Herod, I get you. Forgive me, God.

Matthew 2:13-23

13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son." 16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more." 19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."

This year, the church readings are a little jumbled up.  In two weeks, we will read the story of Epiphany where the wisemen follow the star first to Jerusalem and they ask King Herod the Great about this new King of the Jews that has been born.  Herod is flummoxed and anxious, but plays it smooth and slyly says to the wisemen,

“yes, yes, follow that star and when you find the child, bring him back here to me so I can worship him.” 

The wisemen leave and follow the star to Bethlehem where they find baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger.  God then warns them in a dream not to return to Herod and they bypass Jerusalem on their return trip back to the East. 

Today, just when we’re settling into the peaceful afterglow of Christmas, our Bible story picks up Joseph has a dream.  And he knows, he knows, that there is danger on the horizon.  He tells Mary that they have to leave. They are not safe here. They have to go.  You can almost feel the hair on Mary’s arms rising as they pack what they can and flee the terror in the middle of the night.  Joseph acted well on his dream.  Because Herod goes off the rails and orders a genocide of all the boys under the age of two.  Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus are already on their way fleeing as the violence enshrouds Bethlehem.

It’s not hard to make Herod out as a madman.  In many ways, he was.  The ancient historian, Josephus writes that Herod ordered that when his own time came and he himself died, that the state was to assassinate all of the beloved political prisoners just to assure that there would be widespread mourning and grief in every household at the time of his death.  [i]

We know factually that Herod was obsessed with who would succeed him.  He had seven wills, lots of family problems and sibling rivalries—he ended up executing his favorite wife and three of his own children.  He drowned one of the high priests he didn’t get along with in a pool in Jerusalem.  It’s not hard to imagine that he would have gone off the rails to hear the news of a King of the Jews who would have been born in Bethlehem. 

However, the thing is that Herod the Great[ii] was that as a politician and as a ruler, he was, as Matt Skinner calls him, “a mixed bag.” 

For starters, he was a Jew.  I don’t know that historians would say he was the world’s most pious Jew. But he was appropriately devoted to his ancestors, the temple in Jerusalem, and worship of Yahweh.  Herod the great is, in fact, credited with rebuilding the Jerusalem temple over a period of many years.  He worked closely with the chief priests and innovated new things like special courts for women and gentiles within the temples which likely won him some points. 

While some folks were critical of how much money was spent on the temple, no one could deny that it was staggeringly beautiful.  Some sources say that over the long period of rebuilding, up to 18,000 people were employed in the city of Jerusalem (speaking of winning points).   The Pax Romana meant that there was more travel to Jerusalem for festivals and that pilgrims had more disposable income to pay for lodging and buy animals like turtledoves to sacrifice.  All of this was a solid boom to the ancient economy.

Herod won a lot of good will with his support of the temple.  And truthfully, being the savvy politician he was, “that fox” as Jesus famously called his son, Herod Antipas, Herod the Great knew how to win good will in all the right places.  He threw a little support to the other religious groups that worshiped, Apollo or Ba’al, or the gods of Olympia and Athens.  He also built three other spectacular temples for worship of the Roman emperor (who incidentally was also known as the prince of peace).  As a good diplomat, Herod built these temples for the emperor in Jewish areas of that weren’t likely to offend anyone.  Historians and commentators say that Herod loved beautiful spaces: he built public theaters, amphitheaters, baths, gardens and pools.  In the city of Tyre, He repaved the main street and fitted it with colonnades to create the first known covered/paved shopping street. 

Under his governance, the economy was booming.  He developed new trade routes with Damascus and beyond that to Syria and the area known as the fertile Crescent.  He made roads, reservoirs and aqueducts to modernize the cities. Josephus praises the sewers Herod constructed in the city of Caesarea calling them an “engineering marvel.” (I get it. I would probably have kind things to say about effective sewers too). 

There was much to export from the region under his reign.  There was fertile farmland that produced consistently healthy crops of grapes, grains and olives.  There were all sorts of tradeable goods from perfumes, ointments, date wines, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

To maximize trade, Herod created several new cities including Caesarea Maritima (the city with the sewers) where he developed the largest harbor in the Mediterranean Sea with one of the home ports for the Roman Navy.  In support of trade, he developed warehouse facilities and commercial space.  All of this effectively worked to rearrange economic trade patterns across the entire region.

