Dec 31, 2020
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. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “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.” After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” (Matthew 2:16-20)
The sinful violence of the Kingdom of this world, represented by Herod, spills over into the furious slaughter of innocent children. Jeremiah the prophet laments with Rachel and all the mothers of Bethlehem.
Sin, when pushed to its natural end, brings death.
Innocents are still put to death in our world today. Collateral damage of war, victims of genocide, victims of abuse even here in Canada. They are still the ones bearing the brunt of sin incarnated in our world today through the abuses of the powerful.
We may think these are issues somewhere out there in some other place in the world that doesn’t impact us. After all, we may not see ourselves either as oppressor or as oppressed, as victim or as powerful.
But we don’t get off the hook that easy. Through the caricature of Herod, Matthew means to make the point that this is the nature of sin that lives within all of us. This is the death that our sin brings. Sin does not only bring our own death: sin is social. It spills over into the lives of others. Our sin brings the ways of death to bear on our world and our neighbours. This is the kingdom of this world still very much at work, not just in our world, but in our own hearts.
Within us lives the kind of greed, lust, selfishness, and prideful desire to be right, have status, control, and seemingly benign privileges that would pollute the planet, tarnish relationships, perpetuate racism, and enslave people in sweatshops, human trafficking, and precarious gig work.
Remember Paul in Romans 7: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”
But this is also the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the one who would save his people from their sin. He, the true and righteous King. And His kingdom is also taking root in our hearts and in our world, bringing life.
Herod is referred to as king at the beginning of chapter 2, but not here. As the narrative progresses, the term “king” drops from Herod’s name. The Magi bowing in worship before the new-born-king is the pivot. After that moment, Herod the Great is not called king again. He has been dethroned.
And so it is. The New King, King Jesus has come, and he has dethroned the powers of sin and death at work in our hearts and in our world. He has come to save us and all creation, to set us free, and to invite us more deeply into His work of lamenting and of bringing life to the places, people, and situations that most need it in this world of death. Sin is social, spilling over into the lives of others, but so is salvation. Thanks be to God.