Now, all of you know about my self-admission of being a naturally competitive person. I have stood here in the past and I have told you about my desperate attempts to beat Anne at Scrabble...about how I stretched the rules just a little bit on a couple of occasions...and if the truth be told I am not the only one who has resorted to trying to unlevel the playing field and trying to gain an advantage.
Just this past Thursday we learned the results of what is being called the "Mitchell" report. For those of us who are baseball fans it was a pretty dark day. Former Senator George Mitchell concluded his almost two year investigation into the game and released his conclusions and one of those conclusions was that steroids have become a big problem in the game of baseball. Now, for most of us who have been following the sport for the past couple of years that was no big shocker but...what did come as a surprise was some of the names mentioned in connection with that investigation. Some came as no surprise...they were names that had been mentioned already in this scandal and I won’t repeat them here because I try to use this pulpit as an opportunity to build up and not tear down....but, all the same....some of these names were familiar and had been linked before...but others had not even been mentioned. Shocking names...some of the best in the world...players who without these performance-enhancing steroids...would have easily been Hall of Famers...but it wasn’t enough...they had to go even further. It is awfully funny what competition will do to you.
Let’s take this a little further and look at an example where someone not only attempted to get an advantage over the competition but tried to eliminate them all together...who here remembers the names of Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding? Sure...most of us do....but I guarantee you that very few of us would know those names today had it not been for the events of January 6, 1994. For those of you who don’t remember let me briefly remind you of who these two ladies were....they were both figure skaters...and they were both competing to be the top figure skater in America at that time. They were also both competing for a spot on the 1994 Olympic team. On January 6 of that year Kerrigan was attacked....hit in the leg with a club...in an attempt to knock her out of the competition. Investigation led to the arrests of more than one person...to include Harding’s ex-husband. She later pled guilty to obstructing the investigation...and the reason that I mention her name is because she has already mentioned some culpability...the names in the Mitchell report are still only accusations. Harding has maintained that she had nothing to do with planning the attack contrary to the statements of other alleged conspirators...but here is the point. Regardless if Harding had anything to do with it...one of her supporters...whether it be her ex-husband or her bodyguard...saw Nancy Kerrigan as competition and sought to eliminate that competition....they didn’t just seek an unfair advantage but instead looked to totally get rid of the opposition.
We are continuing our look at the birth of Christ through the different eyes that played a role in this event...and if you haven’t figured it out already today we are going to step into the shoes of King Herod. I want you to get your Bibles out and turn over to Matthew 2.
As you are turning let me give you just a little bit of background information on this guy we call King Herod. He was born around 70 B.C. and he lived until 3 B.C...the dating of his death we are fairly certain about. That means that Jesus was actually born B.C...goes to show you that our dating is not always correct. He saw his father poisoned for his presumed role in the plot to kill Julius Caesar...and was later able to convince the Roman officials that his father had been forced to assist in the assassination. Until 37 B.C. he was subjected to a roller coaster ride of being in power and then losing it...but in 37 B.C. he was given the title "King of the Jews" and placed in charge of Judea. His background of seeing his father poisoned and the seemingly endless revolts against Rome caused him to be extra protective of his throne. The slightest indication of revolt or unrest was met with swift retribution...and the slightest indication of a threat to his throne...even by his relatives....was met with this same swift retribution. He had his own sons executed when he suspected them of plotting against him...in fact...Caesar Augustus is said to have commented "I’d rather by Herod’s sow than be Herod’s son." So....this wasn’t a very nice guy that we are talking about today....and we’ll begin with verse one. (Read through eight). Ok..we will stop there for a minute.
Now...let’s take a step back and look at this event through the very delusional eyes of King Herod. He has seen his father killed....he has had a roller coaster type of political career and he has even suspected his own sons of treason...and now here comes these "wise men" as we have come to call them. Let me say just a few words about these "wise men" or "Magi." There has always been a belief that they were in fact Kings....what does that one Christmas song say..."We Three Kings of Orient Are?" However....the word here does not mean "King"...it literally translates to mean "magicians." They were soothsayers..astrologers....sorcerers. We will deal with them a little bit more in depth next week....but in order to completely understand Herod’s point of view here we have to understand one very important aspect of these men...their usual role during this period of time was that they served as advisors to Kings. They were not the kings themselves...but they were often the power behind the throne....maybe a decent comparison for today would be to a President and his cabinet today...they were not dummies...they were smart...and their advise was often heeded by Kings...and now they are here at Herod’s door stating that they are seeking a new King of the Jews. We can easily conclude that this caused Herod to stand up and take notice.
