Stars Shine When the Darkness is Thick

Matthew 2:9-11

There is a carol we always sing on Christmas: “Silent night, holy night.” How do you feel when you sing it? I don’t think it will just be me. Don’t you feel calm and comfortable? As if you are in your mother’s arms? It’s quite peculiar.

Our conventional image of night is scary and dangerous. Strangely, however, the night before Christmas always feels warm. Perhaps it’s because of the breath of baby Jesus. Because of baby Jesus lying in a manger, night, which is usually harsh, eerie, scary, and at times ruled by evil, becomes peaceful. It becomes a silent night, a holy night.

May the grace of this warm, peaceful Christmas given to us by baby Jesus be with you all.

I once went on a pilgrimage to places in the Old Testament with my seminary students. We had a chance to visit Mount Sinai, and as those of you who have ever been there will know, it was a hard climb. We had to start walking up the mountain at 2-3 am to see the sunrise on top of the mountain. We had all slept only a few hours when we started our ascent.

On my way up, I thought, ‘What if it’s too dark to see anything up in the mountain?’ So I even prepared a lantern. But I discovered somethingtruly amazingthat day. The moonlight was ever so powerful and bright. Even though it wasn’t a full moon, it was bright all around us and we could see the path clearly throughout our journey thanks to it. We could even clearly see the shadows of the travelers and of the camels.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see the star-filled sky that I had been looking forward to. The moonlight had erased all the stars. That day, I also discovered that stars become invisible under a bright moon.

Since then I have seen thestory of the nightof the Nativity from a different light. I can now imagine the heavy darkness that surrounded the Magi when they traveled to Jesus led by a star.

These days stars are hard to spot. Our surroundings are too bright. But the Bible says the Magi came to Jesus led by a star.

The night when Jesus was born was a dark night. It was shrouded in darkness. Even the moonlight lost all its power. But on this night a star appeared. And that star guided the travelers as they walked through the night. The night of the Nativity was a pitch dark night.

But that darkness that fell on the night of Jesus’ birth also implicated a historical darkness heavily shrouding Israel as a nation.

The Bible states this is why Jesus was born in Bethlehem:

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)And everyone went to his own town to register.”(Luke 2:1-3)

Scholars believe that Caesar Augustus, emperor of Rome, periodically took censuses between BC 27 and 14 AD. They are almost certain that a census was taken of Israel when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

The Bible tells us that the birth of baby Jesus is connected to this historical event. Conquerors used censuses to govern their colonies more effectively. Censuses were useful for tax collection and military recruitment.

As I mentioned briefly last week, censuses causedgreat resistance among the subject peoples as seen in the rebellion of the Zealots, armed, patriotic Jews who fought for Israel’s independence, in BC 6.

When the amount of taxes to be collected were determined through a census, the Roman government set up a chief tax collector for each region and collected poll taxes and land taxes. Under the chief tax collector, there were tax collectors, who were, simply put, people outsourced by the chief tax collector to collect taxes. But these tax collectors would collect more than the required amount to get a cut for themselves. They would pressure and harassthe people. Accordingly, the people despised them and treated them as sinners.

This is why John said to the tax collectors, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to” when theyasked him, “What should we do?”The Bible’s explanationabout Mary and Joseph coming to Bethlehem for a census reflectsthe shameful and dark reality of Israel and its opaquehistoryas a colony of Rome.

In a word, the night when Jesus was born was a night when all Judeans, a powerless subject people ruled by Rome, were forced toreturn to their homes for a census to comply with Rome’s policy for tax collection.

It was on this dark night that a star rose. And that star led the Magi to baby Jesus.

The title of today’s message is “Stars Shine When the Darkness is Thick.” I tried to come up with a meaningful title that captures the theme of my message. But, as I prepared the sermon, I found that many preachers had already written sermons with a similar perspective and similar titles.

Poet Jeong Jin-gyu wrote of a poem titled “Star”:

The backdrop of stars must be dark.
For they are not visible in the light.
People in the bright day
Cannot see the stars.
Only those who are in the darkness now
Can see them.
Those who are in the dark now
Can create stars.
Those who are now in the bright light are actually in the dark.
(Jeong, 1990, The Backdrop of Stars Must be Dark)

For the stars to shine, it must be dark. Only those in the dark can see the stars.

In fact stars are in the sky even during the day. But becauseit is not dark, they are invisible. That is why those who are in the lightcannot see the stars. Only those in the dark can see them.

