreams we all had them and all the same dream. The same message — avoid Herod like the plague do not go back to him! Asking around we hear that Herod is a nasty piece of work, a tyrant. A crown doesn’t make a man a good ruler. Jerusalem is definitely not on the return itinerary. Herod does not sound anything like the description of the king in Isaiah or in Daoud’s traditions.

We’ve found him and worshipped him. His mother was taken aback when we arrived and you could see the neighbour’s curtains twitching. Everything is upside down, the neighbours must be wondering about us posh guys slumming it with the peasants. His father is a carpenter, at first sight nothing out of the ordinary except for the star and the promises. We worshipped him and gave our gifts. This child is nothing like Herod the Roman puppet. What will he be and what will he do? His father has also had a dream warning him to seek refuge in Egypt – the more we hear about Herod the wiser it seems to leave until everything settles down. They say Herod is so intent of staying in power it is better to be one of Herod’s pigs than one of his sons – you’ll live longer. I wish we hadn’t gone to see him and alerted him to this child.

Still, what’s important is we have seen God’s king, God is at work in our world and is here. We are at peace; we can go home now. There are great things afoot in our world and one day this child will be a man and rule. What wonders await!