That this homily is likewise a genuine work of Saint Maximus is demonstrated not only by the similarity and constancy of the style; but also by the very great consensus of the manuscript codices and of the learned men who either made it public or made mention of it. One Cassinese codex, 103, page 128, sets it forth as ascribed to Saint Augustine; but contrary to what the truth requires. For this differs as much from the sermons of Augustine as the manner of Augustine's writing is at variance with that which Maximus used. You have heard, brethren, the reading of the Gospel reciting the saving sacraments of the present day. You have heard how Christ the Lord, who came secretly into this world, deigned little by little to open His majesty to mortals;
although, dearly beloved, the heavenly light could not lie hidden amid the obscurities of the age. In fine, when the earth did not yet discern His visitation, heaven, while the Chaldeans stood amazed, was speaking its joys and the gladness of the whole world in a silent star. And when Judea, faithless, could not yet see who and how great He was, already then the Gentile world, roused by tokens from the heavens, was perceiving His glory. For a new star was revealing that a new man had come, and one so truly new that, being the Son of God, He put on flesh without carnal generation, and had, according to man, a time of being born, He who according to God had no beginning of nativity.
It was new indeed, that for the Only-begotten of the Most High, whom heaven does not contain, the tiniest manger of a very small hut should suffice. It was new, that He who reigned in the heavens with God the Father, content with an earthly mother, should give forth the wailings of infancy in swaddling clothes. Let us rejoice, therefore, brethren, and exult with all our joys, because for us Christ was born of a woman, for us He lay in a manger, for us He wailed in the cradle, for us He smiled in the star. For whatever the Savior did for men in the man, all of it was profiting us. And so the evangelic word says: Behold, magi came from the East to Jerusalem, saying: Where is He who is born king of the Jews? We have seen His star in the East, and are come to adore Him (Matthew 2).
How long, most hardened Jew, will you persist with dulled ear, closed eyes, and perfidious heart? Behold, now after those heraldings of the patriarchs, after the oracles of the prophets, Christ is preached even by the Gentiles. If you refuse to believe your fathers, who from the beginning of the age sang with innumerable and hallowed voices of the coming of the eternal King, believe at least these at last, who testify that He is to be born not still after these times, but already both among you and for you. What is this so great aversion of deadly obstinacy in your breast, that you alone should not hear what all speak, alone should shrink from what the whole world believes, alone indeed should scorn to see what shines from heaven? Among you a virgin conceived, and a stranger acknowledges the offspring of your virgin;
angelic voices cannot persuade you of your own salvation, and one star has led the Chaldeans to your Christ. Where is He, say the magi, who is born king of the Jews? We have seen His star in the East, and are come to adore Him (ibid.). In these things was fulfilled what was foretold in the prophetic word (Isaiah); for behold, the Chaldean, to whom nothing concerning Christ had been announced nor had he heard, both saw the star of Christ, and understood that He was present in the star. And so the magi adore the Lord, and offer gifts, that there might be fulfilled what that chief of the prophets, David, said: Bring to the Lord, ye families of the Gentiles, bring to the Lord glory and honor (Psalm 27).
By saying 'Lord and Lord,' he declares in a mystical word that He is Lord according to God, and Lord also according to man; for in that He is God, He is the creator of the world; in that He is man, He is the redeemer of the world. How then is not Christ, by the privilege of both substances, the Lord of all, who has subjected all things to Himself either by creation or by redemption? Bring, he says, to the Lord glory and honor (ibid.). It is a matter of honor, then, dearly beloved, that the Gentiles offer gifts; of glory, that they adore: the Chaldeans offer gifts, and they adore. One thing is brought by them as to a king, another is presented as to God. These men, therefore, having adored Christ and offered gifts, returned into their own country by another way, as it is read.
Most rightly do they return by another way, lest the bloody Herod, who was preparing death for the infant, might by the route of the magi be able to reach Christ; for neither could those who had come to adore the Lord be betrayers of the Lord. How well, brethren, are they said to have returned by another way: for they who had come into Judea with a star for their guide, return into their own homeland illumined by the rays of the eternal Sun. And therefore let us with all reverence celebrate this day, surpassing by our devotion the homage of the magi: since, if they found Christ lying in the cradle, we have Him reigning in the heavens.