In the 1960’s Dean Rusk, Secretary of
State for the U.S. summed up his troubles to the House
Foreign Affairs Committee:
“The world,” he said, “is round. Only
one third of the people of the world are asleep at any
given moment. The other two thirds are awake and probably
stirring
up mischief somewhere.”
In line with Rusk’s comments, sometimes I go to bed
at night, after listening to the news, wondering if the world
can get any more bizarre. And often, when I wake up to the
morning news, I find the answer is, “Yes, it can!”
The evil in this world—the evil in you and me is
a sad and frightening thing.
This morning, as we look at the impact of the nativity
on those of Jesus’ time, we look at what happened to
an evil man—King Herod.
Our Scripture lesson, Matthew 2:13-18, tells of the awesome
paranoia and cruelty of Herod.
Hearing of the birth of Jesus and fearing a threat to his
place and power, Herod ordered the murder of every infant
boy in Bethlehem. Just to be sure every boy under the age
of 2 was killed.
What kind of a man could do such a thing?
What kind of a man would do such a thing?
Let’s look at what we know about Herod.
Herod was a half-blooded Jew and a full blooded tyrant.
He was very good at looking out for himself. Because he
had been such help as a collaborator with the Romans during
Jewish uprisings, Rome made him governor of Palestine. A
few years later Rome conferred upon him the title of King.
His Kingship, however, was entirely dependant upon the power
of Rome. He was, in effect, a puppet-king.
Upon taking over in Palestine, Herod ordered the murder
of 300 court officials. He immediately consolidated his power
base but was forever suspicious that people were out to get
him. In fact, they probably were!
His suspicions led to his ordering the murder of his wife,
his mother-in-law and three of his sons.
Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, once said, “it was safer to be Herod’s
pig than his son.”
When Herod was at death’s door, he ordered many of
the notable citizens of Jerusalem be arrested on trumped
up charges and imprisoned. At the moment of his death
these people were to be executed. He said he knew no one
would
mourn his death and he was determined that some tears
should be shed when he died.
Fortunately, Herod’s orders were never carried out.
For Herod, it was power at any cost.
Protection of power waist deep in blood—the blood
of family
— the blood of political opponents
— the blood of baby boys.
The impact of the Nativity on King Herod was a complete
and utter rejection of Jesus as the blackness of a man’s
heart led to suffering and anguish and death.
Evil can be blatant as in Herod.
Sadly, we see it in the news all too often.
But evil can also be subtle—with people doing evil things all the
while feeling quite innocent.
M. Scott Peck, in his book, ”People of the Lie”,
tells of counselling a husband, wife and their fifteen year
old son. The family had lost a son, who had died by suicide
with a rifle given to him by his parents. The surviving brother
had a great deal of difficulty adjusting to his brother’s
death. School and behaviour problems were developing.
Peck became involved when the boy stole a car and crashed
it. The parents identified the boy as the problem in the
family. They said they had done all they could.
Peck suspected there was more to the situation and discovered
just how bizarre things were when he spoke to the boy about
Christmas. It appeared that the boy’s behaviour started
to go downhill after the holidays. It turned out that his
parents had given him a “special present”. On
Christmas morning he had opened a box and found the gun which
his brother had used to kill himself. The parents said they
were just trying to save money and they wanted the boy to
enjoy hunting. But the message they were really giving—the
one the boy received, loud and clear, was “use this
gun and do to yourself what your brother did.”
Evil can be very subtle. It can mask itself in innocence
to the point that we don’t recognize there is anything
wrong with the things we do.
But there is evil in all of us. Some people certainly have
a streak that is wider and deeper than most but everyone
has some darkness of heart.
As one young boy put it, while explaining basic Christian
Theology to his younger sister: "You see, it was Jesus'
job to die for our sins; it's our job to sin."
And don’t we take our job seriously?!
