Christmas is special time with egg nog, cookies, and in my family’s case, tamales. It’s not just food or presents or parties that should cause us to swoon and be nostalgic for peace on earth and good will towards men. But somewhere between decking the halls and rocking around the Christmas tree, the reason why we celebrate becomes as confusing as what’s in Christmas fruit cake.

This week I’m geeking out and sharing on various characters of the Christmas story. As a teacher and lover of the Word, I want to prepare us for the true reason for the season. We get to celebrate the birthday of the most amazing kid in recorded history. A kid who was perfect and knew it?! Uh, can we say AWESOME?

Each day we will explore people in the Christmas narrative to give us a better picture of the entry of the Christ-child to our beautiful world…

The book of Matthew records some amazing intricacies regarding the birth of Jesus. The juxtaposition between one king and a future king is nothing short of something Shakespeare would do! But we see the introduction to the announcement of Kings of Kings at the end of Matthew 1 and the reaction of another king in chapter 2.  “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of Herod the King” [2:1]. No two men could ever stand in starker contrast. And so we begin…

Herod. Herod the Great was the founder of a dynasty that played a key role in Gospel history. We meet dear Herod when he was ripe in age and nearing the end of his life when he rolls onto the scene in a geriatric walker in Matthew 2.

As king, Herod was both brutal and decisive, punishing or executing his enemies, and rewarding his friends. Rivals were murdered. Informants were rewarded. This was basically a scene from Game of Thrones and he was the main character.

While Herod’s power was growing, his control over himself and his family was slipping [a la the Kennedy dynasty]. Herod had married ten wives and had a number of sons. While these sons schemed to gain the throne, his wives hatched plots and counterplots. Herod became more and more suspicious and paranoid, even torturing his sons’ friends to discover any plots against his own life.

Herod’s own character as a plotter who never hesitated to resort to murder was being reproduced in his family, and this led to the aging tyrant’s own sense of terror and fear. Herod finally had the two sons of his favorite wife, Mariamne, executed by strangulation in the very city where he had married their mother 30 years earlier. Antipater, Herod’s oldest son and designated heir, tried to poison his father and was put in chains.

When nearly 70 years old, Herod was stricken with an incurable disease.

It was at this time, shortly before his death, that Herod heard of wise men who were seeking to worship the newborn King of the Jews. Herod summoned the wise men and made them promise to report the whereabouts of the child so he could “go and worship Him” [Matt. 2:8]. The dying man still struggled to grasp the power that had brought him and his family only suspicion, hatred, and death!

[Hang on, this novela is getting even better!]

God warned the wise men to return home another way. And God warned Joseph to flee with the Christ Child to Egypt. Herod, realizing that the wise men had returned to the East without reporting to him, had all the male children of Bethlehem two years old and under killed!

Herod’s dream of power and glory had turned into a nightmare. The desperate king struggled to the last to maintain control over his kingdom, long after he had lost control over himself. And so he died.

Jesus. As the hateful old man was living his last days in the splendor of a marble palace, a Child was born in a stable. The Child would grow up in a small town far from the seat of power. He would become a carpenter, to live and labor in obscurity for 30 years.  He would raise no army. He would seek no earthly glory. He would ultimately humble Himself and accept death at the hands of selfish men who saw Him as a threat to their place and their power.

And yet, through it all He would be a King.

A Servant King.

A King in whom you and I find, not only our redemption, but a pathway to the unique dominion over ourselves and our circumstances to which God has destined humankind.

Join us tomorrow as we explore more details surrounding the birth of sweet baby Jesus! In the mean time, what are some ways YOU are celebrating Christmas? What are you doing to prepare for the worldwide party to celebrate Jesus?