Dec. 17, 2000 Matthew 2:1-18
“The Grinch who tried to steal Christ”
INTRODUCTION
One of the best known Christmas stories of all time is the story written by Dr. Seuss – “How the Grinch stole Christmas”. This popular Christmas allegory has become the most popular Christmas movie of this year. I heard from one of the movie reviewers that over 100 million dollars was spent just on the make-up for this movie! It stars Jim Carrey as a green creature who just isn’t having any fun. And since he isn’t having any fun, he wants to make sure that no one else is either. Probably everyone here has either seen the original cartoon or the current movie or both. I am one of those who has seen both.
We all understand that there is no such thing as a town called “Whoville” with people whose noses are all permanently stuck up in the air and whose hair is put up in all kinds of outlandish styles. And we all understand that there is no green creature called the “Grinch” or the “Gr . . . Gr . . . Grrriinch!” as Cindy Lu would say it. But there are people who behave like the grinch, people who think like the grinch, people who believe like the grinch, and people who are hurting like the grinch. They don’t live in far away lands or in caves at the top of high mountains. They may be your neighbor. They may be your mailman. They may be your brother or sister. They may be sitting next to you this morning.
It would be easy to spot them if they had fur all over their body and had a green tint to their skin. But that isn’t the way with today’s grinches. They are much more subtle. They where the same clothes you wear. They have a wife, two kids and a dog. There are probably Christmas presents under their tree. So if there is so much similarity between a grinch and you, how do you know one when you meet one? How do you know if you are one? This morning, I want us to see 5 signs that will enable you to identify the grinches in your life. In order to do that, we’re going to look at a grinch whose story is told in the Bible – Matt. 2.
You know you’re a grinch if . . .
1. . . . you get upset when others invade your territory. (vs. 1-6)
In Dr. Seuss’ story, he introduces the Grinch as he is standing at the ledge outside his cave which overlooks the village of the Who’s. He’s there on that ledge with his arms crossed, his head slightly tilted to one side, a scowl on his face, and his foot tapping on the snow-covered ground. It’s obvious that he is irritated. And then we learn why his attitude is so sour at this Christmas time of year. It’s because he hears music from the village below. They’re blowing their horns, and whistling their whistles, and singing their songs and making such a racket that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot shut it out. “What do they think – those Whovillers? Do they think that I came up here all the way to the top of this mountain so that I could hear their music?” No, the Grinch came there to get away. He wanted nothing to do with Whoville, the Whovillers or Christmas.
In the Grinch movie, we learn why he had secluded himself so far away from everyone else. It seems that when he was just a little grinch, he had lived down there in Whoville. He had been one of them – at least to a certain extent. Because of some mixup in the stork delivery system, he had been given to one of the families there. But he always knew that he never fit in. He tried to. It just never worked. His feelings were hurt. His hopes were crushed. So he decided to run away. Whovillers just hurt you. He didn’t need them. When he tried to reach out for love, he just got it stuffed back down his throat. He was going to get as far away as possible, so that he wouldn’t be bothered by them ever again. That way, they couldn’t hurt him anymore. And now, after all these years, they were invading his territory. Their music was reaching his ears. He wanted to shut it out, but he couldn’t.
