Following their sighting of a new star, wise men came from the East to Jerusalem seeking the whereabouts of the baby who had been born King of the Jews. King Herod was frightened and (with a different, unspoken motive) sent them to search and bring their findings back to him. When they found the baby they were overjoyed, and gave Him their adoration and gifts, but were warned in a dream not to return to Herod. In our reading for today, Joseph too was warned in a dream to take Mary and his newborn son by night to Egypt and to stay there “until I tell you”.
Herod’s evil desire for power brought enormous grief on people of goodwill. We can recognise this lust for power in some leaders in our world today. In the confusion of voices, who can we trust? Perhaps, like Joseph and Mary, we need to become more attuned to the sound of God’s loving voice amidst the many competing and loud voices of our technologically-obsessed and consumer-oriented times.
God’s love, shown to us in Jesus, is with us, now and forever. Thanks be to God.
Rev Adelene Mills