Herod: The Monster of Christmas

The Characters of Christmas  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  37:28
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(S1) — Favorite Christmas Movies
Every Christmas movie has a character who’s only goal is to wreck Christmas.
It’s a Wonderful Life (Mr Potter)/The (Grinch) Who Stole Christmas/Home Alone (Harry/Marv)
Even your beloved Hallmark movies…there is always a villain, someone whose chief goal is to make others miserable, or as in the case of today's most unlikely character—to make Christmas non-existent.
(S2) — Herod: The Monster of Christmas (Book)
He doesn't generally get much attention in our retelling the first Christmas. I’m not in favor of giving any villain center stage, but ignoring the troubler of Christmas, is to miss the reason Jesus came...
“To ignore him is to not only ignore the world into which Jesus was born, but to miss out on an important thread in God’s plan of redemption” (D.D.).
In Herod, evil is given a face and a name, but as the Apostle Paul tells us, humanity's struggle is much bigger than one person.
Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world...
Just as we would like to overlook the trouble in this world, we can’t ignore the villain of Christ’ birth, an important thread in God’s plan of redemption”
In Luke’s story of Jesus’ birth, evil may have a face, but God’s salvation has a name! The reason that...
— Zechariah and Elizabeth had a song to sing…Joseph found his song...The innkeeper made room…and the wisemen came to worship...
PRAY
(S3)
I am not a fan of snakes...even the garden (Garter) variety...
To fully understand the character Herod in Luke’s birth narrative, we have to go back to the beginning—the villain in the garden.
Genesis 3:1 (CSB) “Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made.”
The snake (deceptive one), seized an opportunity afforded by God who gave Adam and Eve a choice—Thus sin, evil, and all that is wrong with this world, was birthed in the hearts of all mankind.
His cunning is mentioned in...
Psalm 140:3 “They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.”
He is named in Jesus’ rebuke of Peter...
Mark 8:33 “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.””
His purpose as the one who steals life...
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...”
“God who was not surprised by the serpents intentions, nor was he by our human fallibility. So he initiates a plan to rescue us and renew the world.”
(S4)
Genesis 3:14–15 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Jesus’ was always God’s plan; to redeem the hearts of all who would receive him, and to defeat those who would not. But even so, the long struggle between GOOD and EVIL would ensue...
— Cain (son of Adam) slays his brother in cold blood, but God raises up another generation in Adam’s son!
— Abraham’s family (son of Seth) is threatened by famine, infertility, but God births a miracle in Isaac; son of the promise
— Jacob (son of Abraham) endured family dysfunction, sinful scheming, but God raises up his son Joseph to save Israel!
— Pharoah saw the people of God as a threat and was determined to exploit, murder and wipe out the children of Abraham…but God raised up midwives to deliver babies from death: Moses the deliverer of his people
— David anointed by Samuel, finds himself on the run from Saul after choosing the path of sin, but God would make him a great king, out of whom the king of kings would come.
— Satan recruited Haman who threatened to eliminate all of Jewish descent, but God empowered Esther and Mordecai to save His people
—Israel, choosing to worship idols over Yahweh, is carried into captivity, but the prophets would God voice of reason to bring them back!
“Jesus was chased out of his manger and into Egypt by King Herod, who sacrificed Bethlehem’s infant children for the sake of power.”
This is the world Jesus was born into; the world we live…
(S5)
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod...
Who is Herod?
— King of Judea (40 B.C.- 4 A.D.)... Known as Herod the Great’—Solomon's temple, water systems (aqueducts)...
—An illegitimate Roman appointed king-descended from Esau. He was ruthless, paranoid and used violence as a means to his end.
— Killed the last members of the Hasmonean Dynasty; a Jewish ruling family that led the Maccabean Revolt against Jewish persecution (167-160 BC)
— executed members of the Sanhedrin...and of his own family-wife/3 sons)
No wonder a Roman ruler said that it was safer to be one of Herod’s pigs than one of his sons.” (The Wesleyan Bible Commentary, Josephus)
— attempted to kill the elite leaders in Jerusalem. His last decree of violence before his death, which went ignored.
Herod, truly the monster of Christmas, was cunning, manipulative and would do anything to retain power—even destroy the one who laid in a manger. So imagine how bothered he would have been when an entourage of wisemen from the east came seeking a new king.
(S6)
2 “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.
...his response should not be surprising— (tarassō) to be so troubled as to shake violently. He feared this baby in diapers. The one the Jews longed for, a new king who would defeat the monster of Christmas and bring peace.
Jewish Prayer for Peace—Psalm 3
What can we do in this struggle between good and evil that still exists today?
The hope of Christmas is our PRAYER FOR PEACE…for our Messiah who has come, to come again...
1 Timothy 4:10 “That is why we labor and struggle, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”
(S7)
Then Herod summons all of the religious who knew the law...Their response does not give him any consolation, quoting from Micah, exactly where the Messiah was to be born, just as the prophet predicted.
6 ‘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 shepherd my people Israel.’”
Micah's words once a clear reference to a boy named David, a shepherd made great king—Now to the Son of God who would one day declare...
John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The biggest threat to any ruler was a rival—A new ruler, the real king of Judah, was lying in a manger not to far away. “Clearly paranoid, he makes plans to remove the threat, even though this one wears diapers.”
(S8)
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.”
Did they believe he had any intention of worshipping Jesus?
“Like every ruler who tries to challenge or go against God, his attempt to snuff out the true king was thwarted.”
— The wisemen are warned not to report back to Herod
— Joseph is warned in a dream not go back home but to Egypt for safety
This is a reminder that in a world of so much suffering, when it seems like Satan has the upper hand, God is soverign in it all! Evil may seem to rule the day, but God’s power and plan of redemption are supreme!
(S9)
“God is not troubled by this cosmic rebellion. God laughs at such folly.” James Montgomery Boice, Christian Theologian
Psalm 2:1–6
“This is Matthew’s story of Christmas; that God has determined to set upon his hill, our Lord and saviour. Herod may have seemed powerful. He may have initiated a culture of fear—But he was no match for the King of Kings.”
Think for a moment of not who, but what has dominion over you in your life? Success/fear/failure—Health/diagnosis/uncertainty—Addictions/strongholds...
2 Corinthians 10:3–4“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
What do you need to put under the rule of Christ; the king of kings?
(S10)
Outwitted by the Magi, Jesus’ influence already a threat, Herod in a most wicked action brings “the sorrow of his sword into Jewish families.”
16 ...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.
“So much anguish brought into the sleepy city of David.” Sadly, this is the way of tyrants, those so consumed with power, they cannot see the humanity of those in their way.”
— It hard for us to even imagine the horror of such cruelty upon the innocent…but this battle between good and evil is all to real today
Attack on Israel (Oct. 7)/Innocent lives lost in schools/GMC in Africa
Though we may not understand it, Matthew documents it for good reason—Jesus’ coming as a child, saved from slaughter by an earthly king, would signal a new beginning...

