Matthew 2:13-18
It is incredibly difficult to comprehend the kind of actions that are, well, the only real good description for them is, evil. Herod ordering the slaughters of all children two years old and younger is one of those actions.
In the midst of the feel-good story of Christmas, where we have rejoicing shepherds and visiting magi, we get a stark reminder of why Christmas was necessary. Evil is very much alive in the world.
And yet, I cannot help but think that evil is not what we tend to think of. Hollywood paints pictures of villainous, pure evil types who do evil just because it is evil. And yet, so often the ones who do unspeakable kinds of things are often not the ones we would think of as "the type." I've known a number of people who, based on something they've done many would call them monsters or horrible people, and yet when you separate them from that particular action, you really wouldn't find them to be all that bad. But then they do something so totally inexplicable and horrible and you cannot begin to imagine that this person could do such a thing. There had to be a mistake, right?
Want to know a great example? I can't say I know these people, guess you could say I know of them. These were not what you would call evil people. And yet, I don't think you and I can even begin to fathom the kind of suffering and misery that, at least in some part you could lay at their feet. In fact, if you really wanted to compare, the end results of what Herod did really pale in comparison. With Herod, there was grief and misery for a period, and time went on. But these two... we're still pretty much reeling from the consequences today, and it's safe to say that generations from now the same will be true. And yet, it all seemed so innocent and you really wouldn't think that they were capable of evil. And who would think of eating a piece of fruit as something evil? Yet, what Adam and Eve did, at best, started a snowball effect that, really, had a pretty integral impact on even the most heinous acts of evil throughout history.
It seems pretty ludicrous to compare a simple act of disobedience to mass murder. But when you really examine it all, there's a striking similarity. Obviously, we don't know Herod, we don't know what he was like, his personality, any of that. It's hard to imagine, but somewhere there had to be some pieces of goodness somewhere. I say that because I think ultimately you will find that everyone has at least a glimmer of decency somewhere within them. For some, you have to look a lot harder than others, but I do believe it may have been there. And yet, the one thing we do know is of this terrible evil that he did, that here was a man who was so threatened by the potential challenge to his power that he did the unspeakable.
I can imagine that being a ruler while being subject to the Roman Empire would do much to create a sense of paranoia, as you never know when the winds of change would put you out of favor and thus, out of power (not to mention that being put out of power typically went hand in hand with out of life). Don't get me wrong, I am not by any means trying to find any justification or excuse for Herod's actions. I'm making some pretty simple conclusions here, that here's a man who enjoys the position and status he has and as much as he is able he's going to protect that. He moves to protect self, and self becomes the most important thing, overriding all others. Self overrides the children, mothers, fathers, families and communities. Self trumps all.
How was Eve enticed to take the fruit? It was a pretty strong appeal to self. You will be like God. That's pretty much every bit of power, prestige, status one could want, all rolled up into a nice little piece of fruit. I believe they pretty much had little or no concept of self up to that point. They were totally unaware of their nakedness, they had no concept of nakedness equaling shame. And then, everything changes. All of a sudden, self becomes everything. Especially self to the exclusion of others, something that really becomes the root of all kinds of evil.
I know, love of money is supposed to be the root of all kinds of evil. But think about it, isn't that a form of self centeredness, self importance, self priority? Isn't that pretty much the definition of greed, when gain for self becomes more important than the welfare of others? You could spend a lot of time seeing the paralells of greed, lust, power, and it all comes down to self trumping all else.
Think of something terrible you've done. I'm pretty sure there's something somewhere you've done that you look back and think, I cannot believe I could do such a thing. No, it wasn't the mass murder of innocent children. As you did it, wasn't there some point where you just had to shut out any thought of others and of God, just to be able to do it? I can think of times where it became a matter of something I wanted so much that I had to block out all thought of God and all thought of anyone that would be affected just so that I could do what I needed to do to get what I wanted. At those moments, self trumped all. Self was the ultimate decider, it was dominant over rock, paper or scissor, and it was unwavering.
And it didn't matter how it affected friends, family, anyone. Self wins.
And then, the Dr. Phil question comes up: How's that working out for you? Not so good, right? But then wouldn't we get a clue somewhere? Sure, we have our good moments. Lots of them. Usually we think we probably do well more than we don't, yet... time and time again Self rears its head. And we're back at it again.
And what we find is, evil is alive and well within us. It's not just Herod. It's not just Hitler. It's not just Adam and Eve. No, we don't think our evil is anywhere near the scale of Hitler. But it can be just as destructive, just in different ways.
Herod's actions bring out the reason for the necessity of Christmas. The coming of Christ was to deal exactly with the issue of evil. But it's not the evil of Herod or any other despot. Not just, anyway. It's the issue of evil that we all struggle with.
Thank God.
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