There was another grinch whose territory was invaded. His name was Herod. Herod had been placed in charge of the whole land of the Jews by the Emperor of Rome. In fact, he had been given the title “the king of the Jews” by the Roman senate. Not everyone was happy about Herod’s role. Most of his subjects hated him. Though he built great works for them including a brand new temple, still the Jewish people resented his rule over them. It was not his rightful place. They transferred all their hatred of Rome as the invading enemy onto Herod. Herod knew the animosity of the people toward him, and he knew that they would use any opportunity to overpower his rule. He spent all of his days in a paranoia that he was going to lose control at any time. Because of this paranoia, he killed off anyone whom he considered to be a threat to the throne. This included all the members of the family who had ruled the area before him, one of which was his own wife. One of his sons, in an attempt to get in favor with Herod, convinced him that two of his other sons were conspiring to take the throne by killing him. Herod had those two killed. But a short time later, the son who had accused his brothers was also killed by Herod under the same suspicions. Herod was a man who so wanted to maintain control of every area of his life and so feared others that anyone who stood in opposition to him was in danger of losing their life. Now, imagine Herod’s reaction when 3 wise men from the east enter his court and say these words: “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” (vs. 2) King of the Jews? That was Herod’s title given to him by the Roman senate! How dare someone else claim that title for themselves! Someone was stepping on some dangerous ground because they were invading Herod’s territory. Look at how he reacted. [read vs. 3] Herod was “disturbed”. That was putting it mildly. He was mad! He was infuriated! He was messed up on the inside. And it says that all Jerusalem was disturbed too. It’s kind of like one of those things where if momma ain’t happy, ain’t NOBODY happy! If Herod is upset, everyone is upset. Someone had invaded his territory and was threatening to take something that rightfully belonged to him.
My responsibility as a pastor is to every day invade the territory that people consider to be their own. When I put a message up on the church marqui, I’m trying to invade people’s way of thinking. When I approach a person’s house, I’m trying to invade their lives with the message of Jesus Christ. That can be kind of dangerous. On Monday, I went to a person’s home that was kind of off the beaten path. Everywhere you looked, there were “No Trespassing” signs and those bright yellow signs that prohibit hunting. There was one on the tree at the top of the driveway, one on the garage door, one on a derelict car in front of the garage door, one on the pool in the back yard, and one on the front door that I knocked on. I kept waiting for a rifle or a shotgun to be pointed out a window at me. That person didn’t want to be disturbed, but I was determined that they needed disturbing. It didn’t matter that the music I offered was sweet and pleasant to the soul; they just didn’t want to give over their territory to Jesus.
Here at church, we’re supposed to be a little bit different. Every Sunday, you come here with the hopes that God’s Holy Spirit will invade your territory. You want Him to invade you with joy and peace and love. But there are certain areas of your life that you’ve posted “No Trespassing” signs on. You haven’t given God the right to walk in the territory of your finances. You haven’t told Him He can have those bitter feelings that you’ve got toward someone that hurt you. He’s not allowed to govern what kind of TV shows you watch or how you treat your wife or how you raise your kids. Those are off limits. And if He or I start to walk into that territory, suddenly the defenses go up, and you get disturbed. “I’m the king of my living room! I say what goes on here!” If Jesus is not King of all, then He is not king at all.
And then there are a lot of people all around you who, like the grinch, have been hurt by someone. They’ve gone into a state of depression and have run off into their own little world to hide. It’s easier to shut off relationships with anyone they figure than to run the risk of being hurt again. Depression makes us want to be by ourselves, when being by ourselves is the worst thing for us. The cry of the depressed is “just leave me alone”. We need to get out of our cave, listen to the music and go where the people are. It’s only then that we can find that there are people who really do care – people who love us just the way that we are. That’s what Cindy Lu did for the grinch, and that’s what Jesus can do for anyone who will open their territory to Him.
TRAN: The Grinch and Herod both reacted badly when their territory was invaded, but they weren’t willing to give up their territory without a fight. Both of them cooked up a plan. That brings us to the 2nd way that you can tell if you are a grinch.
2. . . . you pretend to be something that you’re not. (vs. 7-8)
The Grinch knew that he was hated down in Whoville. If he went down there as himself, he wouldn’t get anything accomplished. People would either run away from him or attack him. As soon as he was gone, they would go back to their noise-making. But there was someone else who was loved just as much as the grinch was hated. It was Santa Claus. Then a light came on, and that giant ear-to-ear, devilish smile covered his face. Quickly the grinch found some discarded red material. He cut out the shape of a Santa suit, sewed it together with white puffy ruffle and then placed a pair of antlers on his dog, Max. Now he was ready to go down to Whoville as Santa. But rather than deliver presents, he was going to steal every present under their tree, every ornament that decorated their houses, every tree that stood in their living rooms, and even every scrap of cheese for their mouses. They wouldn’t accept him the way that he was, then fine. He would pretend to be something that he was not.
