the tindog coffeehouse

The above photo was taken by the Hubble telescope in October (click to enlarge or download the original here).  From NASA:

The festive portrait is the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years.

About a week ago I helped direct about 20 third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders in a little Christmas play at church, and I thought about this photo when it got to the part about the Three Wise Men. According to Matthew 2:1-12, a group of Magi followed a star in the east for as much as two years in search of the prophesied Messiah before finding a very young Jesus in Bethlehem.

The Magi were astrologers, possibly Zoroastrian priests. As Wikipedia points out, “these priests paid particular attention to the stars, and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time highly regarded as a science.” Yep, they were scientists. Much like the modern-day astronomers who produced this amazing photo.

Obviously the Magi of Jesus’ time wouldn’t have seen anything this spectacular, but what they did see was apparently compelling enough to cause them to pursue it for many months, not because of what the star was but because of what it announced.

Like the Magi of 2,000 years ago, I’m in awe of the stars. I’m captivated by the majestic beauty of the universe and overwhelmed by its near-infinite expanse. How big and powerful must God be to have created it, to form the stars and planets, create entire galaxies, and set into motion a process that spans billions and billions of years. And it was those same stars, some millions of years old, that led the “wise men from the east” to the feet of the Creator Himself in the little town of Bethlehem.

What do you see in the stars? Do you see a random collection of gases, elements, and chemical reactions, the remains of a Big Bang that happened eons ago without reason? Or do you see a masterpiece, a work of art created by a God that transcends time and space but who “became flesh and made his dwelling among us”?

The Magi understood. Upon finding Jesus, they fell to their knees and worshiped Him. And I worship Him today.

Merry Christmas!