Pastor Ronald Wesemann Christmas Eve 2011, Herod the Great
That was not much of a welcome; I walk up here and you blow
out your candles, you stop singing and you all sit down. There was a day when I
was treated with great respect; it wasn’t that people loved me, but the surely feared
me. I’m not, what you would call, a religious man, probably not even a good man.
Your Bible, in fact, portrays me, Herod the Great, as an evil man, a puppet
king who ordered the slaughter of all of the young children in the region
surrounding Bethlehem. Well, maybe that explains your greeting; I guess, maybe
it is deserved; I did do some very bad things during my life; and if I had had
my way back then, if my plan had worked, you would not be here, celebrating
Christmas, tonight. There would be no Christmas, no Christianity; in my attempt
to get rid of, what I considered to be a threat to my rule as king, I would
have stopped Christianity before it started; unless, that is, God found another
way to get it going.
My part in the story begins sometime very near to the day
that the Messiah of God was born. It may have been a few nights before; it may
have been the very night that Jesus was born or it may have been a few days to
a month or two later; God knows! (Well) Here is what happened; one night late,
a group of Wise Men or they may have been kings, it doesn’t really matter, though
they did look the part of kings, they came to me looking for the newborn king. They
had traveled from far off kingdoms, following a most unusual star. The star was
brighter than most, but it also seemed to move until it come to rest over
Israel; but on the night that these men came to me it was cloudy and they had
lost sight of the star. These men had come to me, to my palace, seeking the
newborn king, assuming that a newborn king would be born in a palace, to a king.
I must admit their news was unsettling. I was the king and I had had no
newborns in my household; no children below the age of manhood. If these men
were correct in their understanding of the prophets and astrologers, there was
born in my kingdom a successor to my throne; and that I could not, I would not
allow.
But, I knew, I had to be crafty. These men had come a long
way to celebrate the birth; they had come to anoint the child king; they would
not be in favor of my hearts desire. I told them that the new king had not been
born in my palace and that I would need to consult with my advisors as to the
words of the prophets regarding such a birth. I provided the Kings with the
hospitality of my palace; I made them comfortable while they waited, feeding
them fancy delights and fine wines; keep your friends close, but keep your
enemies even closer; I was not sure whether they were friends or enemies, but I
was not going to take any chances.
My advisors gave to me good information; they found that the
prophets of old had foretold such a birth; the child was to be of the lineage
of David and was to born in the little city of Bethlehem. But before I went to
these travelers with this information, I thought it best to devise my plan; no
upstart king was going to threaten my place or the place of one of my sons on
the throne.
My plan was simple: I would enlist the help of these Wise
Men; I would give to them the information that they needed and directions to
Bethlehem and I would ask them to return here to me after visiting with the
child, so that we could celebrate together the birth; and after they told me
where to find the child (well at least this is what I would tell them) I would
myself go to pay homage to the newborn king. In all truth my intentions were to
kill the child, but they would never know my deceit. It was a good plan and the
men seemed to swallow it, hook, line and sinker.
I sent them on their way the next morning as per my plan. All
that was left for me to do was to wait for the Wise Men to return with the
information that I desired. But I waited, and I waited, and then I learned that
they had left by another way; could it be that they had learned my intentions?
Your Bible tells the story that an angel had warned them, in
a dream, of my intentions and so they went that different way. I was
fit-to-be-tied and in my anger I ordered the slaughter of all children of the
age and a little younger and a little older, all around the region of
Bethlehem.
But God’s plan to save the world would not be stopped by the
likes of me. Joseph was warned, also in a dream, of my intentions and so Mary,
Joseph and Jesus were long gone before my soldiers arrived to do their worst. And
I thank God every day because of that.
The birth of Jesus is the best thing to have ever happened
for our world. I am here with you today because Jesus gave, even to the likes
of me, one last chance to experience the love of God and salvation. To think
that Jesus, God’s Son, the Messiah and Savior was born in a stable, that he was
surrounded by animals and placed in a feeding troth and wrapped in pieces of
cloth (rags).
Today, I celebrate with you the birth of Jesus.
If only I had known, I would have set aside my evil; but I
didn’t and so many innocent lives were lost, causing so much pain and
heartache. If only I had known I would have joined the Kings with gifts of my
own and Jesus would not have had to know poverty and struggle. (But) Maybe that
is why God did not reveal these things to me. Jesus would not have been able to
do the things that he did had he lived a life of privilege, had he been catered
to and been protected from all suffering.
God knew what he was doing. Jesus birth in a stable, the
need for Mary, Joseph and Jesus to flee to Egypt, the later move back to
Nazareth, Jesus’ upbringing in the household of a craftsman all helped to
prepare Jesus for his later life of ministry. God knows what he is doing.
The Wise Men and the shepherds were truly blessed to have
had the opportunity to visit the newborn king, but I was not. That was my
greatest punishment. He was here, and I never saw him. He was here and I never
had the opportunity to worship him. In stead, I lived my life in fear, of any
who would take over my throne; I lived with evil in my heart and violence as my
legacy.
Jesus’ birth is the best thing that happened in my lifetime;
Jesus should have held all that I did against me; but Jesus offered, even me,
forgiveness.
Take the story of Christmas home with you today. Enjoy the
good news. Know that God came to us at Christmas so that he may save all of us,
me, you, everyone. Rejoice and celebrate the birth of Jesus; Merry Christmas!
