As we wrapped up this Christmas season, I realized with some disappointment, that I had gone through the entire period without seeing a single Christmas movie or television special! Aside from the annual recitation of Luke chapter 2 by Linus Van Pelt at our service two weeks ago, I didn’ts see “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” or “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
One of my personal favorites is “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” but not the live action movie from a few years ago with Jim Carey. I like the animated version with Boris Karloff reading of the story.
Today I would like to turn our attention to a part of the first Christmas that most of us know about but is rarely the subject of sermons. Turn in your Bibles to the second chapter of Matthew, where we are introduced to a character I am calling, “The Original Grinch.” I am referring, of course, to King Herod, whom Paul Maier calls, “the monster of the Christmas story.“ We will see some parallels between the Grinch and Herod, as well as some timely applications to our own lives.
Matthew begins the account of Jesus’ birth in the first three verses of chapter two:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Looking back on the birth of Jesus, we consider the event a joyous one. But Matthew reveals a different reaction to the news of His birth by King Herod and the people of Jerusalem. The term used is “disturbed,” which is the translation of the Greek word here, taraché, means, “stirred up.” Here is a man who has ruled a large area for over three decades, is on a first-name basis with Caesar Augustus, and yet we read that the news of a baby’s birth has him all stirred up!
Those familiar with the Dr. Seuss story know the basic plot of how the Grinch tried to stop Christmas from coming to those annoyingly-cheerful Whos. Near the beginning of the story we are given a hint as to why he would embark on such a quest:
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his head wasn’t screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
While the narrator had to guess at the motivation behind the Grinch’s disposition regarding Christmas, there is no doubt as to the desperate fear that came upon Herod. While the Bible only mentions Herod in passing in this one text, history paints a detailed portrait of this man that fits very well with Matthew’s account.
Herod’s father had been an ally of Julius Caesar, and Herod, as a young man, was made “prince” over Galilee. After his father was murdered, Herod and his brother were appointed tetrarchs of Judea. After a time the Parthians invaded Judea and captured Herod’s brother, Phasael, who killed himself rather than being tortured. Herod escaped to Rome, where he sought the aid of Mark Antony and Octavian (later known as Caesar Augustus). “When Herod arrived in Rome, he advised them of the situation and asked for help. He also offered Antony money to make him king, just as he had given him money to make him Tetrarch. On Antony’s advice, the senate decreed that Herod be king. . . Herod became king in 37 B.C. at age 35.
The early years of his reign were far different from the account of his actions in Matthew’s Gospel. They showed some compassion on the part of Herod. William Barclay writes,
He was called Herod the Great, and in many ways he deserved the title. He was the only ruler of Palestine who ever succeeded in keeping the peace and in bringing order into disorder. He was a great builder; he was indeed the builder of the Temple in Jerusalem. He could be generous. In times of difficulty he remitted the taxes to make things easier for the people; and in the famine of 25 B.C. he had actually melted down his own gold plate to buy corn for the starving people.
A cloud hung over Herod’s throne, however. Herod was an Idumaean, a half-Jew from the land of ancient Edom, and was never accepted by the Jews as their rightful ruler. “Having reached the heights of Kingship, he never felt totally secure and he saw conspiracy and plotting from every quarter.” In succeeding years Herod put to death three of his sons, his favorite wife (he had married ten) and her mother, his brother-in-law whom he had appointed high priest, both husbands of his sister, and countless others whom he considered a threat. By the time of Jesus’ birth, one historian wrote, “Herod mistrusted everyone and thought himself surrounded by young aspirants all plotting to seize his throne.” Historians agree that Herod suffered from acute paranoia.
This week, with the death of President Gerald Ford, we were reminded of a period in our Nations recent history when paranoia and self-preservation led to personal destruction. Ford became president of the United States because of the paranoid behavior of Richard Nixon. Nixon had nothing to fear from his rivals for reelection in 1972, but his fear led him to behavior that led to him ultimately loosing the presidency in disgrace.