He was called Herod the Great for a reason.  A couple hundred years before Herod the Great (and his father before him), Jerusalem was an impoverished, dusty city, but during Herod the Great’s reign, archeological excavations show that in Jerusalem had large concentrations of wealthy and elite people as did some of the other larger cities.  Herod was high on Rome’s A-list.  He preformed well. He demonstrated that he was committed to Rome’s policies and was rewarded as an effective governor.  Herod was savvy, diplomatic, a smart politician and he knew how to play his cards.  He had lots of powerful friends and people loved him.  He was the best of all rulers in what he did for the land—he was powerful, visionary, arrogant, and paranoid. 

Into that mix, some exotic wisemen—perhaps Zoroastrian astrologers?--come from the East to pay homage to a new King of the Jews—in Bethlehem? what in the world?  Someone who would upend all of this Roman glory? Bah. The idea was almost comical. Best to eliminate and kill all possible threats. To squash the idea like a flea between his fingers. And Herod orders the genocide of all baby boys under the age of 2 in and around the tiny, dusty agricultural hamlet of Bethlehem.  Given the size of little Bethlehem and the infant mortality rate, this probably would have been a couple dozen baby boys. 

Although Herod’s order or murder of the babies is one of a lunatic, he was so popular in some circles, and his world was so opulent, that you could almost imagine some folks saying, “ah boy, that’s a tough one, (sigh) but that’s just the cost of doing business.” 

So they say, as Joseph, Mary, and Jesus flee through the night to Egypt where they will find refuge.

In the genocide that we know of from the book of Exodus, at Pharaoh’s order, the Egyptians kill the Israelite babies.  (this is the part where Moses’ mother hides him in a basket in the river).  But in our Bible story today, its’s the Judeans killing their own people, their own babies under Herod’s orders.  Lest a new King rise out of Bethlehem to challenge Herod’s Kingdom, all baby boys under the age of two are to be killed.

Because that is the power of sin and its’ ability to seep into our systems. That is the power of sin: that we are transformed us into the very worst versions of ourselves.  That is the power of sin: that we become what we hate and critique.  And we are complicit and trapped.

For the several years that I was in Honduras, I worked with folks who worked for the Dole and Chiquita companies on the north coast.  I know the impoverished salary that folks make and sometimes now, I just find myself staring at the bananas in the grocery story.  And then I buy them.  Sometimes, the best I can do is remember how the pesticides made farmers so sick and buy the organic ones for them before I rush back into my daily life.  

Jesus was born in flesh to bring about a different kingdom.  We long to bring about the Kingdom of God, to struggle for justice, to fight for those who have less than us, to share what we have and yet, we are enmeshed in a system that suffocates us. 

Christmas, with all the tenderness and sentimentality and twinkling lights and nostalgia has a dangerous side.  The story of Herod in the gospel of Matthew reminds us of how hard it is to let the kingdom of God break into our world. 

But God couldn’t wait, couldn’t wait, to break into our broken and sin-infected world. God couldn’t wait to break Jesus into our world and teach us what a different Kingdom looks like.  To prompt us to let go of Herod’s Kingdom and even turn it on its’ head. To teach us how to make things right and usher in moments of salvation here on earth while we stand in the promise of salvation beyond. 

Christmas is God’s fiercest determination to be with us and make things right in our lives and in the world.  And we will not despair.  We will not, because God is present here and alive among us.  God’s fingerprints are all over our souls and God’s wisdom is leading us to reflect, often self-critically, on our world today.

In the final verse of “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem,” we pray:

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
Oh, come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Immanuel!

---

[i] For much of the research in this message, I lean on “Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans,” by Peter Richardson, 1996.

[ii] (not to be confused with his son Herod Antipas who ruled when Jesus was crucified)

Super Bloom. A Christmas message

Luke 2:1-20

1 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Last spring, part of the California wilderness sprang to life in what was called an unexpected super-bloom.  Over the course of a few weeks, suddenly, wide square miles of the dry desert came to life and were carpeted with lilies, poppies, primroses and vibrant green plants.  It was a display so colorful and astounding it could be seen from space.  The dry and dusty California desert doesn’t take out her party clothes very often, but when she does, she is all color, life and joy.

Psalm 98 (which is the basis for the beloved hymn “Joy to the world,”) sings:

Shout for joy to the Lord,

all the earth, burst into jubilant song…

Let the rivers clap their hands,

let the mountains sing together for joy.

Our Christmas story is chalk full of joy.  The angel promises Zechariah that he will have “joy and gladness. ”When Mary greets her cousin, Elizabeth, the baby “leaped for joy” and Mary exclaims “My spirit rejoices in God!” The angels exclaim, to the shepherds “we bring you good news of great Joy!”  Later when Simeon meets Jesus in the temple, he is infused with a profound joy  and says that the Lord can now let him depart in peace. All throughout Luke’s telling of Jesus’ birth there is a steady stream of joy, some of it pondered in the quiet of hearts, some of it exalted to the highest heavens. 

