Today we talk about Herod and the 3 dozen or so babies he killed. Paranoid, insecure, crazy-person!
Matthew 2:13-23; Hebrews 2:10-18; Psalm 148; Isaiah 63:7-9
This is one of those gospel lessons that makes pastor’s cringe. I mean two days ago, we had a wonderful happy service. We heard the good news of God’s salvation for His people; we saw the infant Jesus in the manger; we sang hymns in praise of God’s goodness. And now, Herod kills all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of two. It makes you wonder why in the world Matthew felt like even mentioning it in the first place.
Before we get into that though, I first want to mention that this is not at all out of character for Herod. Herod “the Great” was a man of opposites. He was a native of Judea, born in the south of Palestine, and was a practicing Jew. His father, Antipater, happened to be implicated in the murder of Julius Caesar, which caused some issues for him when Marc Antony and Augustus came out on top in the civil war. Antipater was poisoned, and Herod was the one who brought the assassin to justice. Somehow, however, Herod managed to convince Caesar that Antipater was coerced into giving support to Julius Caesar’s murderers, and Herod ended up ruler over Galilee.
After a man named Antigonus took the throne from Herod, he appealed to Rome and was appointed King of the Jews around 40 BC. Some time before this, he had married a woman named Doris and had a son named Antipater, but upon his return to Jerusalem, he banished both of them and married Mariamne instead. Around ten years later, Herod put his wife on trial for adultery and had her killed, along with her mother. He then executed his brother in law for conspiracy, and married a daughter of the high priest Simon in 23 BC.
Yet among all this brutality, he endeared himself to the Jews by renovating and expanding the Temple in Jerusalem, beginning work on it around 20 BC. However, in 8BC, Herod accused two of his sons by Mariamne (his second wife) of treason and executed them. Three years later his first son, Antipater, was executed for treason as well.
It should be no surprise, with that many accusations of treason against his only family, that Herod was considered more than a little paranoid. So, when some travelers from the East showed up one day saying, “Hey, we saw a star in the sky and are wondering where the newborn King of the Jews is?” Herod was a little miffed. So he figured out where the messiah was supposed to be born and told the Magi to go on a little hunt, and then to come back and tell him where he was. Now knowing Herod, does that sound like a setup or what?
Now, since God warned the Magi not to go back to Herod, he was a lot more miffed. He knew there was someone out around Bethlehem who was supposed to have his title as King of the Jews, and he didn’t like it. So, in an effort to get rid of threats to his rule, much like he’d done with his own family, he sent troops to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding region who would have been about the right age, according to the Magi.
Throughout Christian history, these children, likely no more than thirty in total, are regarded as the first martyrs. They were the first to die for Jesus, however unwillingly or unknowingly. Theirs may have been the first deaths for Jesus’ sake, but they definitely weren’t the last. In Acts 7, Stephen is stoned by the Sanhedrin for proclaiming Christ, followed by James the brother of John and many others in Acts 12. Christians in the Roman Empire continued to die for Jesus’ sake until Constantine legalized Christianity in 313, and surprisingly enough to us, many Christians wrote about their disappointment that they wouldn’t be martyred!
Martyrdom continues today of course. In some southeast Asian countries, Christians are jailed just for going to church. In some strict Islamic countries, being a Christian is a capital offense, punishable by stoning. But the persecution of Christians isn’t always that severe. In our own country Christians are often mocked. When I was growing up I had friends who had their crosses ripped off their necks in school.
There’s a reason why Jesus said his followers were going to be persecuted. In the beatitudes he says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name’s sake.” This leads me to wonder then, how much of a follower am I? How often, outside of this building, do I really take a stand for Jesus, risking mockery, judgment, or more in His Name. I’ll be the first to admit persecution, of whatever kind scares me, but I also know it scared the early Church, too. I mean a good portion of the New Testament is written to people experiencing persecution, but it didn’t let them stop them.
I’m afraid of someone thinking I’m stupid for believing in Jesus; they were afraid of being fed to lions for the amusement of the people of Rome. But they were encouraged by knowing that whatever was done to them, Jesus knew what it was like. Whatever was done to them, there was something better to come that far exceeded their own experience. Did you know the martyred Christians often died singing hymns of praise to God? Can you imagine the witness that would be? I can only pray for the Holy Spirit to grant me, and all of us, the same boldness.