Herod’s paranoia led him beyond paranoid behavior to insanity. “Herod was afraid that this little child was going to interfere with his life, his place, his power, [and] his influence . . .” (Barclay). His way of life, his security, and his self-importance were at risk. News of a newborn baby posed a threat to the king of the land! While the birth of Jesus brought about feelings of awe and elation on the part of Mary and Joseph, the magi, and the shepherds, King Herod responded in desperate fear.
2. Herod’s Despicable Folly
Neither the Grinch nor Herod were about to sit idly by in fear of this threat to their lifestyle. Dr. Seuss tells of the Grinch’s scheme:
And the more the Grinch thought of the Who-Christmas-Sing
The more the Grinch thought, “I must stop this whole thing!
“Why for fifty-three years I’ve put up with it now!
I must stop Christmas from coming! ...but how?”
Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea!
Of course, the Grinch snuck into Who-ville and, as Santa-Claus-in-reverse, took everything that he thought characterized Christmas, and rode off on his sled back up to his mountain lair. But the original Grinch, King Herod, had a much more awful idea in mind. Matthew goes on to tell us in verses 4-8:
When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
Of course, Herod had no intention of worshipping the Christ child. Just as the red hat and coat did not make the Grinch into Santa Claus, so this pretense of interest and worship was a sham. His secret meetings with the magi indicate the treachery he was already planning. But if he could get the magi to do the groundwork for him, all the better.
Matthew 2:9-12 continues the story:
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Most of us have seen nativity scenes with the barn (complete with barn animals), Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus lying in a trough, shepherds and their sheep, and three men wearing regal robes with gifts in their hands. While I am not advocating the removal of the magi from the nativity scene, since they play an important role in the birth of Christ, for accuracy’s sake it might be better to put them a ways off from the stable itself. At least several weeks had passed since that dark night in the stable, and Mary and Joseph were now in a “house.” Furthermore, Matthew uses the Greek term to paidion, translated “young child,” whereas Luke 2:16 speaks of to brephos, or “the baby” (Tasker, 38).
At any rate, the magi worshipped Jesus and presented Him with gifts fitting for a king. Then they were warned by God not to return to Herod with the news, and they returned to their homeland by another route altogether. Verses 13-15 record that Joseph was also warned of Herod’s evil intentions, and he took Mary and Jesus to safety in Egypt, probably to the large Jewish population in the city of Alexandria. When Herod figured out that the magi weren’t coming back he responded violently. Matthew 2:16-18 says,
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.”
Paul Maier comments, “Herod took that snub with all the rage of the deluded and suspicious old paranoid he had become. Ordering the ruthless massacre of all male babies two years old and under in Bethlehem and vicinity, he hoped that the infant ‘king’ must certainly have been among the victims.”
Both the Grinch and Herod the Great tried to keep Christmas from coming. Both failed. For the Grinches part, Dr. Suess writes,
He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming!
It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
“It came without packages, boxes or bags!”
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
“Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”
And what happened then...? Well...in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day!
And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light
And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And he...HE HIMSELF...The Grinch carved the roast beast!
Dr. Seuss’s story ends with a powerful lesson: Christmas is more than the decorations and gifts, more than the fanfare and the feasts. The Grinch realized that his plot had failed, and it immediately forced him to rethink his actions. He experienced a true change of heart, and quickly undid the terrible deed he had committed.
Herod the Great, however, had no such change of heart. As we said earlier, Herod’s murder of the Bethlehem babies was only a small part of his bloody legacy. His reign of death continued to the very end. One Historian writes,
During the whole latter part of his life, the dread of a rival to the throne had haunted him, and he had sacrificed thousands, among them those nearest and dearest to him…And still the tyrant was not at rest. A more terrible scene is not presented in history than that of the closing days of Herod. Tormented by nameless fears; ever and again a prey to vain remorse, when he would frantically call for his passionately-loved, murdered wife Mariamme, and her sons; [whom he himself had killed] even making attempts on his own life; the delirium of tyranny, the passion for blood, drove him to the verge of madness…
From the accounts we have, Herod never knew that his attempt to steal Christmas had failed. His plan—and his reign itself—ended in a dismal failure. Matthew concludes his account in verses nineteen through twenty-one,
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.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.
