Let's keep Herod in Christmas

Let’s Keep Herod In Christmas

Matthew 2:12-23

The Antagonist

Throughout Advent, the Scripture lessons focus on that wild and crazy kinda guy, John the Baptist. That fanatical preacher who ate locust, dressed in animal skins, and screamed at everyone, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Just the kinda guy that you would not invite to your New Year’s Eve party. While the Baptist does not fit into our Martha Stewart-style Christmas celebrations, we can at least understand his role in Scripture. He was the son of priest and a cousin of Jesus. The OT prophets foretold of a messenger who would come in the spirit of Ellijah to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. John fits all the prophecies. We may not invite him to our table but we can appreciate a man who speaks his mind and does not gloss over his message with politically correct terminology.

But then there is Herod! What a different kinda guy! He had an insatiable thirst for power and domination. Even slightest suspicion threat would illicit unscrupulous cruelty.. Herod measured every decision, every action, and every response accordingly. He ruthlessly protected and preserved his position of power. He executed his brother-in-law, first wife and her mother and three sons. Augustus Caesar himself once said that he would rather be a Herod’s pig than his son.[1]

While ruthless in the administration of his authority, Herod understood that his rule depended on the benevolence of Caesar and the cooperation of the Jewish leaders. The Roman yoke may have chaffed his kingly neck but he used it to solidify his authority and power over the Galilean province. The religious leaders of Israel were akin to annoying knats but even he, knew that in mass they still had a sting. He would have to appease them at times as he did when the magi visited him. When he called upon the high priests, the rabbis, and the teachers of the law for counsel he was not seeking spiritual direction. He did not want to share the news that the magi had told him. He only wanted to know where they expected the Messiah to be born. He did not want to arouse curiosity. He did not want to add fuel to the fire of Jewish nationalism. He simply wanted to know where “Jewish expectancy looked for the Messiah’s birthplace.” This would allow him to watch for his rival’s ascension and kill the man before he posed a serious threat.[2]

The Herods of Today

Herod is indeed, an unwelcomed Christmas guest; maybe that is why so many Biblical scholars question the authenticity of today’s story. They cannot accept that God would include such cruelty alongside the birth of the Prince of Peace. But is it such a contrast to the reality of our world.

The last time Manuel Santiz saw his wife was just before noon on Monday, moments before the shooting started in this deep-green mountain town in southern Mexico. When he heard the shots, he began to run, down a steep hill and toward a river. Later he learned that along the path he used to escape, a band of gunmen had shot many of the 45 people who died in a massacre on Monday.

Between 6,000 and 7,000 people from small towns in the region have been driven from their homes in recent months by paramilitary groups who have burned houses and intimidated residents.

Though the bodies have been removed, the signs of the killing hang heavy here in this tiny town, whose population swelled by several hundred in recent weeks as Indians like Santiz were displaced from nearby towns by paramilitary groups.

Bullet holes splintered the wooden sides of a small church, where witnesses say several of those killed had been praying. A blood-stained white shirt hung in the weeds off one path, and on the dirt off another path sat a black cowboy hat. A wooden sign near the church was painted with the words that villagers hoped would ward off such an attack: "Peace. Neutral Zone."[3]

We would prefer to leave the message of Herod out of our Christmas celebrations. We would prefer to erect quaint nativity scenes and watch bashful bathrobed shepherds visiting the baby Jesus. We would even prefer watching G-rated fantasies about Scrooge and the Grinch to thinking about the 20 or 30 children Herod butchered several months after Jesus was born.[4]

It is a difficult message. The slaughter of the innocent is a disturbing story. Critics argue that if God is both the essence of goodness and all powerful than God should eliminate all forms of evil and suffering. They refuse to accept the notion that both divine goodness and cosmic evil can coexist in a universe created by an all-powerful God. The paradox even causes some believers to abandon their faith. They expect God to behave in a certain way but something happens and God “lets them down.” Still others may not lose their faith but they feel disappointed because God never answered their prayers. God remained silent, hidden, and unfair.

"They kept yelling, 'Who among you is Kosovo Liberation Army? If you tell us, we will release everyone else,"' the man recalled of the events of last Saturday.

Then, the shooting started. First, the man to his right was shot, then two men farther down the row. And then the whole row from left to right, then down the row again, from right to left.

"After two shots for each man, they kicked one, and he was alive." he said. "They shot him again. When they kicked me, I didn't move."
On that same day four miles from this massacre 18 members of an Albanian family were also killed.

The real incarnation as told by, not the storybook version or the church Christmas pageant form, tells us that God came into a real world; a world driven by evil and insensitive to the pain of others. He came not as a fairy godmother to make all our dreams come true. He came to save us from our sin. God became flesh not to protect us from pain or isolate us from suffering but to stand with us in that pain and that suffering.

The birth of Jesus as retold by Matthew does not hold the sentimental tones of our churchy Christmas pageants or the inspiration glow of holiday greeting cards. The tax collector gives us an account that is filled with political realism. “Jesus’ birth caused a great bloodbath.[5]”

Christmas Tidings

We cannot remove Herod from Christmas any more than we can remove the Christ child. Christmas is about the Herod’s of this world. They still stalk the earth. They may be disguised in military fatigues and casual clothes. They may send death squads out at night to murder street children or sell them as prostitutes to wealthy westerners. They may fly Boeing 757s into buildings or launch laser guided missiles.[6]

Herods will always exist. We cannot ignore or bewail their reality. Neither can they be used to justify doubt or apathy. God sent his Son into a world filled with Herods. Jesus challenged their misuse and abuse of power, their thirst for domination, and their insensitivity to the plight of the oppressed. God now calls his church to be his living, visible witness in a world in which Herods still reign. Wadsworth correctly understood that on this side of eternity their will be no peace of earth. The Herods will continue to slaughter the innocent while God still rescues the few.

The story of Herod’s rampage and Jesus flight to Egypt reminds us that in God’s unfolding plan, the innocent still die. God does not promise to protect us from danger. He does not guarantee our safety. But he does offer, his presence. Therefore we will always be people of hope knowing that our God has enter the fray of an evil world and now stands with us.

The Barrel