A Lenten Reading of Matthew - Day Three

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2:1-23 (NRSVUE)

This is the dark part of the Christmas story.  King Herod is a client king of the Roman Empire over the territory of Judea.  Although raised Jewish, he must have believed that his true allegiance was to Augustus Caesar in Rome.  Augustus often used the title "son of a god" as he was the adopted son of Julius Caesar who considered himself divine.

Herod likely believed that in order to retain power, he must bend the knee.  While most Judeans of that day were hopeful for the Messiah to come and free them from foreign domination, Herod becomes frightened when he hears this news.

A Jewish leader instilled with the hope of God would rejoice at the coming of the Messiah. This would be seen as synonymous with God's reign.

Instead, Herod feels threatened and massacres the infants around Bethlehem, hoping to eliminate his rival.  His actions remind of those of Pharoah who had Jewish babies killed in the book of Exodus.  So rather than ushering in freedom for the people under his charge, Herod takes away their hope by killing their children.  He is an anti-Messiah or anti-Christ.

It is easy to see and root against Herod's villainy.  But the difficult question it presents revolves around the slippery slope of maintaining one's status, power or prestige.  People may sometimes make decisions that become more and more questionable until they ask themselves, "How did I get here?"

These usually start out with minor indiscretions.

As we continue in Lent, let us take a moment to ask ourselves, "Where are we going?"  What kind of goals do we have as people?  Do we include religious or spiritual goals as a part of these?

It is never bad to review one's life from time to time and Lent is the season for this kind of reflection.  This may keep us from ending in a place we would regret.  No healthy person wants to be remembered for their bad behavior.

Prayer for the day:

Lord, be with us this day,
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.

Amen.

Prayer by Patrick of Ireland, 5th Century

Photo by RK Bentley via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.