Matthew 2 is certainly a passage I have read before. I've probably at some point in 30 something years of Christmas pageants recited Matthew 2. But as God's word often will, I was stopped this year in my reading at a phrase I hadn't really examined before. It was verse 3: "When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;...". I knew that King Herod reacted in evil ways following the announcement of Jesus' birth. Somehow, I had missed Matthew's commentary about his motivation. He was afraid. And he passed his anxiety along to the people who served him. What about Jesus' birth announcement provoked such fear in Herod? Surely it was the title that the Magi gave the new baby: King of the Jews. After all, that title currently belonged to Herod. And Herod wasn't the kind of guy who was going to share his title, or his throne. Herod wasn't in the temple regularly fasting and praying alongside Simeon and Anna, "awaiting the consolation of Israel." He was consoling Israel just fine, thank you, without God's interference. But surely Herod was aware of the prophecy? I don't know...I supposed skeptics and unbelievers abound in every generation. Somehow, I think in that moment Herod became a true believer. There was a King in Israel, and it just occured to him that Herod wasn't his name.
Jesus is King. What does that mean? Is it still true? If it is true, so what? How many "kings" on earth right now have real power? Author and priest N.T. Wright says that if Jesus is King, it means that Herod is not. And that's what frightened Herod. Thing is, it didn't have to. It could have been a relief. If Herod had seen his role as shepherding Israel until the day that God restored the throne of David for all eternity, then joy would have been his reaction, not fear. God's kingship only threatens those who have power to maintain. But for those who would bend to the name of Jesus, they find all the power they need in His kingdom.
Herod quickly figured out what all humanity eventually discovers: "God also highly exalted [Jesus] and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11)
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