In this sense, darkness is a privilege and an opportunity—because you can see the stars. Because you can see what was previouslyinvisible.

Some of you may be walking in the darkness. Recently, after an early morning prayer service, a young man came up to me. He had been fired. He had children and a wife. He didn’t have the courage to tell his wife. My heart broke upon seeing his tears.

Is thatall? A middle-school boy became disabled after breaking his neck during P.E. A sudden darkness came over his life.

Our life’s journey inevitably includes dark nights. Just as the day comes after the night, we will see darkness in our lives. There will be dark nights of failure, farewell, incurable disease, unemployment, frustration, injustice, and so on.

We hope that suchdarkness will never enter our lives. But our lives cannot just be filled with bright days. We need dark nights too. To see the stars. Without the night, without darkness, the stars will never shine.

I want to quote from an essay written by Jeong Ho-Seung:

No one can expect to see the stars unless it becomes night. No one can see the dawn unless they go through the night. Why did God create man to see the world through the dark iris of his eyes? God made both the white and black parts in the eyes. Isn’t itbecause God wants man to see the world through the darkness? Is He not saying man cannot see the brightness of the world without going through the darkness? The stars are in the sky even during the day. But because it is not dark we cannot see them. We can see them only in the dark night. Just as we can see the world only through our dark iris, and just as we can see the stars only when it is dark, we need pain and trials to see the stars in our lives. Though we may be going through nights of unbearable darkness and pain in our lives,that darkness is necessary for the stars to shine. And the stars are warm.”(Jeong, “Darkness is absolutely needed to see the stars”)

This Christmas we may feel severely beaten, deeply discouraged, and dispirited. The announcement ofmartial law, the impeachment, and everything happening in Korea these days fill us with pity and shame. Do we have no decent leaders in this country? Are there so few who truly think of this country? We feel a sense of shame. Other circumstances are not good either. We worry about Korea’s relations withglobal powers, including the U.S. We also have to resolve many domestic problems such as the medical crisis. Demonstrations are taking place here and there. Demonstrators arefiercely criticizing one another. Korea is going through a very dark night.

But the darker it becomes we will see the stars better. No, because it is dark, we absolutely must see the stars. If we cannot see the stars in the dark, the grace of the night will be wasted.

What is our star that shines brightly in the dark? That star may be the one hope that people in dark cling to.

The Magi set out on their journey following a star. They started their journey with the hope that the Messiah would come to earth.

Let me show you a painting by George Frederic Watts (1817~1901),“Hope.” (1885, Watts Gallery) It was completed in 1885. In this painting, a frail woman sitting on a globe is holding something in her arms. Her eyes are covered with a piece of cloth. She is in darkness. She is holding a lyre that has lost all but one of its seven strings. But even in this circumstance she puts her ear to her instrument and continues to play that one string.

You may not be able to see it well, but a small star is shining in the distance. That star sheds light upon this woman, revealing her shape.

This painting is said to have given many Americans strength and courage during the Civil War. Even Reverend Martin Luther King mentionedthe piece as he talked about hope in his1958 speech, “Great March for Freedom.”Nelson Mandela is also known to have hung a replica of it in his dark cell during his imprisonment of 26 years as he clung to hope.

Although the woman in the painting is blindfolded, wouldn’t she have seen the small star in her blindness? Wouldn’t she have known that star was shining upon her? Wouldn’t she have clung on to hope through it?

In terms of its meaning, today marks the 2024thbirthday of Jesus. It is a day for celebrating the coming of baby Jesus. Our Lord was born on a dark, gloomy night.

It was dark that night; yet because of the darkness a star shone. That star gave hope to the Magi. When they followed this hope, they finally found baby Jesus in a manger.

Dear Church, don’t lose sight of the stars as youwalk through dark nights. Never lose hope. At the end of that hope, you will find baby Jesus who changes the dark night into a calm and holy night.

Although the Korean translation of “Silent Night” is a bit different, the English lyrics go like this: “Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright.” The Korean lyrics mention a dark night, buttheEnglish words sing of a calm, bright night. The stars shine when it is dark. So the English lyrics“all is bright” is especially moving.

We can see the stars because of the darkness; and we can meet the Lord at the end of that star.

It will be hard, but let us persevere with hope.

May everyone at Somang Church meet baby Jesus in the place where the star leads you and may you rise again through the breath of His life.

This is why we can say “Merry Christmas” even in the darkness of Christmas eve.