The presence of Joy is all over one of our most beloved stories and holidays in our Christian tradition.  And yet, we don’t hit on joy a lot in our Christian faith.  We talk about discipleship, and hard times, and hospitality, and sin, and doubt and a lot of other things…but joy?  It doesn’t seem to be at the top of the list of what it means to be people of faith.  Christians are known for a lot of things these days—some of them good, and some of them kind of terrible—and I don’t know if I’d say that any of the top things we’re known for is joy. In fact, except for the time or two we sing about joy in church, we can even be critical of joy. 

Think of all the conversation and critique around the humble exclamation point particularly in email communications. Lest we be perceived as too friendly or enthusiastic or too concerned with tone, we’re told to leave our exclamation points at the door.  Designer, Ingrid Fetell Lee has a popular Ted talk where she suggests that “adults who exhibit genuine joy are seen as childish or too feminine or unserious or self-indulgent, and so we hold ourselves back from joy.”  We hold ourselves back from joy... 

You know, the California wilderness has had a rough go of it the last few years—the last decade.  Why have we had these super blooms now, this last spring? Why this unexpected explosion of color in the dry California desert?  Yes, as I said, we’ve had some volatile climate related weather in the last years, but with it, we’ve actually had wildfires that have burned out invasive plants across the mountains.  Then, Southern California had an unusually rainy fall in 2018 followed by a chilly winter that locked the moisture into the ground, and boom.  (Or Bloom.)  As it turns out, harsh and unfavorable climate conditions paved the way for wildflower seeds that were dormant for many seasons to collectively wake up and blanket the mountains with beauty.  It was like, one starry night last spring? in the midst of the pain of climate change, and the earth groaning, God spoke promise into pain and the mountains clapped their hands in joy and erupted in a joyful super bloom.

Our Christmas story tonight is set in a place where so much seems to be lost and hurting. An ancient nation living under Roman occupation, a baby born out of wedlock, no room at the inn, a family in an urgent situation that finds shelter in a barn.  And in those most expected places, people erupt in great joy! Because God is always in that business, right?  Coming into places where life just isn’t quite perfect and reminding us that we’re not alone.

So what is this joy that we sing about?

There are a lot of thoughts on that, but one for you is that the Greek words for grace and joy share a common root.  We could even say that Joy may be the feeling of grace.  As Karoline Lewis says, maybe “joy is that indescribable feeling you have when you find yourself experiencing abundant grace. Think about it: Could it be? That the unexpected moment of grace in our lives actually bring in the feeling of joy?

An impossible situation of a baby born in the most difficult situations and God enters in with pure grace—joy to the world!

Humble and poor shepherds in the fields, some of the poorest of the land, and God fills the night sky with angels and says fear not. I am here with you. I have not forgotten you. I am with you. The Grace of God. And they respond with joy.

An unexpected and tasty meal brought to the family who needs some extra support? The Grace of God. Joy to the world!

In the midst of grief of losing a loved one, sitting around the kitchen table and remembering a life well lived— The Grace of God —joy to the world!

A well for the draught stricken village in Milawi— The Grace of God —joy to the world!

The young adult who comes out as gay and is enveloped in love by their community? The Grace of God —joy to the world!

Singing silent night in a worship service and knowing deep in our bones that we’re not alone— The Grace of God —joy to the world!

Unexpected and extravagant Kindness on a particularly difficult day— The Grace of God —joy to the world!

The weary deserts in California exploding in a super bloom? The Grace of God —joy to the world!

My family sitting around the kitchen table with me and talking out this sermon a few hours ago? The Grace of God —joy to the world!

Where do you find unexpected grace in your life?

Where do you hear God speaking promise into pain?

I can’t say exactly what is going on your world this Christmas evening.  Maybe you’re at the top of the world. Things are great! Exclamations points abound.  And then, maybe, things are not quite as you hoped they would be. Regardless of where you are, know this: God loves us so fiercely that God couldn’t wait to bring us Jesus.  God couldn’t wait to remind us that light triumphs over dark.  God couldn’t wait and won’t wait to show us that God Immanuel is with all of us.

So, Luther Memorial, how are we blessing the world with grace? How are we sowing seed of joy around us?  Where are you called are we called to bless life with grace upon grace?  Where are you called to usher in joy?  Because that, dear ones, is the work of Christmas.