Herod had the same plan. When he discovered that there was someone who was threatening to invade his kingdom, he quickly called together the chief priests and those who knew the Bible well to find out what the Bible had to say about where this new king was to be born. Herod may not have been willing to accept this new King’s rule over his life, but at least he knew to go to the Bible to find out information about him. The teachers told Herod that it was prophesied that the King the Magi were seeking would be born in the city of Bethlehem. When he discovered that, he called the wise men back to himself and told them these words: “Go, and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.” (vs. 8) Was that the true reason that Herod wanted to know exactly where Jesus was? We learn later that it was not. Herod had no desire to worship Jesus. He was only pretending to be a worshipper of Jesus in order to keep the wise men from learning the truth and in order to get what he wanted.
There is nothing wrong with pretending. My son Benjamin pretends that he is Batman. He has a cape and a hood. Most days during the summer and even some in the winter, you will find him running around our neighborhood trying to find someone to play Batman and Robin with him. My daughter pretends too. She pretends that she is a mommy. She’s learning through her play how to take care of babies and how to interrelate with children. Her pretending is good because it gives her a chance to act out skills that she is learning from her momma. If you go up to the mall today, you will see someone pretending to be Santa. It is pretty obvious that he is pretending because he doesn’t even have a real beard not to mention the fact that there is no real Santa. Pretending is good so long as it is play, and so long as everyone knows that it is play. But when pretending becomes a way for you to prevent others from knowing the truth, a way for you to protect yourself or a way for you to get something from someone that you could not normally get, then it becomes a sign that you are a grinch. And it becomes dangerous.
There’s a lot of pretending that goes on at Christmas time. Families get together, and you see persons that you haven’t seen for the previous 11 months and 29 days. Inevitably, there’s someone there that just grates on your nerves. Maybe it’s a nephew or an uncle or a sister. You can’t stand to be around them, but you figure that you can pretend to like them for one night. You can pretend to like them because you have motivation. They have something that you want. Uncle Willie’s rich, and uncle Willie’s not in the greatest health. I can pretend to like him for one night out of the year so that he keeps me in his will. Or maybe it’s the Christmas party at work. Your district manager is going to be there. You can’t stand her. You and the guys in your section at work all have posters of her up on the wall, not because she’s beautiful but because her picture makes a great dart board. But that district manager determines who gets raises and who did a good enough job this year to get Christmas bonuses. So you pretend to like her. Maybe you even flirt with her a little bit. You can pretend to be something that you’re not for a night. No one will be hurt. If you tell her the truth, boy are you going to be hurting. So you pretend.
And then there are spiritual pretenders. People who pretend that everything is okay between them and God. They reason that they do it is they figure that if they pretend to be a Christian, then the pastor will leave them alone. He won’t bother them because they are already safe. As a pastor, I probably hear more lies than all of you put together. “Oh yes, pastor; we’ll be there Sunday. You can count on us.” “Thanks for coming by to see us, but we already go to another Baptist church.” “Pastor, I know we haven’t been there in a while, and it hasn’t been because we haven’t wanted to come. Almost every Sunday, we’ve been headed out the door, and something happens. The car won’t start, or someone gets sick, or a friend in need stops by.” So rather than find healing, they pretend that they are not sick. And some of them have pretended it for so long that they’ve even begun to believe their own pretense. Kind of like the guy who pretended to be Santa Claus so much that he eventually began to believe that he was Santa Claus. In order for us to get right with God, we have to stop pretending about our condition before Him, admit our sinfulness, and be totally open and honest with Him.
