Herod wields power over just about everyone else in the story of Advent and the Nativity. 

As puppet king employed by the occupying Roman army, Herod would have been the enforcer of penalties had Joseph neglected to go to Bethlehem for registration in the census. 

Fear of him drives the Holy Family to Egypt. 

Relief over his death brings the Holy Family back to Israel – but apprehension over his replacement (his son), propels them from Judea to Galilee.

The Magi, those mysterious wise aristocrats from “the East”, recognize Herod as the undisputed regional authority figure and go to him for information about the birth of the Messiah. 

Herod can’t help them – but they unwittingly help Herod unleash genocidal rage on a generation of local boy babies. 

Warned in a dream, they do not return to Herod after finding and worshiping Jesus. Instead, they go home by another road, leaving Herod to vent his murderous frustration by massacring innocent children.

The Big Picture, Marred

To put it bluntly: Herod is the darkness in the narrative of the Light of the World dawning. 

Herod is the violent temper tantrum, opposing the Prince of Peace. 

Herod is the would-be-interrupter of Salvation, the demanding distractor from hope, the fraudulent monarch who would not bow before the King of kings.

Herod is the antithesis of the shepherds on the hillside. 

That raggedy group whose world was rocked by angel proclamations and whose lives were transformed by encounter with newborn God-Man – they live into the Kingdom eagerly, hungrily. 

But where the shepherds receive and believe from their place of awed humility, Herod rejects and denies from his place of entrenched entitlement.

If Herod had had his way, Christmas would have been the end of the Christ story; salvation would have been still-born. 

If Herod had had his way, we would all still be lost in the darkness.

History and Here-and-Now

Herod was a real person – a flesh and blood man who lived and died on specific dates, whose dubious distinctions are recorded by various historians.

But here’s the catch: Herod is also an ongoing attitude – a way of seeing the world and experiencing reality. 

He’s an ever-present menace, prowling the edges of the Incarnation, armed to the teeth and itching to destroy.

Herod, the man, is long dead. 

Herod, the attitude, is alive and well and stirring up Hell this very moment.

Herod embodies what it means to “live by the flesh” – Paul’s way of describing living other than by / for / through the abiding Holy Spirit. 

Herod’s priorities – power, privilege, personal pleasure – exemplify the best that this world has to offer. 

Herod’s methods – self-aggrandizement, self-protection, self-adulation – literally embody worldliness, and especially the Cult of Me which is the eternally enticing alternative to the worship of the One True God.

Look around, and you will see Herod. He’s the one draining gift-giving of its glory, making credit card debt the single biggest take-away of the season.

Listen, and you will hear Herod. He’s the voices fomenting hatred. He’s the chorus insinuating that human heresies are the real religion, that there is no need for salvation, that sin is simply one more old-fashioned lie… 

Lean in, and you will realize: his denials demonstrate how desperate humanity always is for something – Someone! – beyond ourselves. Someone Who has real answers. Someone Who offers real hope. Someone NOT Herod.

Involuntary Colluders

We do not mean to, but you and I embrace Herod when we use social media to denigrate others made in God’s image.

You and I nurture Herod when we opt for silence in the face of others being attacked.

You and I perpetuate Herod’s legacy when we make Christmas about “me and mine” rather than about God’s family and making room for those who’ve been shut out in the cold.

But we don’t have to allow ourselves to be co-opted into Herod’s service. It’s a choice. And deep down inside, we know better.

Stay Away

Scripture teaches that the only way to avoid being destroyed by Herod, the man, was to stay away. 

Think about it – Mary and Joseph, the infant Jesus, the Magi – they survived because they stayed away from Herod.

Experience suggests that it’s similar with Herod, the attitude.

Stay away from those gatherings – in person or online – where Herod will be central.

Stay away from those people – in person or online – whose assumptions of entrenched entitlement witness to worldliness. To lies.

Stay away from movies, shows, playlists, podcasts, sporting events, whatever, where Herod’s imprimateur will give credence to values that aren’t.

Stay away.

Draw Near

And also… draw near. 

Draw near, like the shepherds, obedient and expectant and totally authentic in humble need.

Draw near, like the Wise Men, awed by wisdom beyond your own and reverent before holiness above your own and expectant because you know your own heart and you know this is the healing. This is the balm!

Draw near, like Mary and Joseph, counting the cost but also surrendering to the floodtide of love that cannot be lost.

Draw near to the One who defeated Herod – the man and the attitude – once, for all.

Herod has nothing to offer but more of the rotted, poisoned sameness that prompted Christ’s birth in the first place.

But Jesus… Jesus has everything to offer. Jesus IS everything, and He offers Himself. 

He offers Himself!

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing!