I have always been fascinated by the stars and by astronomy. At Christmas – going to my parents out in the country and seeing the depth of the night sky, the beauty, vastness and mystery of the stars. Some of you may have seen the programmes on TV recently and found something of a curiosity for the astronomy yourselves.

We should remember that in the ancient word, and particularly the deserts, the nights were darker and the stars brighter than any of us will have seen, the only light pollution coming from the camp fires of small nomadic bands. It is hardly surprising then that life in the ancient world revolved around the stars at least as much as they believe the stars revolved around them. And of course even in our scientific age they have not released their hold over us. Many people take anything from a casual to a compulsive interest in astrology, and of course it is a big business.

I remember very clearly the moment in which I realised what a con this is, it was an advert by Mystic Meg – remember her – who promised that if you phoned her premium rate number you would get your own personalised set of lottery numbers based on your star chart.

And I thought hang on, I don't want my own personalised numbers, I want the actual numbers that are going to come out of the machine next Saturday. If you really are psychic then you'd give everyone who phoned the same, accurate set of numbers, everyone would win the jackpot and they'd get 50p each.

But I digress.

A little, because astrology was also in a suspect position for the Jewish people at the time of Jesus as well. For liberal, Greco-Roman Jews, like King Herod, it was all part of the culture. For the more conservative and traditional it was unlawful, against God, and an anathema.

Because of the mystery and controversy surrounding it, the story of the wise men following a star has developed in all sorts of directions from its first telling, with all sorts of meanings being applied to it.

It is one of those stories if I am honest that has always seemed historically a little implausible. Especially if we picture it like the nativity plays, where three men in curtains trot round literally following a star – which may or may not be on a stick.

But if this story does have a setting in history it is likely to have been a little different – and a bit more subtle.

Of course I should say though that many bible scholars would see the story as being entirely a parable, or midrash to use the technical term – a story constructed to tell theological truths not historical ones. But if we were looking for an accurate historical context, a background against which the story could either happen or be told, we might start by noticing that whatever the wise men were doing was not an exact science – they go to palace first remember and not to the stable, and not once does the sat nav say turn around when possible.

So it might be natural to ask what was it.they were looking at? And there are many answers A Comet? A supernova and so on. Personally the one I find most interesting happened in 7 BC. This reminds us that of course Jesus was not born in 1 AD, 1 Ad is just the best guess of scribes in the middle ages trying to construct a calendar, and since Herod died in 4BC and the children who are killed at Bethlehem were all those under 2 years old – this suggests Jesus had to be born around 6 or 7 BC. Anyway, in that year 2 planets, Jupiter and Saturn, were seen to align and move together in sky, which to the trained eye at least would have seemed a great portent. Now Jupiter, represents Kingship and Saturn is the guardian star of Israel.

The ancient Roman historian Suetonius records that the belief that a King from Judea would arise and dominate the region was not confined to the Jews, but had spread across the Empire – the Romans loved a good ancient prophecy sort of in the way that Nostradamus has lived on, or the way that many people loved the Templar conspiracy theories of the Da Vinci Code and so on.

Put these together and you have an historical context. The star of Israel rising in the East in conjunction with the star of Kingship, at a time when a mystery King was anticipated to arise from there. And so from there a trip to the palace as the natural first step, followed by a move to Bethlehem as the prophecy is explained further in the context of political intrigue and murder– it is just like the Da Vinci code except that on this occasion Jesus is actually discovered at the end of the search rather than alleged to be buried under the Louvre Art Gallery.

So far so mysterious. And yet. What is clear is that the early church was only interested in these things to a point. At its heart the epiphany is a theological event – and it is the opposite of a mystery. It is not about hidden esoteric knowledge. It is about the revealing of knowledge for all to see.

What it is really about was access to God.

The stars shine over all the nations (ethnos is the word the bible uses, so over all ethnicities might be a better translations).

They are visible from all nations (at least in the geography of the time), this doesn't work so well in Australia but no one know there was a Southern Hemisphere at this time so we'll let them off.

And the stars can be read by all, even if this reading was pretty dodgy in Jewish eyes,

And that again was the point. This is the grace of God, meeting others in and thru their religious beliefs and practises. It is the Jewish God allowing himself to be found by people using very unJewish methods.

It is of course also the fulfillment of a very Jewish prophecy – nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn and so on.

So for me, epiphany is in short the ultimate multicultural festival – it is like the Christian finding God in Ramadan, the Muslim in Dvali, The Jew in Pari-navarna or the Buddhist in Easter.

It is a good and timely peace metaphor I think, as we see Jews and Arabs gather together under the same sky in the light of the same star and admit that the other each has a point in what they believe , that they can enlighten each other, and that God may indeed be present among them in that Holy Land.

We might wish that a similar star would arise today – and yet the sky is full of stars night by night if we simply stop to see them – and can see past the bright lights that we ourselves we have created. And how many stars do you need to see before you find an excuse to live in peace? Amen.