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 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied . . .
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 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, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 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 to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod.
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. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “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.”
Last week, I invited you to give attention to the Magi in the Birth narrative. We explored the Magi, not to analyze them or scrutinize them, but to see if there might be some way in which the spirit of the Magi also lives in us.
This week, we’ll use the same text from Matthew 2, this time to consider Herod. At first glance, you may read the Herod portions of the narrative and be repulsed. This is an odd narrative to include in the narrative surrounding the birth of Jesus, and usually is omitted from contemporary celebrations of Christmas. But it is an essential part of the story, with a very “real-world,” earthy feel to it that makes the rest of the birth narrative all the more remarkable.
Herod the Great is an insecure, defensive ruler who is so threatened at the announcement of a newborn “king” that he determines to kill the child. Then, when the Magi are warned in a dream to avoid Herod, he kills all the children around Bethlehem who would be the approximate age of the child-king. It is a ruthless, extreme story.
“Herod” was the family name of a line of rulers. Herod the Great is the “king” who represents the Roman Empire, the occupational forces. In the birth narratives, he symbolizes the structures and powers-that-be which oppose the work of God in the world. He represents the structures of the world that are ordered around power and control, deceit and manipulation, that stand against the kingdom of God (which is the God-project for the world, the God-structure of everything created, the “Disk Operating System” of all creation).
In short, Herod the Great resists God’s work. He sits on his throne as king, wanting to be the sole ruler in his world, threatened by any other claim to power and authority – even God’s claim to power. He is so threatened, so constellated around himself and his own personal kingdom, that he will banish and even kill anything that threatens his personal kingdom. Herod really does believe that he is big enough to stand down God, that he has enough stature to order his life-world is a way that benefits him, and only him.
I believe Herod lives in some way in each of us. Perhaps not the extreme to which Herod was a despotic, psychotic, ego-driven ruler who routinely killed those who were a threat to him . . . but if you look at what underlies Herod’s behavior, I think we’ll find some traits that are consistent with our own humanity.
The Herod-corner of our lives is that place where we quietly, perhaps secretly, create our own personal throne on which to sit so that we can govern life, control not only our own destinies, but seek to control others as well. From this personal throne, the Herod-part of us will resort to most any means to maintain our autonomy.
Further, the Herod within us resists letting go, because to surrender self to another, even to God, would mean to be out of control, to lose control over life. The Herod within us wants to govern everything, wants to control everyone, wants to shape life in a way that is pleasant and beneficial to the self. Indeed, Herod represents all the ways, both consciously and subconsciously, we try to manipulate our world, our environment, our relationships, toward our own favor and for our own benefit.
For Reflection:
Read the text from Matthew 2 again. What words, phrases, or images stand out for you? Write them down in your journal or on a page. They bring them into conversation with God. Allow God to speak to you through what you are hearing in the scripture.
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