You see...as we already have learned...Herod he always had his background in which to view things...and he dealt very quickly and firmly with anyone that he viewed as being a threat to his throne....let alone someone who was actually known by the title of the "King of the Jews." So, when we look at this event through the eyes of Herod we see only competition...we see only a desire for self-preservation...we see a very selfish attitude. We don’t see the birth of a tiny baby...and we definitely do not see the coming of God in the flesh...we see a problem.
Isn’t it safe to say that the birth of Christ was not good news to everyone...and that trend actually continues to today? Don’t get me wrong...this is the greatest news ever given to man and it can be good news to each and every person...but often it gets in the way of our own personal agenda....it gets in the way of what we want to do...we don’t see the birth of the Savior of the world....we see competition...competition over who the true King will be. That’s how Herod saw it...and if the truth be told that is how a lot of us look at it to this day.
You see...I think that Herod here makes for an excellent metaphor when it comes to how a lot of us treat the birth of Jesus. Don’t get me wrong...Herod was a very real person and I don’t think that Matthew is writing metaphorically here...he is giving a historically accurate account of what is going on at the birth of Christ. He isn’t writing in code or anything like that...but....in a spiritual sense...many of us can step back and say that when we view the birth of Christ through the eyes of Herod...spiritually...we react exactly the same way. Let’s take a look at this for a second....
One thing that I want us to notice is how Herod sends the wise men to find Jesus for him. We read in verse three that Herod is "troubled" by their news...quite literally this news causes him some inward commotion....it takes away the calmness of his mind...it strikes his spirit with fear and dread. This makes me ask the question...if Herod was so worried...why didn’t he try to find Jesus personally? I don’t mean why didn’t he leave his house and go down to Bethlehem himself...after all...he is a ruler and he couldn’t be expected to try to find Jesus himself. We don’t expect the President to go find Osama on his own...but he does send his soldiers, doesn’t he? Why didn’t Herod do the same? He would have certainly had representatives in Bethlehem...people who could have acted in his stead..why didn’t he have them find Jesus for him? They would have been successful...you can bet on it...they would have been able to find out through their contacts and informants...even though we said last week that their was no big announcement...that to the majority of the Jewish population this would not have been a notable event...there would have been some who would have known something. Herod could have located Jesus on his own if he had chosen to...so why did he leave this task to these strangers...these "wise men?" And I think that there are two possible reasons for this:
One, he was hoping that these guys were wrong. You see...Herod...he was on the throne...he was the King and he wanted to stay that way and he was willing to do everything within his power to make sure that he did stay there....but maybe he was secretly hoping that there was nothing to this at all...can you imagine his relief if the wise men had come back to him and said...oops...Herod...we were wrong there is no other King of the Jews....sorry about your trouble. Had this turned out to be the case then Herod could save himself the embarrassment of having looked for someone who didn’t exist...this way he would not look like the terrified ruler that he actually was...he could deny knowledge of ever having known about this. That’s one possibility.
Second...he wouldn’t have had to worry about getting to involved in the search...when the child was found all he had to do was to go and kill it. It’s very important that you understand something...Herod had no problem with killing people. He killed his own sons...we are going to learn in just a moment exactly how little of a problem he had with this step...but...even for a madman it is a lot easier to kill when you never personally meet your victims...when they are treated as merely objects.
Let me give a quick example here: hostage negotiators are trained to emphasize the human qualities of the hostages when they are talking to the hostage taker. They are trained to talk about the hostage’s family, their wives, their husbands, their children...their jobs. The hope is to get them to quit looking at the hostages as shields or bargaining chips but to see them as human beings with a future.
Again...Herod had absolutely no problem with killing...but even for a madman it is easier when you aren’t personally involved...when you use someone else to get rid of the competition for your throne.
Interesting...isn’t it....we often do the same thing...don’t we. We are each on our throne...and we hear of another who wants to take his place on that throne...and we begin by hoping that this is totally untrue...we begin by hoping that the person telling us about this new King...that they are wrong.