I. God’s HEALING Peace

Isaiah 57:18–19 I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners, creating praise on their lips. Perfect, peace, to those far and near,” says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”
God’s healing peace found in this child born in a manger. To those who would put there trust in him he would be a savior, but to those who seek only their own way, he would be an enemy.
The need for this peace was echoed in the weeping endured by a previous generation—Hebrew families, lamenting those being carried off to a distant land.
(S11)
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.”
Ramah was a transport center during the time when Jews were taken to Babylon (ca. 587 BC). Rachel's weeping, heard across the land, was for her children and all her descendents...
As distressing as these verses are, Matthew cites Jermeiah to include the theme of God’s restoration, there retrun from exile. There is hope for your descendants, your children will return to their own land” (Jer. 31:17) Jeannine K. Brown, Matthew, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015)
Jesus’ coming as a child would signal the beginning of the end of the cosmic battle between good and evil. Despite the tears of Bethlehem’s mothers, there is hope in this child who had escaped and will ultimately reign...
Jeremiah 31:16–17 This is what the Lord says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord. “They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,” declares the Lord.”
Despite the evil of today, we have this same hope; not just in a baby born in a manger, but one who put himself on a cross, to set free from the power of sin and death..
“The long cosmic struggle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, culminated in the coming the Christ child. Satan, the father of lies, the author of bloodshed, with murder in his heart, would be defeated when this baby ascends to a bloody Roman cross, endures separation from His father, and rises again in victory on the third day.
Sin that has gripped the human heart is defeated in Christ who gives us victory over all powers of this world and the human heart.
This does not make the violence, bloodshed, and our suffering any easier to endure. We can’t cover it all up with fancy bows, and by singing deck the halls with bows of Holly…but Matthew’s Christmas story gives us hope, in
(S12)

II. Jesus, the PRINCE of peace

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Peace that no ruler of this world can give. Peace that can’t be found under a tree…Without the Christ in Christmas, it is just an empty word—open packages under the tree, become toys broken or buried in the bottom of a toy box...
Hope found in Jesus, OUR prince of peace
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Everyone who believes in the child of Christmas, has the opportunity to be a beacon of hope; pointing people away from fear and to the one who came as promised, and will come again…
A little Jesus, and a whole lotta’ love (C.E.)
So, as we survey the brokenness of the world Jesus entered…
1. We should avoid an overly optimistic, pollyannaish disposition that refuses to acknowledge the battle between good and evil…
2. We should not ignore our own sinfulness, the desire to go our own way, our need for Jesus
Colossians 1:13–14 “13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
”There is a little of Herod in all of us. It’s easy to point to the tyrants of Jesus day, whispering silent prayers of relief that we are not they. But we may miss the Herod in our own hearts.”
And, In case we don’t quite get it, Matthew includes this little note;
(S13) “19 But when Herod died...
Even the mightiest will fall to this infant born in Bethlehem, who would rise as the king of kings. The seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed, His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, For lo! his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him. A Mighty Fortress
God’s plan was always to send his son, and confront the monster of Christmas, every villain in the world, and the sin within us, so that all would fall to defeat by His word…
John 1:1–5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Questions for Reflection
1. How does understanding the battle between Good (God), and evil (Satan), help you make sense of our struggle in the world?
2. Where is your hope this Christmas? In God’s healing peace?
3. Pray on the way in which you are tempted to yield to the Herod impulses in all of us.
5. How do you resist Christ’ rule in your heart? Is he your Prince of Peace?
(S14)
“In this child Herod saw fear…In Jesus, who is God’s HEALING peace, and our PRINCE of peace, we see the promise of our tears being wiped away. We see a weeping heavenly father...and a triumphant Christ.”
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