There are even pretenders in church. People who think that if you knew the real person sitting next to you, you would reject them just like the Grinch thought he would be rejected without his Santa suit. I can’t speak for every church, but I can tell you what people have told me about this church. They tell me that this is a church where people can come to find acceptance regardless of where you are, what your past is, what color your skin is, or how far along you are in your growth toward Christian maturity. If you feel like you have to wear a fake ear-to-ear smile or nice clothes to be accepted and loved in this church, you are fooling yourself. There was a time in my life when I felt like I had to keep changing myself in order to please the people around me. I figured that they wouldn’t want to be around me if they knew the real me. Then a real friend sat me down one day and said, “How are we ever going to get to know you if you keep changing to meet the expectations of everyone around you?” So I stopped, and I found out who my true friends were. Revealing the green skin underneath our Santa suits may be unsettling, but it will prove that there really are people who will love us just the way we are.
TRAN: The Grinch and Herod both pretended to be something that they were not in order to get something that did not belong to them. Without pretense, the truth would have been known, and they would have had to face up to their own weaknesses. But maybe that would have been the best thing for them, for maybe then, they would have been able to join in the joy that others around them were experiencing. That brings us to the next sign of being a grinch.
3. . . . you can’t join others in their joy. (vs. 9-15)
With his Santa suit on, the Grinch and his dog, Max, headed down the mountain into Whoville and began going from house to house retrieving all the things that Santa had left for each little boy and girl. Even as small and hard as his heart was, he couldn’t have helped but notice the beauty of the houses with all their decorations. It must have brought back memories of the few good Christmases that he had while he lived in Whoville – the presents that he had opened, the roast beast that he had enjoyed, the songs that he had sung. But it didn’t matter. Being a grinch meant that you could not join in the joy that others were experiencing. That would mean showing weakness. That would mean forgiving them for the hurt they caused you. It just wasn’t worth it. So instead of joy, he held onto his bitterness. He headed up the chimney with all the Who toys, packed them all onto his sled and carried them to the highest peak of the mountain.
Herod too was surrounded by joy and could have joined in but refused to do so. He thought that the cost was too great. When the wise men received his message about where the Christ was to be born, they quickly headed off toward Bethlehem. Can’t you just imagine what must have been going through their minds? They had probably been on this journey toward Jesus for two years. For two years, they had been following the star wondering where it would finally rest. Now they had their answer. Look at vs. 10. [read it] They were overjoyed! The star had stopped! Their journey was complete! They were getting ready to be introduced to the King of the Jews, the King of kings, their king. Look at what happened next. [read vs. 11] They got to the house, they met Mary and I assume Joseph. And then they saw Jesus. What a moment of joy! As usually happens when joy fills a people and a place, presents were presented. You know what they were – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. There was joy all around and plenty enough to spare. But Herod didn’t get to experience it. He chose to keep his distance. Jerusalem, where Herod was, was only 2 miles away – just as close as Bridgeport is to Clarksburg. Herod was so close to finding the joy and the peace that he needed for his troubled soul. But he chose to ignore it. He chose to send someone else rather than go himself and run the risk of being changed.
Herod was a wicked man, but my heart breaks for him. So close and yet so far. There’s nothing I can do to change Herod’s situation. But there are others that are close to joy too whose situations I can help to change. All around us, on these streets of Bridgeport, there are persons who are searching for joy and peace. If you asked them, they might say that they have everything they need. A palace, a chariot, a job, people who ask “How high” when they say “Jump”. But if they were willing to really examine their lives, they would discover that they don’t have any joy other than what comes out of a bottle of beer, and they don’t have any peace other than what comes out of a bottle of pills. Does your heart break for people like that? People who are so close to joy, but not willing to take the risk of reaching out to this church or some other Bible-teaching church because they think it will cost them too much. What about people in your neighborhood? Your house is a house of joy – or at least it should be if Jesus is in residence there. But there are houses around you – so close – that know nothing of joy. They know of laughter that comes out of little black box, but when the black box turns off, so does the laughter. They know of presents, but they don’t know of unconditional love. They know of a full belly, but they don’t know of satisfaction.
