Charles Austin is interim pastor at Advent Lutheran Church, Wyckoff, and has been a reporter for The Record and other news organizations.
IT SEEMS that everyone sees the Christmas star. There is a shining light in the sky this time of year and non-believers as well as the faithful are drawn to its brightness.
For Christians, it is the star that the Bible says appeared over Bethlehem when Jesus was born, guiding the wise men (sometimes called "kings"), from the distant east to the new-born savior. For others the "star" is the light of the "holiday season," the brightness of family, friends and end-of-year warmth and goodwill.
This is also the time of year when newspapers print stories speculating on the Bethlehem star. Was it a miracle? A super nova? An alignment of planets visible from earth causing a "new" light in the sky?
The latest commentary on the star is by Pope Benedict XVI, in his charming and inspirational book, "The Infancy Narratives, Jesus of Nazareth." For the person of faith, says the pontiff, the question about what kind of star it was is not important. The Bible and the church teaches that it was there, and that is enough. "We are dealing with a theological narrative that should not be confused with astronomy," he writes.
But the pope admits the question about the star "will not go away" and cites various theories and astronomical facts dating back centuries that would explain an unusual light in the sky about the time that Jesus was born.
Divine activity
In the ancient world, even among Christian theologians, an astronomical phenomenon was considered a sign of divine activity, so the appearance of a star connected with the birth of God's son was almost expected, Benedict writes.
As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI was one of the church's leading theologians. But the pope's new book on the events surrounding the Christmas story is not a theological treatise; it is a simple reflection on the meaning of those stories.
Whatever the Bethlehem star was, he says, it means that something happened in the universe to draw people toward God – or at least towards the light of that star. Furthermore, the stories connected with the birth of Jesus make it clear that everyone, whether a humble shepherd or a scholar from a far country, can indeed come to that light.
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