Morgan preached from Matthew 2 today. Morgan started with the story of John Graham Burge, an American police detective for the Chicago police department who was found guilty of having "directly participated in or implicitly approved the torture" of at least 118 people in police custody in order to force false confessions. He was later convicted, but this is a very real event from our time where a man took advantage of his authority. Our history has many examples of where this has happened. Abuse of power is a very real thing. Power can become the weapon of the insecure. With great power comes great responsibility. In today's world, many don't handle power well. We are always looking for control. Power infused with insecurity creates a real threat. From Matthew 2, we see all of this with King Herod.
Morgan titled his talk today "A Tale of Two Kings"; Herod, who inherited his power, and Jesus, the only King.
We looked at Herod, Jesus and the Magi from the East. I know in the past, I have read this as "The Christmas Story" and never really dug into it like we did today.
Let's start with King Herod. When the Magi came looking for the new king, Herod was deeply disturbed. He was a paranoid, unstable man who had 3 of his sons killed and his wife killed. He was terrified of this new baby that was born who some were saying was a king. When your power is threatened, you can do unthinkable things.
Does a little of King Herod live in all of us? Do we sometimes hate, feel jealous and try to take control of our lives and call all the shots? Do we have 2 kings at war within us? When we act like King Herod, are we jockeying for power in our own lives? What is it in your own life, that you can't let go of? Jesus can rescue us from our own insecurity.
Dale Bruner said it best. "Herod is not dead; Herod lives on in us, the people of God. The exaggerated ambitions, pretensions, self-centeredness, greed for position, grudge against God, guile (craftiness), and finally human cruelty and insensitivity-the fruit of our war with God-must be contented with even by Christians until the Last Judgement. There are two kings at war in the world and in all of us- Herod and Christ. We know who will win, but meanwhile the battle rages . Herod is here in the scripture partly as a warning to the Christian reader of who he or she, in no little measure, still is."
Herod knows he has been tricked. He is fearful so he puts fear into everyone by ordering all boys under age 2 in the area killed. Can you hear the mama's cries? This is systemic injustice at it's finest. Do you think the people wondered where God was and how this could happen? We live in a fallen world just like they did back in this time. Pain and suffering are all around us and yet God is still working. It's so hard to live life in the present and be attentive to what God is doing even in the midst of pain and suffering.
We do know of 1 little boy who survived the massacre and he saved the world. All this takes place to fulfill the scriptures.
Then we looked at the Magi from the East. They came with excitement looking for the new King. They were from Babylon which is Iraq today. This is the first encounter Jesus has with ethnic outsiders. Magi's where despised. They were pagan astrologers with great wealth. This is a perfect example of God's grace and kindness drawing ethnic outsiders to him. They are on a long journey that is not convenient, and not safe. And still, the Magi were full of joy searching for the truth. When they found him, they bowed down and worshipped him. Matthew 28:17. This is our purpose. WE are to be worshippers of Jesus. We are to lay our best at his feet. Matthew 2:12 talks about how the Magi were warned to go home a different way and not back to Herod. They also went "another way" because they were transformed. This is discipleship. Another interesting point from today.....after this point in Matthew, Herod is only referred to as Herod and not King Herod.
We wrapped up by looking at Jesus our refugee King. When you think about it, the first Christmas is terrifying. There was a teen pregnancy that could have been punishable by death, Joseph had to flee to Egypt with his family, they had to protect Jesus from being killed by Herod's order, and they became refugees in a foreign land. JESUS IS the immigrant story! How we treat immigrants matters to God.
In verses 19-20 we look at after Herod died. Joseph, Mary and Jesus were headed back to Israel when they detoured to Galilee and ended up in Nazareth. Nazareth isn't even mentioned in the old testament. It was an insignificant, small town. This is also a part of the story of Jesus. As Morgan said, "Jesus came from the hood." Jesus was a refugee, on the run who ended up in a Podunk town. This also fulfilled the scriptures. The humble way Jesus came to be matters. We should us this to shape our discipleship and behavior.
Matthew is also telling us that we cannot have a neutral response to Jesus. Jesus cannot sit in the passenger seat of our lives. Who will you model your life after? What do you need to let go of and let God take over.
