Monday
Monday
The Rage of Herod
Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.
Matthew 2:13
In the end there are only two possible responses to Jesus Christ, which are epitomized in the contrasting figures of Herod the Great and the Magi. Herod’s reaction was fully in keeping with his known character. His long reign was stained with blood. It was the Romans who had put him on the throne and called him “King of the Jews.” But he was a foreigner; his father was an Edomite and his mother an Arabian princess. He had no right or title to the throne.
In consequence, Herod’s throne was very insecure, and he lived in terror of rivals. When he saw one, he promptly had him or her liquidated. He killed his wife Mariamne; his mother, Alexandra; and his three sons Aristobulus, Alexander, and Antipater. He killed more than half the members of the Sanhedrin and sundry uncles, cousins, and other relatives. It is not surprising, therefore, that Josephus the Jewish historian called him “a pitiless monster” or that the Emperor Augustus said it was safer to be Herod’s pig than his son. In our language he suffered from a severe paranoia. And now the Magi arrived asking where was he who was born “King of the Jews.” Why, he, Herod, was the king of the Jews; who was this pretender?
In principle, the same situation prevails today. Many people perceive Jesus as a rival, a nuisance, an embarrassment, what C. S. Lewis called “a transcendental interferer.” So we are faced with an alternative. Either we see Jesus as a threat and are determined like Herod to get rid of him, or we see him as the King of Kings and are determined like the Magi to worship him.
For further reading: Matthew 2:7–12