Herod’s Story Pt 2

How Did Christmas Change Herod?

Christmas changed Herod from a man who might discover faith and find freedom to one who rejected Christmas and its lessons and followed after fear. Because Herod rejected Christmas, he refused the change Christmas offers to us all. His shrewd dealings with authority led him to clench his fists around a power he didn’t want to risk losing-to anyone, for any reason. A lifetime of destroying others in order to protect his own value left Herod unable to bend his being to the authority of another. With the prophesied birth of the true “King of the Jews,” even if in the tiny body of a child, Herod went from paranoid worry to full out rebellion.

In contrast to the Magi who were seekers after the ultimate Truth and the ultimate Light and who discovered and worshiped the Source of both, Herod pivoted from the pretense of turning toward the long awaited Messiah to running from Him in rebellion. His selfish seeking led him to sinful and murderous choices. Unteachable, Herod remained untouched by the relationship God would die to create even with him. Because Herod turned away from God’s love and provision and refused to learn, he rejected the only hope for true significance that is ever really available to any of us.

Christmas Can Change Us When We Learn, Unlike Herod

Christmas offers a unique opportunity for transformation. But how do we respond to this offer? Do we resist God’s invitation to change us, or are we open to embracing our own need to learn?

So many of life’s lessons boil down to how we view power. We clamor to be right, to be in control, to be recognized and valued and to fit in. Jesus’s expression of power took the form of relinquishment rather than reign.

Imagine four people in a room: a powerful dictator who rules a nation, a gifted athlete at his peak, a rock star who can captivate an audience, and a newborn baby. Which of these is ultimately the most powerful? The irony is that the baby ultimately wields the greatest power…(a little baby) can touch hearts in a way that a dictator, an athlete, or a rock star cannot. Its innocent, wordless presence, without physical strength, can often transform a room and a heart in a way that guns, muscle and charisma cannot.

Along these lines, the apostle Paul writes of Jesus’s submitted power in Philippians 2:5-8, “Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-even death on a cross!”

As I look back at my own mistakes in life, I have to admit that some resulted from a misplaced passion for power. The wrong kind of power. Assumptions that I’m in charge. That I get to choose. That because I’ve always done something one way, I should continue to do it. The power promised by control and self-management rather than the humble power of a life sacrificed for others.

Herod rejected the advent of Christmas and rebelled against the change Christmas offers us all. Oh, may we learn from his errors!

I’m not sure who will be spending Christmas with us. But I do know that I will be giving my gifts with a deep gratitude for the relationships forged over the years and with a renewed openness to how I need to continue to grow in all of my relationships. Always. I’m still learning.

Change Point:

Is there a place you are resistant to learning? Where could you be holding on to “your” power and rights and preferences and privileges rather than taking the stance of student? How might you miss God’s advent in your heart by refusing His leading and His ways?