“Christmas Classics”
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
December 7, 2002
Introduction
Tonight we begin a very special holiday message series on Christmas classics. For the next three weeks, we will look at a different classic Christmas story and apply biblical principles from the story of Jesus’ birth to it. Tonight, we look at the modern day “Scrooge”: The Grinch. Our Christmas classic tonight is “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”. As we will see in the biblical account of Jesus’ birth, the ancient “Grinch” of the Bible is King Herod.
Let’s view a clip of “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”. (Show video clip.)
Our message tonight comes from Matthew 2:1-18, “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 send 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. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and 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 and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’
Herod and our friend the Grinch seem to have some similarities in personality and temperament. There is one problem that the Grinch and Herod share. Like the Grinch, Herod had a heart problem. For the Grinch, he had a heart that was two sizes too small. For Herod, his heart was hard and filled with volatile emotions.
Tonight, we are going to take a closer look at the symptoms of Herod’s heart condition.
I. HEROD’S HEART TREMBLED WITH FEAR.
Upon hearing of Jesus’ birth and that this infant was to be “king of the Jews”, we read of Herod’s response. Matthew 2:3, “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” The news of Jesus’ birth sent fear running through the heart of Herod.
It’s mind boggling to consider some of man’s fears. Louis Pasteur, the great scientist and inventor had a fear of dirt and germs and refused to shake hands with other people. President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison were occupants of the White House when electricity was installed. They were so scared of electricity that they wouldn’t touch the light switches. If there were no servants around to turn off the lights when they went to bed, they slept with them on.
Five year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother made dinner. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to because it was dark in there and he was afraid of the dark. His mother asked again and he still resisted. Finally, his mother said, “It will be OK, Jesus will be in there with you.” Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when he got an idea and said, “Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me a can of soup.”
Herod had a problem with insecurity. He feared losing his throne to this infant. His insecurity about his position caused his heart to tremble with fear.
We suffer from the same type of fear. We can have feelings of insecurity with our spouses, our jobs, and even God. We fear what other people think about us and aren’t secure with who we are. That insecurity and fear causes us to attempt to please others and not do what we know we should be doing. Peter addresses this fear to a group of Christians who feared their lives because they served Christ. Here’s what he told them in I Peter 3:14, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’”
The first symptom of Herod’s heart condition is fear; fear caused by insecurity. The second symptom of Herod’s heart condition is that:
II. HEROD’S HEART OVERFLOWED WITH JEALOUSY.
“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.’”
As silly as it may sound, Herod was jealous of a baby. Here were these Magi and they were on their way to worship a baby. They weren’t worshiping Herod, but a newborn. Herod was jealous. He was jealous just as a child is jealous when their mother holds another baby.
As we will see later, Herod’s jealousy causes him to take some drastic action. I recently read an article about a used car salesman wife in Singapore who suspected her husband of having an affair. In a jealous rampage, she smashed 18 cars with a hammer at her husband’s dealership. In five minute outburst, the woman, Mrs. Tu, bashed in the windshields of several Mercedes, BMW’s and Volvo’s as well as destroying a computer and a telephone. All told, she did an estimated $56,500 in damages.
We read in the Bible about the jealousy that King Saul had toward David. David had slain the giant Goliath and had risen in the ranks of Saul’s army, doing everything Saul asked him to do and doing successfully. The people praised Saul and David, but gave more credit to David. Saul did not like this and we read in I Samuel 18:9, “And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.”
Herod had a jealous eye on Jesus. He wanted the praise and worship that was being given to Jesus. His overflowing jealousy would create the next symptom of his heart condition.
III. HEROD’S HEART BURNED WITH ANGER.
Herod was so filled with fear, jealousy and envy due to the birth of Jesus that he began to burn with anger. Matthew 2:16, “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”
Herod was so filled with anger that he tried to eliminate the baby. He tried to hijack Christmas. The Grinch tried to do the same by stealing all of the presents, food and decorations in town hoping that he would also steal the joy of Christmas. Herod tried to steal the star of Christmas, the newborn Christ himself.
Fortunately, Herod was not successful. An angel warned Joseph of what was going to happen and Joseph, Mary and Jesus were able to escape to Egypt out of Herod’s reach. But many infants and toddlers were killed because of Herod’s anger.
Anger, if not controlled, can make us do horrible things. Before Benedict Arnold was known as a traitor, he was a loyal citizen of what would become the United States. He was a gallant soldier and five star general. He was wounded twice in battle and was respected for his military leadership. He was even a friend of George Washington. But during the Revolutionary War, he saw five subordinates promoted over him. He couldn’t take it. He was angry and he planned revenge. In 1780, he attempted to betray West Point to the British. He later moved to England and was paid a sum of money to cover his property losses in America. He was never fully accepted into British society and died an unhappy man.
Abraham Lincoln knew that uncontrolled anger could be disastrous. When he had a letter to write to someone who had angered him, he often wrote two letters. The first letter was deliberately insulting. Then with those feelings out of his system, he would tear up the first letter and write a second, more tactful letter.
Proverbs 29:11, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.”
Conclusion
The similarities with the Grinch and Herod end here. The Grinch is able to be cured of his heart problem. He sees that Christmas is more about gifts, food and decorations. He sees that it is about coming together to worship the baby born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. Herod does not see that. He’s too insecure to bow down in worship to the Lord.
Herod’s heart is one that:
1. Trembled with fear.
2. Overflowed with jealousy.
3. Burned with anger.
The last we hear of Herod is that he has died and it is now safe for Joseph, Mary and Jesus to return from Egypt. Don’t let yourself be infected with a heart affliction this Christmas. Take your cue from the Magi and worship the baby born in Bethlehem. He is the Savior. He is the Lord. He is the Christ. He is Jesus.
