Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

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Message

Today is the eighth Day of Christmas!

Yes, it’s also New Year’s day, which means it’s a double feast day.

We’re just over halfway through our celebration that Jesus was born into the world.

Christmas is a sign of God’s promise not to abandon us.

Because Jesus became part of our world, we can be certain God will return to reclaim this world.

Our Advent series this year was called, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and it’s been about us imagining the world as it will be when Jesus returns.

Today, as we bring this series to a close, we’re going to explore a part of the Christmas story we tend to ignore: Herod’s attempt to kill Jesus and his family.

It’s understandable that we want to avoid stories of violence this time of year.

We’re trying to enjoy peace on earth and goodwill to all people.

Doesn’t all that violence get in the way?

Isn’t that exactly what we’re trying to escape?

Well, no.

If you were with us that first Sunday of Advent, you’ll remember we confronted the idea of Christmas as escapeism head on.

Christmas is the opposite of escapeism.

Christmas is not God swooping in to pull us all out of the world.

It’s God entering into our world to confront the forces of evil and injustice.

That’s why the Christmas story is good news.

None of this is subtle… Luke opens his version of the Christmas story by reminding us who claims to run the world:

And both Luke and Matthew note that Herod is ruling over Judea.

That would be the so-called Herod the Great, who was Rome’s puppet king (more on that in a bit).

So the Gospel writers understood Jesus’ arrival wasn’t an isolated, individualistic thing.

It was a political story - the birth of a new king.

We should expect that the rulers of the world will have a strong reaction to such news.

Christmas has long been a season that throws a stark light on the Empires of the world.

The mythic Christmas truce of WWI marks the absurdity of practicing peace on Earth one day, then resuming shelling and shooting each other the next.

Or take the Christmas Massacre, when President Abraham Lincoln ordered the largest mass execution in American history on December 26, the second day of Christmas.

Just a day after churches all over the US lighted the Christ candle, exchanged gifts and sang, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come,” and “He rules the world with truth and grace,” Lincoln ordered 38 Sioux men hanged for defending their lands and taking much-needed food from US colonists.

Empires have always used peace as propaganda, positioning themselves as champions of peace for all while narrowly defining ‘all’ as really ‘just the people who obey the empire’.

This is true in our day and age, and it was true in the world into which Jesus was born.

Turn with us to Matthew 2.

To understand what’s happening in today’s Scripture, we need to think politically.

The amount of intrigue and betrayal behind today’s story sounds more like an episode of Game of Thrones than something we expect to find in the Bible.

But don’t forget - Jesus came into a world with the same pains and problems as ours.

And his coming is good news for all of us who feel weighed down by the violence of the world.

So let’s talk about Herod the Great.

By the time Jesus was born, Herod was an old man (he’s actually only going to live another few years, though he doesn’t know that yet).

Herod was born in a world where his homeland - Israel, had been independent for about a hundred years.

It was ruled over by a dynasty called the Hasmoneans.

Herod’s father was part of the royal court, close to the man who would turn out to be the last Hasmonean king.

Understanding Herod’s world is easier if you think of East Asia during the Cold War of the late 20th century.

Countries like Afghanistan and Vietnam became the sites of major conflict not because they were particularly powerful themselves, but because they were client states of the global superpowers - Russia and the US.

These two countries didn’t want to go directly to war with each other - it would be too costly.

So instead they sort of played global chess, manipulating other countries around the globe to try to gain power and influence.

That’s exactly what Israel was in Herod’s childhood.

The two global empires were Rome to the West and Parthia to the east.

Israel was the country right between them, and the empires’ cold war had a massive impact on Herod’s life.

When he was in his 20s, the Parthian empire sponsored a coup that dethroned the last Hasmonean king.

This plunged Israel into a civil war, with Herod and his father on the side backed by Rome.

Rome was also in the midst of a Civil War.

Julius Caesar had been assassinated (beware the Ides of March and all that), and opposing factions fought for control of his empire.

On one side were Brutus and Cassius, the two men who had orchestrated Caesar’s assassination (Brutus of, e tu, Brute fame).

On the other side were Octavian, Caesar’s nephew and heir, and Herod’s buddy Marc Antony.

Antony and Octavian won, and Antony took up residence in Egypt (where he fell in love with and married Cleopatra).

Antony helped Herod conquer the Parthian-backed usurpers and establish himself as King of the Jews.

Things were okay for a while, but pretty soon, Octavian and Antony went to war with each other.

Guess who Herod backed?

Of course, his buddy Marc Antony!

But… Antony lost.

Octavian defeated him and declared himself Caesar Augustus.

Which… wasn’t great for Herod.

Herod sailed to Octavian and threw himself at his feet.

Herod swore he would be as loyal to Octavian as he’d been to Antony.

And, most importantly, Herod promised to keep Israel peaceful, to maintain Roman rule at the far edge of the empire.

To keep things quiet on the Parthian front.

Octavian gave Herod a second chance.

It was understood there would be no third chance.

And here’s the thing - for the next three decades, Herod made good on his promise.

Under Herod, Israel enjoyed a long stretch of peaceful prosperity.

And, more importantly for Herod, Caesar Augustus didn’t have to worry about problems coming from the Parthians.

The East was quite.

Until Herod received some visitors:

Matthew tells us these visitors are magoi, which is a Greek term that refers to a specific kind of astrologer employed by the Parthian empire.

So put away your nativity set for a moment and listen to the story Matthew is telling: Herod is ruling from his palace in Jerusalem as Rome’s client king when an envoy from Rome’s arch-rivals shows up asking to worship the new king.

This is a political move.

The same empire that tried to steal Israel away from Rome forty years ago is at it again.

Herod is caught off guard - what new king are they talking about?

And more importantly, how can he get ahead of this before Caesar Augustus finds out? (Remember - he’s not going to get a third chance.)

So Herod devises a plan - he pretends an alliance with these Persian astrologers.

He sends them to Bethlehem and asks they return to see him on their way home.

But they don’t; they’re warned in a dream to evade Herod, and they do.

Is your head spinning yet?

Does this Christmas story feel more fraught than you’re used to?

Do the stakes seem higher?

We’re not just dealing with a baby born in a manger.

We’re dealing with global superpowers waging a cold war over a client kingdom.

And somehow, that cold war has come to turn on a baby born to an otherwise completely forgettable couple in a village whose one claim to fame is that they’re the birthplace of an ancient king.

And yet, friends, this is the Christmas Story.

God is at work, even on a global stage.

And God’s opposition to evil empires looks like this: a small baby.

A forgotten village.

An anonymous, unimportant couple.

God’s work looks like you and me.

Song

This is the part of the story that’s horrific.

Many of you already know what’s coming: Herod orders the deaths of all the boys in Bethlehem who are two years old or younger.

Is there anything more monstrous?