Growing up, there was a television show I used to watch called, “Are you afraid of the dark?”
Each episode began with kids sitting around a campfire at night and one of them would put a flashlight in front of their face and tell a scary story.
The stories always took place at night and there was always an evil character.
For example, one episode was called The Tale of the Night Nurse. In the story, a group of kids get locked inside a hospital overnight, and the ghost of an evil nurse haunts them! Will they survive?
You’ll have to watch the episode on YouTube or iTunes to find out!
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But I will say this. Today’s Gospel sounds just like an episode of “Are you afraid of the dark?” It takes place at night and there is an evil character, King Herod, who wants to kill the baby Jesus!
The magi, on the other hand, want to worship Jesus. But if they are to find him, then they must journey through the countryside at night.
What makes that journey so dangerous is the fact that there were often robbers and wild animals hiding in the bushes, waiting for innocent travelers to pass by.
If the magi are to reach Jesus, then they must be alert.
However, they are not afraid – they are not afraid of the dark, of the robbers or the wild animals hiding in the bushes… The magi know that there is someone else at work in the night…
God is with them, leading them to Jesus by the light of a star.
And that makes all the difference. They are not alone.
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At some point in life, we may feel like we are journeying through the night alone.
Maybe we’re unsure about our future…maybe we’ve been bullied at school… maybe we’re stuck looking for a job…or mourning the death of a loved one…
Maybe we’re struggling to stay committed in a marriage… we’re barely paying the bills…or we’re just overwhelmed by the stress of ordinary life….
Whatever our challenges may be, the magi remind us not to be afraid of the dark; rather, they tell us to look up and see the star.
They show us that God is with us, guiding us through the night.
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Those episodes of “Are you afraid of the dark?” always have scary endings, as if evil wins in the end.
But that’s where our stories are different.
Like the magi, we have nothing to fear. God is with us, even in the night, guiding us ever closer to his kingdom.