Matthew 2:1-4
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
It is a strange thing, don’t you think, that something as small and seemingly insignificant as the birth of a child can strike fear into heart of a king and all the inhabitants of his capital?
Why? Why would powerful King Herod, known for his political cunning and ruthlessness, fear a child? It reminds me of a line from the second Hunger Games book, Catching Fire, where the heroine, Katniss, is told by the president (that is, dictator) of her homeland that her act of defiance has threatened the stability of his rule and the entire nation. She replies that it must be a pretty fragile nation if someone like her can threaten it so easily.
And that’s the thing: dictatorships, oppression, tyranny – these are always fragile things. Brutal, perhaps; ruthless, most likely. But because they stand over and against principles of freedom and dignity and because they exert their rule through force, they are threatened by each and every act of defiance, courage, and compassion.
Most of us inherit such principles from our confidence in and experience with democracy. But I believe they arise from our faith as well. For the God of the Bible regularly sides with the oppressed and stands always for the dignity and worth of all people. So when Martin Luther King, Jr., said that the long arc of history bends toward justice, he wasn’t speaking only as an American confident of democracy or as a person trusting in human progress, but also as a Christian who believed that God wanted liberty, justice, and dignity for all of God’s children.
What’s interesting is that Herod and his counselors apparently already know that a messiah has been promised and would come. So the news that God will send a messiah is not new; it’s that the messiah would come now, during his reign, that frightens him. And so it should, for all who oppress the poor, take advantage of the vulnerable, and stand against dignity and justice should tremble at the coming of the Lord.
Prayer: Dear God, let us always stand with you on the side of justice and with and for those who suffer, are oppressed, or are in need. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: The Magi in the House of Herod, James Tissot
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