Should we consider the possibility that there is someone here who is right in the middle of joy, in the middle of the presence of God’s Spirit, in the middle of Christmas decorations, in the middle of people who are on their way to heaven who is not experiencing joy this morning? So close and yet so far. It could be because you don’t know the source of joy – Jesus. It could be because though you are in God’s house, you are far away from His presence because of sin in your life. It could be because you have not turned over control of your life to the Holy Spirit who produces joy. Your still holding onto some area of your life that you won’t allow the Spirit into. Your close to joy; don’t let it pass you by.
The Grinch and Herod both were so close to joy. But since they were unwilling to join in, they decided instead to try and steal the joy of others. Have you ever been around someone who can’t stand to see other people happy? It makes them so mad to see others laughing. I have to believe that the reason for that is because they miss experiencing these things in their own life. They hate to see two people madly in love with each other because their marriage broke up a long time ago. They hate to see a couple overjoyed with their baby because they were never able to have kids or because their child was killed by a drunk driver at Christmas time. So rather than joining in the joy, they make some kind of off the wall comment like “I’ll give that couple 5 years. Then, we’ll see how “lovey-dovey” they are.” Or “Just wait until that baby is a teenager. I bet he’ll break your heart”. And you wonder “Where in the world did that come from?” Have you ever thought to think why the Grinch is green? Green is the color of what emotion – ENVY. I think that all along, he hated his own way of existing and wanted so badly to be a part of their joy, but he could not. He had been hurt too badly. Someone had done something to him that he just couldn’t let go of. The Bible tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice, but they cannot. They lost the power to rejoice a long time ago, so they would rather try to steal the joy of others. Grinches do that. In the process, they miss out on the opportunities that they have to find joy for themselves.
TRAN: That brings us to the fourth sign of being a grinch.
4. . . . you get infuriated when your plans don’t work out. (vs. 16)
God knew how Herod was going to react to this whole situation. In vs. 12, we read of the warning that God gave to the wise men to go home a different way. In vs. 13-15, we read of the warning given to Joseph to get Mary and Jesus out of the city to prevent Herod from accomplishing his plan. I don’t know what Herod’s original plan was. Maybe it was to here from the wise men the exact location of Jesus so that he could have that one baby and probably their family killed. I don’t know why he didn’t just have the wise men followed on their journey to Bethlehem. Maybe he was planning on establishing a relationship with these Magi so that he could set up trade routes to the east. Whatever his original plan was, it didn’t match with God’s plan. Verse 16 tells us how he reacted when he discovered that he, the trickster, had been tricked. [read 16a] He was furious! In his anger, Herod came up with a new plan. If he couldn’t know where the one baby was, he could still make sure that he was destroyed. This one who had killed so many of his own family members to maintain his throne found it very easy to destroy the Jewish boys of total strangers. He had his Roman soldiers go into every home of Bethlehem, find every boy that was two years old and under, and murder them. Why is it that children are the ones who suffer most when adults are unwilling to follow God’s plan for their lives? How many children are going to ruin their lives since they weren’t allowed the privilege of being taught God’s Word and at least given the option of picking God’s pathway for their lives? I believe that there is going to be a great judgment on parents when they stand before God and have to answer to Him of why they wouldn’t listen to their children’s pleas to take them to church. Some of them will try to say something like this: “Well, I tried God’s way when I was younger, but He didn’t do things the way that I wanted. So I turned my back on Him. I got mad and walked out.” That’s what a grinch does. That’s what a child does! I’m going to take my ball and go home. God isn’t obligated to follow our plan. We are obligated to follow His!