But...just in case they are right...what do we do? We send someone else to look for him. We trust the searching techniques of others. Day after day...week after week...year after year...we see it happen over and over again. There are those who refuse to make an honest search on their own...to make an independent study of the scriptures...of their hearts...and then make a decision as to what they will do with this new King. You see, the reason so many of us do this is we know...if we search ourselves...then we might begin to see the King for who he really is....not as competition...not as someone who merely wants to unseat us from our throne because he wants to control us....but someone who came to take over because...to tell the truth...we can’t handle it on our own...that we need help...if we...unlike Herod...conduct the search on our own...we will see this baby for who he is...a friend...a friend that desires that intimate relationship with us. We don’t seek him because we are afraid of what we will find...what others will think...that we no longer will be in control of our lives...we won’t be able to have any more fun...so we let others go look...we look over the searches and the studies of others...and we find little holes in their thinking and their teaching....and we sit back and kill this King through our doubt and our cynicism....we kill him to ourselves before he even has a chance to sit on the throne. That was what Herod was trying to accomplish by sending the wisemen out to find him...and that is what we accomplish when we do the same...absent the personal aspect of this...absent seeing who the King really is...that he is as much infant as he is ruler....that he is brother as well as Lord....then we are able to make him dead to our hearts.
But, if you know the story...then you know there is something else much deeper going on here....God is working in the narrative here to make sure that the King makes it to sit on the throne....again....we’ll get into it more next week...but it is necessary for our study today that we get the gist of the story. The Wisemen...they are warned in a dream not to return to Herod...that he doesn’t really want to worship the baby...he wants to kill it...so they don’t return to him and tell him where to find the baby. And we read about Herod’s reaction in verse 16.......
Knee jerk reaction...overkill....those are a few of the words that come to mind whenever I read this portion of the Christmas story...and as a parent I can only imagine the heartbreak in Bethlehem...and the surrounding communities...let’s not forget that we also read here that all the boys in the surrounding districts...think suburbs when you read that and you got it...were killed as well...there is no real good estimates as to how many children we are talking about...but you can imagine...how horrible it was....Matthew goes on to say that a prophecy of Jeremiah is fulfilled through this...there is weeping...lamentation...and great mourning. Herod...he wanted to absolutely make sure that this child was dead because this was competition for his throne....and he did not intend to be replaced on the throne. He pulled out all of the stops...but...he wasn’t able to take out the king...because the king...he can’t be brought down by human hands.
The same...it goes for many of us...we look at the king as competition....we look at the king as a threat to our way of life...a threat to us being "normal"...and we go to no ends to get rid of him. We strike out at every possible thing that could possibly be Him. We laugh...whether outwardly or inwardly...at those who follow Him. We scoff at his claims...we roll our eyes when we hear people speak of him...we brand those who talk about him as being fanatics...we are so absolutely determined to keep him from getting our throne that we do everything in our power to kill Him...to kill his influence on our lives...but despite our efforts....we won’t succeed....just as Herod was destined to fail...the simple fact of the matter is the King...this baby...he can’t be killed...oh, they tried...but he couldn’t be held in the grave...there is absolutely no way he can be killed and there is absolutely no way you can remove his influence from your life.
Can I let you in on a little secret....the baby...Jesus....he wasn’t interested in Herod’s kingdom. That wasn’t the reason that he came...he could have cared less about taking Judea over from Herod. This baby...when he grows up...most of us know...he said that this Earthly stuff is not what he was interested in....because it was already his. Herod’s kingdom already belonged to Jesus...whether Herod was aware of it or wanted to acknowledge it or not.
Want to know another secret...that isn’t really one? He is interested in your throne. He is interested in being over your Kingdom and ruling instead of you...but he’s not going to take it by force. We have spent the last little bit looking at this through the eyes of Herod...and when we look at it that way...we someone afraid of the competition and who will do whatever he could to keep that competition from succeeding...but he failed. You can do the same...but you are fighting a losing battle as well...you might fend him off now...but someday he will emerge victorious...and my prayer this morning is that when he is...it will be at a time that won’t be to late. You see, the Bible tells us that one day he will be victorious...and that we will one day acknowledge his kingship...but it can come to late. If you haven’t submitted to his kingship...isn’t it about time you did so? I want you to take a look at yourself and ask...what is holding you back? What exactly is keeping you on the throne...I’m going to make you a guarantee...no matter the reason that is holding you back...once you submit then that reason will disappear. Maybe there are some issues about your past...maybe someone that has done you wrong...a parent...a child...a friend...or some other relative...once you get off the throne then that stuff won’t matter anymore. Will you remember it? Sure..but the sting of it will be gone because the king...the one that you might have been viewing as competition...he will give you the forgiveness you need. Maybe it is your doubt...how can all this be true? How can everything in this book be true...donkeys talking...bodies of water parting...rivers standing still....the sun standing still...people coming back from the dead...miraculous prison breaks...how can all this be true? If you will get off the throne the king will show you how it can be true. There is nothing more miraculous then seeing a completely changed life...and he will show that to you and more. Whatever you reason for staying on the throne and trying to keep the one you view as competition off...I’m going to invite you to let it go now...as we stand and as we sing.
