and you thought the grinch was bad!

whenever people try and romanticize CHRISTmas and make it seem like a story that you might see on the lifetime or hallmark channel, it would behoove them to read "the rest of the story".  most people stop at the leaving of the magi, and they miss the portion of the story that sets the pace for the rest of Jesus's life here on earth.  the story briefly touches on this next character up until this point, but we do not see the true depth of who he was until we read on.  the person is herod the great. 

herod the great, though not to be confused with his son herod antipas, whom Jesus would interact with during His trial before crucifixion, was the ruling tetrarch of galilee.  herod was put in place during the reign of mark antony, and caused much dischord among the jews, being that he was not a pure blood, his mother being arabian.  herod also knew who his source of authority was, and catered to the romans.  once he took the throne, herod stripped power from the jewish aristocracy, although claiming to follow the jewish faith.  he was repeatedly accused of being "too greek", in his architecture choices and behaviour, which further irritated the jews.  he was very ambitious, building whole cities, including caesarea, which was a play to the new roman emperor caesar augustus.  one of his crowning achievements was rebuilding the temple in jerusalem as well as the amphitheatre where the sanhedrin would meet, but he also built many temples to the pantheon of gods, including the temple to the roman emperor. 

herod's thirst for power and continual challenges to his authority resulted in his becoming paranoid, eventually having two of his sons executed.  even caesar rhetorted, "it is better to be a pig in herod's house, than to be one of his sons!"  this thirst for power caused him to become very intrigued when a group of foreigners with a large procession asking about the birth place of the new king of the jews caused a stir in jerusalem.  we know from matthew's gospel that herod immediately had the magi brought before him and asked about this new king they were seeking.  he sought the help of the scribes who informed him that the Messiah was to be born in bethlehem, and then shrewdly ascertained from the magi's story that it was approximately two years earlier that the star first appeared signifying the Messiah's birth. 

here's where it gets interesting.  this is where we see the shift from a lifetime movie to something that you would find on cinemax.  herod, in an effort to protect his throne from anyone that could usurp him, had his soldiers go to bethlehem and slaughter every male child two years old and younger.  this has been referred to by ancient historians as the slaughter of the innocents.  imagine you are sitting in your home, watching your 11 month old son crawl around on the floor, as my wife and i do on a daily basis, and a soldier opens your door, walks in, draws his sword, and beheads your son right in front of you, then walks out.  this is the atrocity that herod ordered.  there was no room in his life for any king but him. 

many are like that today.  sure, there are those that are like caesar:  oblivious to the birth of the CHRIST, and happy to stay that way.  but there are others that are adamant on destroying the influence of CHRIST in theirs or anyone else's lives.  they are the ones that are fighting today to scrub the season of any reference to the birth of CHRIST.  they are the ones that file lawsuits against towns to remove their nativity scenes.  they are the minority, yet they act like everyone else should bow to them as supreme ruler.  so how do we as CHRISTians handle those people?

there are those that will tell you that we must stand up and fight them.  but history has shown that this is usually futile.  while you might win a battle, by yourself you will lose the war with them.  the answer lies in Scripture (novel idea, huh?)  the Bible says that vengeance is the Lord's, not ours.  the Bible even tells us that when we are persecuted for our faith, we are to turn the other cheek.  this is not a popular answer among CHRISTians today, but never the less, it is the Biblical answer.  does this mean that we are not to take a stand for CHRIST?  absolutely not!  we are commanded to stand for CHRIST, and we are to share that faith with the world.  but it does mean that we should not be surprised when we face adversity for it.  Jesus even said that He came not to bring peace, but to bring a sword.  the peace that the angels spoke of was not the world peace that all the pageant models long for, but rather peace between God and man through His Son's sacrifice. 

the jewish historian josephus tells us that in his last days, herod grew increasingly paranoid due to an illness (many believe it to be syphillis based on the description given) and in the end, went completely mad.  he would scream and cover his ears, saying that he could not get the screams of children out of his head.  he died a howling, tortured madman.  today, it is probably not much different for him.  he is probably still in torment, never finding the peace that we can know if we take ourselves off the throne of our lives and yield the seat to the CHRIST of CHRISTmas!