Materials

Searching For A Star #2


A Hope That Frightens
Matthew 2:1-10
by R. Todd Bouldin


One of the cruelest realizations about ourselves is how often we settle for what is not good for us, and how few times we embrace the things that are. We settle for what is, and we are frightened by the hope of what could be.

Prayer

If we just go by the ledger sheet, King Herod had a pretty efficient administration. Herod, they called him “The Great”, had been king of Judea for 40 years by the time that Christ was born. He kept the order and he developed significant building programs that included enormous improvements on the temple. Herod raised taxes and kept raising them to pay for his expansive building programs. Even though he took a lot from them, he also kept them from starving when times were hard. Herod had a talent for stealing from the people then making them grateful when he returned a morsel. Rome didn’t care because he was paying tribute into the empire’s coffers and he was keeping the peace at home. Herod’s job was to help people live with an occupying army – in other words, to help people live with how things are.

He may have stolen from the people and he may not have been the best of leaders, but he was predictable. At least, from Rome’s perspective, things were secure. For the people, it was better “to live with the devil you know instead of the devil you don’t know.” Herod wasn’t nearly as secure though. He was paranoid of losing power, and he murdered all those who could betray him including his own mother, wife and three of his four sons. That might explain why he killed all the small children in Bethlehem when the Wise Men came to town asking, “Where is He born King of the Jews?” Insecurity can cause us to settle for the most terrible things, and to perpetuate the most terrible of consequences.

Herod the Great. They loved him; they hated him. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that when Herod knew he was dying he arrested the elite citizens of Jerusalem and ordered them killed at the moment that he died so that he could know there were tears at his death. Herod the Great. Everybody loved what he could do for them, but everybody hated the cost.

In every one of our lives, there is some Herod that has gained some power. He lures us in, and the first thing we know we are calling this thing “great” or “fun” or “hot” or “satisfying.” We call it “great” because it does so much for us. It makes us feel secure, helps us to cope with the way things are, or it gives us a moment of pleasure in an otherwise dull or painful life. It has been around for a long time, and it is costing you a lot. Herod is the name of whatever it is that offers you something that you crave at a price you cannot afford. In the new Disney movie Narnia, which I highly recommend, the witch of Narnia offers Turkish delights to the young boy Edmund. She gives him one and no more. She said that he would have to follow her in order to have more. She didn’t give him more because she “didn’t want to ruin his appetite.” As long as you have an unfilled craving, Herod will rule your life. You love what it does for you; you hate what it costs you. But as taxing as it is, you just keep paying. You wouldn’t want to ruin your appetite.

For some of us, Herod is a workaholic drive to achieve. Now there certainly isn’t anything wrong with success, unless you are set on achieving it at any cost. That is called an addiction. Maybe you started out working hard just to make your parents proud, or to leave a lasting contribution in your industry or to the church, or maybe to build your own business. But somewhere along the way, you started missing the soccer games for your son, or the ballet of your daughter, or the dinner with friends, and vacations were interrupted with the cell phone and beeper. The awards, the promotions, the salary kept coming to you. No one can build a career for you like Herod can. It feels good for a while, but then the losses start to pile up, and the walls around your home begin to fall, and any semblance of life begins to dry up, and you realize that Herod has cost you your life.

For some of us Herod is not so much about what we have achieved but what we haven’t. It may be some addiction to hurt or pain. You did not deserve the hurt, and maybe you did nothing to cause your life to be in such a mess. Maybe something happened a long time ago. You tried to forget it but the hurt still pops up at the worst of times … when you are tired, or lonely, or stressed. You tried even to forgiven and get on with life, but you seem to never succeed. You always seem to end up back at the place of rejection, hurt, or depression. You wouldn’t know who you are without this hurt. “I’m the rejected one.” “People always dislike me.” “People misunderstand me.” “No one will love me.” You try to get rid of it but then you nurse it right back into life again. We hate the feeling, but we love the security of it. The hurt makes you afraid to trust others, it makes you cynical of any person in authority, or it has sabotaged the possibility of love in your life more times than you can admit. It’s an easy way to excuse our failure to do things differently, to accept life and move forward, to start living out of hope and not dread. It’s amazing how secure we can get with this thing. Once that happens to you, Herod is running your life, and his reign is taking away any life that you have ounce by ounce, hurt by hurt. Can you see what it is costing you?

Herod can be the alcohol that you abuse on the nights when life seems dark, it can be the spouse that abuses you or cheats on you, the job that is tearing you apart, or some enslaving sin that just won’t go away. But in spite of everything that it is costing you, you just can’t let it go. Security is one of our deepest human needs, and we’ll keep returning to the predictable and secure no matter how costly it is. Even if it takes away our life.

Herod will do anything to stay in control of our lives. He will feed you some Turkish Delights to make you want some more, to keep you blind to the costs, until it is too late to see that we are enslaved to death because we surely are not living a life.

Out of this miserable security, some wise men started to ask, “Where is He who is born King of the Jews?” Matthew says that the news of the Christ child was frightening to both Herod and to all of Jerusalem too. It is understandable why Herod would be frightened. This one could take away his throne. But why were the people frightened at such news? It wasn’t because they were happy with Herod, but because they had settled for him. We always prefer the misery we know to the mystery we do not – the devil we know to the Savior we do not. We may know we are in bondage, but that doesn’t mean that we want to be delivered.

It always has been difficult for people to leave the predictability of Jerusalem for the mystery of Bethlehem. Jesus did not come into the world to give you a holiday from serving Herod, or to help you live with Herod. He came into the world to deliver you from Herod.

Herod is aware of the revolutionary and transforming nature of having Christ born into our lives. It is why he is still at work in your sins, your addictions, and your hurts to extinguish God’s hope. Herod knows that Jesus is the only one that can free you to enjoy all of the blessings of life that are yours but that you are too addicted to see. He is the only one who can free you to forgive the hurt that is sucking your life away, that only one who can help you to stop settling for life as it is and to hope for life as it can be. This is not a life of achievement, happiness and pleasure but a life freed to live as God created you to be. You can stop living in the way that leads to death. You can be fully alive.

In the arrival of the child of Bethlehem, you can find the way to freedom and hope. It may look like Herod is still in charge. But this babe of Bethlehem became a man, He saw all of the lousy deals we have made with Herod, and He proclaimed another way called the Kingdom of God. Because that Kingdom was so threatening to the predictability and security of the old one, they crucified Him and wrote above His cross “King of the Jews”. But He rose from the dead to proclaim that nothing can kill our hope.

You may be tempted to return to the bottle, or to the sex, or to old pain, or to the need to achieve this week. Herod still is on the throne. But once you leave Jerusalem and begin the journey towards the King of the Jews in Bethlehem, you will never belong to Herod again. You will go back towards Jerusalem sometimes, and you will be tempted to settle for the way it is. But God will not let you settle for anything less than freedom. After Christmas, this struggle is no longer between you and Herod.

No more let sin, or sorrow grow.
Nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make His righteousness known
As far as the curse is found, as far as the curse is found.

Joy to the world
The Lord has come!

He is risen. He is engaged in the battle. Don’t ever settle for how it is. The King of Judah is here. Embrace your coming Hope.


December 11, 2005

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