His final plan failed…the baby who was supposed to die in the Bethlehem massacre was instead held safely in the arms of his mother as she sat astride a donkey. At the end of Matthew’s account, Herod was dead; Jesus was alive and well, and heading back to Herod’s land as King of the Jews.
_______________________________
“That’s cute,” you might say. “I’ve never heard of a parallel between King Herod and the Grinch. But you mentioned ‘a timely application to our own lives.’ How does this affect me now?”
Well, I’m glad you asked!
First, I believe the account of Matthew shows us that God is in control, and His plans will come to be! Despite the schemes and deceitful efforts of the powerful and the seemingly out of control evil in the world around us, GOD IS IN CONTROL! We can find confidence in knowing that God’s plans will not be thwarted by any human being! No circumstance or event is beyond the hand of God. When my world is rocked by evil, and when I feel I am running for my life – I can trust that God is still God – and His purposes will be accomplished for me!
Secondly, I believe the story of Herod speaks to us individually today. William Barclay wrote, “Herod was afraid that this little child was going to interfere with his life, his place, his power, his influence, and therefore his first instinct was to destroy him.” He goes on to say,
There are still those who would gladly destroy Jesus Christ, because they see in him the one who interferes with their lives. They wish to do what they like, and Christ will not let them do what they like; and so they would kill him. The man whose one desire is to do what he likes has never any use for Jesus Christ. The Christian is the man who has ceased to do what he likes, and has dedicated his life to do as Christ likes…Here is a terrible illustration of what men will do to get rid of Jesus Christ. If a man is set on his own way, if he sees in Christ someone who is liable to interfere with his ambitions and rebuke his ways, his one desire is to eliminate Christ; and then he is driven to the most terrible things . . .
Do we not see such people all around us? Those who attempt to eliminate Christ – or at the very least, to deny His deity, or dilute his message to one of Universal ambivalence? Could it be that there are men and women today who are like Herod the Great? Real-life “Grinches” running around trying to short-circuit the true meaning of Christmas? Absolutely! And they are not simply in the bars or strip joints; some of them make it a habit to sit in church on Sunday! Like Herod, they make a pretense of wanting to honor Christ, but they have no room for Him in their lives – they talk of worship, but they want to live for self.
To such people, I point to the ends of the Grinch and Herod the Great. The Grinch underwent a change of heart that changed his life. Herod the Great continued to fight for control and his own way of life, though his efforts ended in a dismal failure. The Bible speaks of a change of heart with the word “repentance,” which means literally a change of direction. Ezekiel 33:10-11 speak pointedly to this subject,
“As surely as I live,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their evil ways and live. Repent! Turn from your wicked ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?”
We all need a change of heart. Like the Grinch and like Herod, our hearts are rebellious to Jesus Christ. We need to realize, like the Grinch, that Christmas “doesn’t come from a store. “Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”
Christmas means a whole lot more! Our hearts don’t need to grow three sizes like the Grinches – our hearts need to be replaced – our heart of stone replaced by a heart of flesh – a heart that is pure and forgiven – a heart that is the dwelling place of Jesus Christ. A heart that is not threatened by Jesus’ rule – but submissive to Him! A heart that does not scheme to deny and destroy Jesus Christ, but rather to recognize Him, bow before Him and worship Him!
This week I read of some photos of the year that were being reviewed. One showed a woman with her head pressed to the chest of a young man. It didn’t seem all that impressive – but the story was – the young man had received the heart of her son who had been killed in an accident, and the photo showed her listening to the heart of her son. Oh, that God would be able to press his ear to our chest and hear the beating of His Son’s heart there. May God give us such a transplant of heart in the year ahead –
As the praise team comes up, and leads us in our closing song, may these words be true of us, that, “we bow down, and lay our crowns, at the feet of Jesus.” Make him king of your life today.
Prayer