Evil flourishes in our world. Sin remains in the lives
of Christians and non-Christians alike. But the nativity
made a difference. The nativity was the beginning of
the end for evil. With the birth of Jesus, God’s plan
for the reconciliation of the world has been put into motion.
The work has started.
It isn’t yet complete.
Evil remains but it will be defeated.
The war has been won but the battles continue.
When we look at the nativity’s impact on evil in our
world we need to see it through three different pairs of “time
glasses”.
The first pair is the one that sees the nativity itself.
It sees God’s intervention into the world through the
birth of God’s Son. It is focused in the past on
Bethlehem.
The second pair of glasses is a pair of binoculars. Through
this pair we see through 30 years from Bethlehem, and bring
Easter into sight. We see how tied together Christmas and
Easter truly are. The two can never be separated because
Jesus was born with the express purpose of dying. In His
death, Jesus took all the punishment for sin upon His shoulders.
The evil of the world crushed Him. But in His resurrection,
Jesus showed ultimate victory over sin, Satan and death.
Easter assures us of that victory.
The third pair of glasses is a Hubble telescope looking
well into the future. We see Christmas through the eyes
of the Second Coming of Christ. In the future when Jesus
returns,
He won’t be born in a stable—He will appear
as the majestic Lord Almighty.
He will come to bring history to an end.
He will come to start a new history with a new heaven and
a new earth.
He will come to deal with evil and sin and Satan once and
for all.
He will come to complete the work begun at Bethlehem—to
fulfil the victory that was assured at Easter.
After Jesus returns evil will no longer have an impact on
those whose lives are in Christ. Instead, things will be
glorious and perfect and everlasting. We will never feel
the touch of evil again.
When we read the beautiful Christmas story and then are
repulsed by the horror of King Herod, we really are being
shown history in one scene. Side by side we see the problem—evil,
and the solution—God’s intervention through
Jesus Christ. We see the scene and we feel its tension.
But the outcome is clear. Evil may flail away. It may attack
with all its might—but it has no ultimate power over
God or God’s plan.
The Lord Jesus Christ was born, not to die as an infant
at the hands of some insane despot.
Jesus was born to die at the right time, at the right
place, in the right way according to God’s plan.
Jesus was born to die, not in a manger in Bethlehem, but
on a Cross at Calvary.
God’s will was done.
God’s will will be done.
The impact of the nativity tells us that our Creator has
a plan in place to deal with the evil in our world.
It has been expressed this way through a tongue in cheek
Recall Notice:
“The maker of all human beings is recalling all units
manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to the
serious defect in the primary and central component of the
heart.
This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype
units, code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction
of
the same defect in all subsequent units.
This defect has been technically termed, Subsequential Internal
Non-morality, more commonly known as S-I-N. It is primarily
symptomized by a loss of moral judgement.
Some other symptoms:
Loss of direction
Foul vocal emissions
Amnesia of origin
Lack of peace and joy
Selfish or violent behaviour
Depression or confusion in the mental component
Fear
Idolatry.
The manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing
factory authorized repair and service, free of charge to correct this S-I-N
defect.
The toll free number in your area is: 7-7-2-9-3-7 (P-R-A-Y-E-R).
Once connected, please upload your burden of S-I-N by pressing
7-3-7-3-6-8-2-6-2-3 (R-E-P-E-N-T-A-N-C-E).
Next, download 5-3-7-8-7 (J-E-S-U-S) into the heart. No
matter how big or small the S-I-N defect is, the JESUS repair
will replace it with:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faith
Humility
Self-control.
Please see operating manual, Holy Bible, for further details
on the use of these fixes.
WARNING: Continuing to operate the human unit without correction,
voids the manufacturer's warranty, exposing owner to
dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result
in the
human unit being permanently impounded.”
The plan is in place—begun long ago in a stable.
Evil cannot win.
Evil will not win.
(1647)
© The Rev. Dennis Cook, St. Timothy’s Presbyterian
Church, Ajax, ON, Canada