The Grinch had his plan too. He placed all the stuff that he had gathered from Whoville on his sled, and then whipped little Max into pulling that overloaded sleigh to the highest cliff of the mountain. He was going to throw everything over the cliff to be destroyed on the rocks below. But his plan didn’t quite work out the way he thought either.
5. . . . your heart has never been changed. (vs. 17-18)
By the time that little Max was able to reach the top of the mountain with the sleigh, it was Christmas morning. The Grinch paused to listen to what was going on down in Whoville. He knew that Cindy Lu and all the whovillers would be waking up soon and would be rushing to their who trees to open their who presents. But all that they would find would be a few pieces of torn who wrapping paper, a who hook or two that who ornaments once hung on and maybe a burnt out who bulb or two. He expected to hear the sound of crying form whoville. All their presents and decorations where gone. That was what Christmas was about wasn’t it? That was their source of joy, or so he thought. But to his surprise, instead of the sound of who crying, he heard the sound of who singing. It was the same who song that he had heard when the who tree stood tall in the village square. It was the same song they sand when they had anticipated a town banquet. Nothing had changed. How could this be?
All of the sudden, the sleigh began to slip over the edge. For some strange reason, the Grinch reached out to grab it. Suddenly, he didn’t want it to be destroyed. He didn’t know why. Within himself, he didn’t have the ability to stop the sleigh from falling. But then something miraculous happened. His heart that had been two sizes too small suddenly grew four sizes. The sly ear-to-ear smile that had been on his face was now replaced with a smile that came from something that was on the inside. And then he understood. The joy of Christmas comes not from the presents, the decorations, the food or anything else on the outside. It comes from something that is on the inside.
Unlike the Grinch, Herod awoke that Christmas morning to the sound of weeping. Hundreds of mothers weeping, not because their children’s presents had been stolen, but because their children had been stolen. [read vs. 18] We know how the story ended for Dr. Seuss’ Grinch. He became a part of Whoville. He didn’t need to pretend anymore. He joined them in their joy, carving the roast beast himself. He joined in the master plan. And all of that happened because his heart was changed. He wasn’t a grinch anymore. He was a Who. That’s where the similarity between the two stories ends. Herod’s story has a different ending. Herod’s heart was never changed. Verse 19 tells us that he died, and history tells us that it was only about a year later. This was his chance, but he missed it. He remained a grinch forever.
CONCLUSION
Some 30 years later, a grown Jesus stood before another Herod (Luke 23). He was the son of the Herod of Jesus’ childhood. He too was so close to the one who could have provided joy and peace for him, but he too turned out to be a grinch. He had Jesus beaten and mocked and then returned Him to Pilate to have Him crucified. He was partially responsible for fulfilling the plan which his father had originally devised – the destruction of the King of the Jews – which was exactly the title that Pilate had placed over His head there on the cross. But he like his father received no joy from being in the presence of Jesus because he was not willing to have his heart changed. He too remained a grinch to the day of his death.
INVITATION
I have two questions for you. #1 – are you a grinch? Has your heart ever been changed? The Grinch’s heart was changed was changed by what he heard. Listen to this promise of God. (Ezek. 36:26-27) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in your and move u to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” God offers to change your heart. You don’t have the ability to change your own heart. It is the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for you that can take your sin away and can take your bitterness away. Once your heart gets changed, then things that you never were able to understand, things that you used to sneer at suddenly begin to make sense. What you once tried to destroy or at least avoid at all costs becomes far more appealing to you than your old way of life alone in a cave. Let God change your heart today.
Question #2 – do you know any grinches? How do you respond to them? Do you stay as far away from them as possible like the residents of whoville did? Or do you see beyond the green skin and reach out to them in love like Cindy Lu did? You probably know some grinches at your job in your neighborhood or in your family. Reach out to them this Christmas, and let them see the joy of Christ shining through your life. Who knows what impossibly hard heart just might be changed?!
