MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(Revised: 2014)
A. Please listen as I read these familiar words found in Matthew 2:1-12. “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem & asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east & have come to worship him.’
“When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, & all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests & teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’
“Then Herod called the Magi secretly & found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem & said, ‘Go & make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go & worship him.’
“After they had heard the king, they went on their way, & the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, & they bowed down & worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures & presented him with gifts or gold & of incense & myrrh.
"And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”
B. Christmas time can bring out very different reactions from different people. For many, it is a time of joy & giving. It is a time of parties & hearing from people we haven't heard from for a long time a very special time of the year.
But for others, Christmas is a time of sadness, loneliness, depression & despair.
ILL. A survey a few years ago asked people if they were looking forward to Christmas. While most answered "Yes," far too many said "No."
When asked why, they gave a variety of answers. For example, "Christmas reminds us of things that ought to be, but are not.” “Christmas is a time of love, but we feel very unloved.”
“Christmas is a time of giving, but we don't want to give, or can't afford to give.” “It’s a family time, but there is anger & hostility in our family circle."
You see, Christmas is a time of peace & good will, but too many are at war with themselves & with others.
ILL. This caused someone to rewrite the words of a familiar Christmas carol:
"O little town of heartaches, how troubled we see thee lie.
Throughout thy deep & dream tossed sleep our fears go marching by.
And in thy dark thoughts dwelleth our everlasting fright.
The dread & tears of all the years are visiting tonight."
C. The first Christmas wasn't a happy time for King Herod, either. Listen as I read Matthew 2:16-18.
“When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, & he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem & its vicinity who were two years old & under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
“Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping & great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children & refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’”
Herod presents a very negative side to the Christmas story. Everything else is so positive. Here are shepherds & wise men. Here are angels who sing their joy. Here is the miracle of birth, the joy of God's love, the radiance of His light. But in the midst of the whole Christmas story there is one negative person & one negative reaction.
Herod sees the birth of Jesus as a threat & a curse. So he issues an order that all little boys two years old & younger in Bethlehem are to be murdered. In horror, we wonder how anyone could have reacted that way to a baby's birth.
I. HEROD WAS SO WRAPPED UP IN HIMSELF THAT NOBODY ELSE MATTERED
The first reason seems to be that Herod was so wrapped up in himself that nobody else mattered.
A. When Herod looked in his mirror, what did he see? He saw a king with power, prestige, & wealth. He saw a king who wore rich robes & a crown, who held a scepter in his hand, seated upon a royal throne.
According to the standards of the world, Herod was an immensely successful king. He ruled Israel from 47 BC – 4 BC, a 43-year reign. He was a builder - building cities, palaces, & fortresses that were a wonder of the ancient world.
Solomon's magnificent Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians nearly 600 years before. Then when the Jews returned from exile, they built a new Temple, a very poor substitute for Solomon's Temple. And the people wept when they saw it!
So Herod began rebuilding & enlarging the Temple & it's courtyards – twice as big & in some ways nearly as impressive as Solomon's Temple! But Herod wasn't just a master builder. He was also a masterful schemer & manipulator.
He wasn't really a Jew. He was an Idumean, a descendent of Esau the brother of Jacob, who settled in the mountainous land called Edom just south of Israel.
And all during O.T. times whenever an enemy would attack Israel, the Idumeans would help the enemy rather than Israel. That's what happened when the Romans came conquering. So, through political manipulation, & because Herod promised to keep the Jews under control, the Romans made Herod King of Israel.
Herod kept his promise to the Romans. As I said, he knew how to manipulate, & he ruled with an iron hand, but sometimes he seemed kind. For example, during a severe famine in 25 BC, he melted down much of his own personal fortune of gold to buy food for the people - which he resold to them for a tidy profit, of course.
And building the magnificent Temple was another attempt to ingratiate himself with the people. But Herod was very insecure. Have you ever heard the saying, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown"? Well, that was certainly true of Herod – he was almost insanely suspicious of everyone around him.
So here is Herod, the forerunner of all the Scrooges & Grinches of Christmas, saying, "Bah, humbug," as he thinks about the Christ child, because all of his treasure is right here.
B. Another problem with earthly treasure is that it never satisfies, it always cries out for more. It wants more of this & more of that.
ILL. That reminds me of a little boy who was being entertained by his sister at the Mall. They stopped at the video arcade, & in order to keep him quiet she gave him a handful of quarters & said, "Here, go play the video games."
So he began playing video games, but because his hand & eye coordination was not the best he quickly used up all his quarters. He came back to his sister & asked for more. She told him that she had no more quarters. "But I want more!" he said.
She said, "You need to learn that one of the rules of life is this, 'You don't always get everything you want.'" The little boy clenched his fists, jumped up & down & said, 'I hate that rule!' And so do most of us, too.
ILL. We are like the man who approached God & asked Him, "Lord, up in heaven how much time is a million years?" "Well," God said, "a million years is but a second in heaven."
