A Tale of Two Kings

The gospel lesson for this Sunday is Matthew 2:13-23, which is often referred to as the "slaughter of the innocents." Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are forced to flee to Egypt as refugees to escape Herod, the King of the Jews, who seeks to kill Jesus, since Herod perceives Jesus as a threat to Herod's power. When Herod realizes that Jesus has escaped his grasp, Herod retaliates in frustration by killing all males under the age of two in the Bethlehem area.

This story tells us a lot about Herod's motivations. Herod was motivated primarily by fear and insecurity. Fear about losing his power, wealth, and status, and an insecurity about the stability of his place as a vassal of the Roman state.

Herod's fears and insecurities turned him into a monster who brought about genocide. And not only did his fears and insecurities turn him into a monster--they turned him into a dumb monster. The "slaughter of the innocents," ironically, weakened Herod's place as Rome's appointee and increased the likelihood that Herod's worst fears would come true. By killing all the males around Bethlehem two and under, Herod was likely to initiate an uprising from the peasant class around Bethlehem out of anger and grief. Although such a rebellion would have been easily contained by military force, it would have weakened Rome's perception of Herod. Rome, after all, was interested most in stability so that taxes could be obtained and the smoothly operating business of Rome Inc. could continue. Any uprising meant more money spent on military costs, less taxes collected, and more headaches for those above Herod's pay grade. Further, the elimination of males in Bethlehem less than two years old meant, in a generation, less males to work the land, to serve in the armies, and yes, to pay taxes.

This story is the story of two kings. One king's fears and insecurities led him to become a dumb monster. Let's move onto the other king. The other king is the God of eternity, who was revealed in Jesus. This King, by choosing to be revealed in the person of Jesus, demonstrated that this King did not share Herod's preoccupation with power, status, and wealth, as the world defined these things. If God cared about these things, God would not have been revealed in a person who was born of Mediterranean Jewish peasants, who was born in a feeding trough, who fled to Egypt as a refugee, who lived in a peasant village, traveled throughout the countryside as a homeless itinerant, who was convicted of a capital crime, and who was executed as a public criminal.

The "slaughter of the innocents" was brought about by Herod's fear that Jesus would grow up to challenge Herod's power, status, and authority. Ironically, Jesus wanted none of those things. In fact, the life that Jesus lived was the exact template of Herod's greatest fears. If Herod lost his status and authority, he would have faced the prospect of having a child born in a feeding trough, of being forced to flee as a refugee, of living as a homeless person, and, ultimately, of being executed.

Most artistic depictions of this text in Matthew are depictions of genocide. But that should not be the focus of the story. The focus of the story is not Herod. In fact, Herod's act of genocide is not what causes this story to be a story that is remembered and retold, and most importantly, part of God's Word. The story is a holy story because of the other king in the story--the one who was born in a stable and lived as a refugee in Egypt. That king is the reason why the story is remembered and retold. Herod's name would not be remembered at all if it was not for the other king who did not seek after the power and authority that Herod sought after.

Our model is Jesus, not Herod. When we allow ourselves to be ruled by our fears and insecurities of power, status, and wealth, we turn into monsters who do things that are unthinkable. And we turn into dumb monsters and do things that, ironically, make it more likely that our greatest fears will come true. Being God's people is about letting go of our fears and insecurities and letting God's Spirit revive us and restore us to God's image.

There is good news in this story. And the good news is that despite the fact that our fears and insecurities cause us to do monstrous things, when you take away the fear and insecurity, we can, through God's Spirit, do marvelous things. We are God's children, and we were meant to do marvelous things. All that has to be stripped away is all the fear and insecurity. When these things go away, there is nothing left but God's image within us. Our nature, our destiny, is not to be like Herod, but to be like the other King in the story.