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 and asked, "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."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and 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 and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "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."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and 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, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
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On Friday and Saturday we will have our annual Living Nativity. It is hard to believe that this will be our 7th Living Nativity.
This is a great event. It is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy fellowship of other brothers and sisters at Sunrise.
It is also a unique opportunity to reach out to the people of our community.
I think that this year I may be playing Herod again. I’m not sure. It depends on who shows up to help out. I like playing Herod. You just sit back while slave girls feed you grapes and bananas. You get to talk tough and mean to folks trying to act like visiting Wise Men.
Herod is an interesting character in the stories of the birth and early childhood of Christ.
Herod may have been the first high-ranking government official to hear about the birth of the Christ child, but even when he heard the news, Herod had no idea who this baby really was.
The King of Judea, the Great Herod, was clueless as to who this little baby boy was.
Herod thought this baby was a threat. Matthew’s Gospel says that when Herod heard about the Baby Jesus from the Wise Men, he was greatly distressed.
Greatly distressed?
That is an understatement.
Herod was terrified.
You see, Herod was a man who was in control of his own life. He took care of himself. He watched over himself. And he saw in Jesus someone who would take all that away. He was afraid that Jesus would take control of all those things Herod held dear. He was afraid that Jesus would take control of his work, his family, and his life.
And there was no way Herod would ever let that happen.
The ancient scholars said that the Messiah would be born and be the King of the Jews, but in Herod’s eyes, it was Herod who was supposed to be the King of the Jews. His father was appointed procurator of Judea by Julius Caesar in 47 B.C., and he in turn appointed his son Herod military prefect of Galilee. It was a chance to make a name for himself. Herod did his job with the sort of efficiency and dedication the Romans love, so he somehow survived the upheaval in Rome when Caesar was assassinated. He must have kissed up to Antony, the new emperor, and by 40 B.C. Herod was declared "King of the Jews" by the Roman senate.
The Jews didn’t think much of him because he was only partly Jewish. The Romans, on the other hand, were suspicious of him because he WAS partly Jewish.
Tough position to be in.
To survive, he had to have the power necessary to rule that unruly backwater of the Empire. And it wasn’t easy. He wasn’t loved. He had to instill fear in the people as a motivation for them to offer Herod their allegiance. He had to maintain order in the nation of the Jews. Because if he didn’t, Rome would send in their armies, and that would have been far worse for the Jews.
We know a lot about Herod.
On the other hand, we don’t have any information about the Wise Men. We don’t know their names, although there are some traditions about their names, the Bible really doesn’t say what their names were.
We don’t even know how many there were. We know they brought three gifts, so many people will assume there were three wise men, but the Bible really doesn’t say there were three. Might have been only two. Might have been over a hundred. We really don’t know. All we know for sure is that they sought Jesus. They looked for Jesus. They wanted to worship Jesus and serve Jesus.
And ultimately, that is all we need to know about them.
Nothing else could possibly be more important.
Herod, on the other hand, didn’t seek Jesus. He wanted to be freed of Jesus.
Herod saw in Jesus someone who would away all of the things that he held dear.
He was afraid that Jesus would take control of his work, his family, his life.
And Herod wanted to be the one in control. If there was one thing about Herod, he was always in control.
He was always watching after himself.
He was always covering his royal assets.
And the way he did it was not pretty.
For example, he had his wife, Mariamne killed. It’s not as if he was in love with her, however. After all, he married her for political, not romantic, reasons. She was part of the Hasmonaean family -- Herod’s chief rivals. He was hoping to make allies out of enemies but it didn’t work. She was Hasmonaean thru and thru -- as were her sons. They plotted against Herod.
So he had to stay in control.
He had to watch after himself.
He removed the threat. And killed her.
If Herod were here today, he would probably be mystified that the one thing for which he is remembered is a brief conversation with the Wise Men, the Magi from the East, the astrologers from Persia.
To this day there are remains of cities he built still hugging the Mediterranean.
But he is not remembered for those things.
He is remembered as one who had to stay in control.
He is remembered as one who had to watch after himself.
He is remembered as one who was threatened by the holy child of Jesus.
So badly did Herod want to be in control that he was determined to kill Jesus. He was not about to let Jesus have control of his life. Of course, he didn’t know Jesus from Adam. He didn’t even know the name of the child. He only knew that the baby had been born in Bethlehem. So just to be sure that he killed Jesus, he had all the babies in town under the age of 2 years of age killed.
Herod is the one and only villain in the Christmas story.
Pilate, Judas -- they all come later. But here at the birth of the holy child, it is Herod who is the one and only villain.
He was so desperate to be in control that nothing else mattered -- even the life of children.
Poor Herod. He didn’t have a clue. He heard about this little baby boy who had been born, and he didn’t know who he was.
Jesus was not going to take control of Herod -- unless Herod let Jesus into his life and allowed him to do so.
And everything would have been so different in Herod’s life, if he had let this baby born on Christmas Day take control.
Herod would have found the security he never had in this life.
Herod would have found the love he had never known.
Herod would have been accepted by a Lord who did not care that he was half Gentile and half Jew.
Herod would have served for a purpose, rather than ruled in vain.
How many of us are just like Herod?
We will do anything we can to keep Christ out of our lives, because we want to stay in control.
We may not be as dramatic as Herod. We may not be killing babies, but we are still adamant that we are not going to let Jesus take control. We are not going to let Jesus get too close to us.
This world is happy to let Jesus Christ be a baby in a manger, but not willing to let Him be the sovereign King and Lord that He is.
Lots of people welcome Jesus as a son of David, but not as the Son of God.
People do not mind celebrating the birth of a baby, but they do not want to hear about the Lord of lords.
People are willing to sing about the nativity of Jesus, but they arrogantly reject His authority.
People are willing to adore Jesus as an infant, but will not pay homage to Him as God Incarnate.
They can tolerate the trappings of Christmas, a manger, shepherds, wise men, and Joseph and Mary. But they cannot bear the thought of giving their life to Christ in a commitment that involves the entire calendar year.
Herod didn’t know. He didn’t know who this child was.
He was God. We can see that clearly now. The Scriptures are clear.
The only question is, will you be like Herod, and do everything you can to keep Jesus out of your life?
Will you do everything you can to keep Jesus as a baby who never grows up?
Or will you be like the Wise Men, and seek Him, worship Him, and serve Him?
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved by the author.