"Oh!" said the man, "and up in heaven how much money is a million dollars?" "Well," said God, "a million dollars is only a penny in heaven." "Great!" said the man. "God, give me one of your pennies." "All right," said the heavenly Father. "Just wait a second."
Herod was like that man. Herod always wanted more power & more prestige. So when he heard that a king had been born, even though Herod was now an old man, & that new king was a helpless baby, he felt threatened by him.
C. Fortunately, God doesn't measure us by the standards of the world. There will always be someone who has a little more, or who is a little sharper, or who is better at what we try to do than we are.
But God says, "I love you so much that I send my only Son into the world to live with you & talk with you, walk with you & finally die for you. You are My children & I love you."
II. HEROD'S HEART HAD BECOME SO HARDENED THAT HE COULDN'T RESPOND TO OTHERS
The 2nd reason Herod reacted terribly to Jesus' birth seems to be that Herod's heart had become so hardened that he couldn't respond to others.
A. Every time I read this scripture I find myself wondering. "How could anyone do what Herod did? How could anyone issue an order to murder innocent children?"
The only answer is that Herod was so callused by his sin & so wrapped up in himself that he didn't care about others any more. Sin does that. If you continue in your sin, then each time it just gets easier to sin.
We classify our sins. We speak of little sins & big sins. I don't think God does that, but we do. Herod started out with little lies & little acts of dishonesty, & soon it was easy for him to issue the order, "Murder innocent children."
There was no tinge of guilt, no tears of remorse, no repentance in his heart because sin had callused & hardened him. No longer was there any sensitivity in his life that would respond to the working of God's Holy Spirit.
B. Christmas is a time of memories for most of us. We remember our homes & times with our parents & family.
I remember little gifts that communicated love & acceptance. I remember moments of inspiration during Christmas programs. I remember songs that moved me & caused a tingling up & down my spine. I remember being sensitive to God.
But years have come & gone. It has been easy for us to get so involved in the world & become less & less sensitive to God. So Christmas comes & we're not even sure what it means to us anymore. We're becoming callused.
But Christmas comes as a light in a darkened world, & it helps us see how unloving we have become, how insensitive we have become to God's Spirit. It shows us how selfish & greedy we are. It shows us how we really are.
C. God doesn't want to punish anybody. He ultimately will have to, of course, but He is anxious, so anxious to forgive.
ILL. I came across a little story that I think communicates that truth so well. Written by Ann Weems, here is what she wrote:
"It was a family treasure. That golden vase, the priceless vase that had belonged to my great grandmother & my grandmother & now to my mother. The vase sat on the mantle, out of reach of little fingers. However, I managed to reach it. I climbed to reach it, & I broke it. I broke the family treasure.
"Then I began to cry in loud sobs that brought my mother running.
"I could hardly get it out. 'I broke the vase,' I said. 'I broke the treasure.' A look of relief came over her face, & she said, 'Oh, I thought that you had been hurt.' She hugged me, & made it very clear that I was her priceless treasure."
You see, the message of Christmas is that God is our Father, a forgiving Father who stands ready & anxious to take us to Himself because we are His treasures, created in His image, & loved by His Son.
III. HE NEVER LEARNED THE ONLY SATISFYING WAY TO LIVE IS TO LOVE
Christmas was a curse for Herod for a third reason. Herod had never learned that the only satisfying way to live is to live a life of love.
A. He had been taught that the only way to live is to exercise power, rule over others, manipulate lives, control situations, always be in charge. If anything gets in your way, then take care of it, even if it means chopping heads off baby boys. You take care of whatever gets in your way.
History even tells us that he ordered the drowning of his favorite wife & 3 of his sons because he thought they might be plotting against him. Emperor Caesar Augustus once said, “It is safer to be Herod’s pig than to be Herod’s son.”
But Jesus came, saying, "That is not the way at all. The way to live success-fully is to live a life of love."
B. Thirty three years later there was a great showdown in the streets of Jerusalem. Over here were the soldiers of Rome with their swords & spears & armor. Beside them was the Jewish Sanhedrin. All so grand & powerful, taking up arms against one man. Together they nailed Him to a cross & watched Him die.
We can almost hear their voices, even today, "Take down His body & bury it in a tomb. Roll a stone in front of it, seal it with the insignia of Rome & put guards there & say, 'We have won! Might is right! Power has triumphed!'"
But has it? Nearly 2,000 years have come & gone. Today, the soldiers of Rome are gone. The Sanhedrin has passed away. But the love of God still stands, & the voice of a baby still says that the only way to live is to live a life of love.
CONCL: I know that there are empty lives. I know that there are hurts & pains. We all have them. But you see, Christmas comes to help us deal with those things.
ILL. A little hand reaches out of the manger & says, "Grab hold, I'll lead you to the throne. I'll lead you to the Father. I'll lead you to the one who is anxious to show you the way of life if you'll only follow me."
The Savior invites this morning. He offers His life & His blood for your sins, & He waits to see if you will accept His great gift. The invitation of our Lord is yours this morning, & we pray that you will respond to it as we stand & sing together.
INVITATION
