Here we are, already in the third week of Advent. I hope you’ve had time during these weeks to be still and to ponder our need for salvation, and I hope these readings help. I’m finding stillness difficult, as always. I caught another cold last week, and every day is always a little more busy than I’d hoped. But this week at school we wrap up the semester with exams and then celebrate with a Christmas worship service. I’m looking forward to that.
If these Advent readings are new to you (welcome!), then you might want to head here for an introduction and some helpful background.
“...Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” Matthew 2:13
Unlike Mary and Joseph, Herod didn’t get an angel. Instead he got an entourage: an assembly of dignified scholars with a question for him: “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?”
Herod found this deeply unsettling, because Herod was the king of Judea. He was, in fact, King of the Jews. If anyone would know about this newborn king of the Jews, it would be him.
Except that Herod hadn’t gotten the memo. He had no idea that a king had been born— certainly not one within his kingdom.
He wasn’t having it.
So Herod did his homework. He got the backstory from the Jews’ religious leaders and learned that the promised Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, a town under his jurisdiction. Then he put these visiting scholars on a mission: after they’d found and worshipped the baby, they were to tell Herod his whereabouts. That way Herod could worship him, too.
Except that it was a lie.
What Herod wanted was to destroy this baby, this child-born-king. But the wise men fooled him. Warned in a dream about Herod’s true plans, they didn’t pass through Judea on their way home. And when Herod found out he’d been side-stepped, he was furious.
Here’s a fascinating thing about anger: it’s secondary. No matter who or what we’re angry about, the anger is always secondary. Given a minute or ten (or sometimes longer) to figure it out, we can eventually discover that we’re angry because of something else: maybe we’re angry because we’re hurt, disappointed, trapped. Or frightened.
Herod was terrified. He hadn’t inherited his throne; he’d been appointed. Now here was one who was born the king, one who’d been anticipated for centuries by his people, whose birth was significant enough to summon scholars from another kingdom and culture to worship him.
In his fury, Herod demanded a bloodbath: every male child two and younger in the vicinity of Bethlehem slaughtered.
It’s one of the worst moments in the New Testament.
Herod was nothing if not shrewd, and his rage and fear resulted in a reign of terror. But the baby in question—the newborn king—went untouched, because God’s plan would not be thwarted.
I do think Herod might have been relieved if he’d known that plan: this baby hadn’t been born to overthrow him. He had, in fact, been born to die— just not yet.
Suggested Reading
Matthew 2: 1-8
Matthew 2: 13-18
Psalm 33: 10-11
Questions to Consider
In some ways, Herod is a foil to Joseph. Where Joseph gave up concern for his reputation, Herod is all about protecting his—even to the point of murdering hundreds of innocent babies. His behavior goes some distance to show us the danger of our fear and anger. Are you angry about something? What is that anger secondary to? Contemplating and, by grace, resolving it could do worlds of good. And here’s the hope: God is safe to talk to about absolutely everything.
Is there a way you see God at work that you’re resistant to? What is it about what he’s doing that troubles you? When you consider his goodness—those aspects of himself that allowed both Mary and Joseph to trust him—can you also consider trusting him?
God’s plans—for the redemption of his people, for the restoration of the world—will not be thwarted. How might this alter your perspective today?
Thanks so much for being here, my friends. It’s a pleasure to join you, prepare this for you, and think of you. I hope you have a great week!
With joy,
Rebecca
Thanks for these thoughts on Herod—some of which I myself had not thought before! I just read Jeremiah 31, from which comes the prophecy regarding Rachel weeping for her children. It is mostly a very hopeful and joyous passage. God does indeed bring “Joy in the morning.” And at all times, as Psalm 33 reminds us, he is in complete control of all things.