CHRISTMAS FOCUS
IN MATTHEW: HEROD
MATTHEW 2:1-18
INTRODUCTION… “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” [video clip] [2:03] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27I3AN0XwP8
I. THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS
The song you just heard is based on Dr Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” It is a very descriptive song about a creature that hates Christmas and causes problems for the Whos of Whoville in this classic children’s’ Christmas story. The Grinch is a bitter, grouchy, cave-dwelling green monster with a heart "two sizes too small" who lives on snowy Mount Crumpit far above Whoville. From his cave, the Grinch can hear the noisy Christmas festivities that take place in Whoville. He decides to stop Christmas from coming by stealing their presents, trees, and food for their Christmas celebrations. Everything is gone when the Whos wake up to celebrate the holiday.
The song describes the horrible Grinch as:
Cuddly as a cactus
Brain is full of spiders
Charming as an eel
Heart is full of unwashed socks
A bad banana with a greasy black peel
King of sinful sots
Soul is full of gunk
Your heart's a dead tomato squashed with moldy purple spots
And toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce
In the story, the Grinch is a creature against Christmas. The Grinch takes active steps to thwart the celebration of Christmas. The Grinch believes by removing decorations and presents and food that the Christmas holiday will be ruined for Whos in Whoville. In the story (not to give away the end), the Grinch is successful at stealing the “things” of Christmas, but not the spirit of Christmas present in the hearts of the Whos in Whoville.
Today we are going to look at Matthew 2 and the story of the very first Christmas. Christmas means “celebration of the birth of Jesus.” When Jesus was born, we find someone there playing the role of the Grinch in a very real way. We find someone present at the birth of Jesus trying to steal away what God was doing.
II. THE KING WHO TRIED TO KILL CHRISTMAS
Let’s read bout the king who tried to kill Jesus. The passage is a little long so I want to read some and then take a look at what we are finding with this king who tried to kill the baby Jesus.
READ MATTHEW 2:1-3
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Immediately as we read this chapter, we find King Herod being disturbed at the birth of a child. The English word “disturbed” is a little tame for what Herod was feeling. The words “in turmoil,” “terrified,” and “greatly agitated” are probably better descriptions. The magi came and said a king had been born to the Jews. King Herod was known for being threatened by all who sought leadership over the Jews. At minimum, he killed two of his brother-in-laws, his wife, his mother-in-law, and two sons all because he was protective of his throne. The birth of this child threatened him especially when the magi call this baby “the king of the Jews.”
These verses also tell us the people of Jerusalem were also troubled. We aren’t sure why they are disturbed, but I can imagine that when King Herod got disturbed everyone around him took out a life insurance policy or ran away.
READ MATTHEW 2:4-8
4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 6 "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
King Herod is definitely threatened by this baby. He should have been overjoyed that the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised King was born. And yet, he was not. King Herod decided to be in direct opposition to the plan that God had been weaving together since the Garden of Eden. Herod decides to send his visitors on their way and use them to find the Christ child.
His plan is not to bring them diapers.
His plan is not to bring them a crib for the baby.
His plan is not to extend warm well wishes for the baby and the family.
READ MATTHEW 2:9-15
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
The magi leave the king and use their sky gazing skills to find Jesus. I do not want to talk too much about the Magi because they are who we are talking about next week! The magi find Jesus and His family and they do the opposite of what King Herod wants to do. The Magi bow down and worship Jesus. They give due to Jesus what is due Him as the Christ and the Son of God. Herod’s plan is not to bow down and worship, but to seek and destroy.
His plan is to kill the baby.
His plan is to hunt down the parents and get rid of them.
His plan is to secure his place on the throne by any means necessary.
READ MATTHEW 2:16-18
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."
The situation seems to be that a half-crazed king is outwitted by those he would use as pawns and his is angry. Herod enacts a plan to try and kill the baby who was born. The magi told him when the star appeared and Herod kills all the baby boys in and around Bethlehem that are toddlers and newborns. He kills them all. I did some digging and there is no way to know how many children were killed. Bethlehem was a small town and the countryside was not populated. Some said 20 children. Some said a little more. In the end, the numbers really do not matter. King Herod in trying to get rid of Jesus killed any child that fit His description or was even close.
Herod knew who Jesus was, the Messiah, and chose to try and kill Him rather than worship Him. Herod chose to try and derail the plan of God rather than accept it. Herod chose himself and his desires instead of God’s plan. Please understand that Satan is all over the advent of Jesus. Herod is taken in by the will of Satan and wants to kill what God is doing. Herod is serving the Enemy. Herod is serving darkness.
So thus far this morning, we have talked about the fictional Grinch who tried to steal Christmas away from the Whos in Whoville. We have also talked about the real historical King Herod who tried to kill the baby Jesus when He was born. Some people hate Jesus. Some people hate Christmas. Are there people today who hate Christmas? Are there people today who hate Jesus? As we move through this holiday season, you and I may discover people who either hate Jesus or hate the holiday of Christmas.
III. THE PEOPLE WHO HATE CHRISTMAS
There are definitely people who do not like the holiday season of Christmas or do not like what is celebrated at Christmas time… which is the birth of Jesus. I did some investigating and I looked on Twitter for things that had the key words “War on Christmas” and “I Hate Christmas.” I found people who definitely do not like Christmas. I wanted to highlight a few things I found.
#1 I found this one which seems to be from the store TJ Maxx which shows a sign saying “Happy Kwanza” and the message reads “Suck it #Christ.” [show picture on screen]
#2 I found a tweet about a manger scene in Ohio which is made up of Zombies. It says there are protesters and that the person has been fined by the city. [show picture on screen]
#3 This guy’s post tells all Christians to “sit down and shut up” and that there is nothing wrong with saying “Happy Holidays” because there are 10+ holidays at this time of year. [show picture on screen]
#4 This last screen shot is one of the #HateChristmas results and it shows people who hate the whole month of December and the festive holiday. Most of them have to do with not being able to afford presents or spending time with family they don’t even like. [show picture on screen]
Why don’t people like Christmas? Why don’t people like celebrating the birth of Jesus? Why is December and the holiday of Christmas difficult for people? We just might encounter people who are hostile to Christmas. I think there are three basic reasons that someone might be hostile towards Christmas and there is one thing we can do about it.
First, someone might be hostile towards Christmas because it is a festive time of year, one that comes annually, but also might be a holiday that has bad memories attached to it. When you find someone who hates Christmas, you have no idea that their mother or father died on Christmas. You have no idea this was the month a drunk driver hit their car and a sibling died. We don’t know that maybe growing up their father would get stressed about money at Christmas time and beat them more than normal. You don’t know that when someone was a kid, their parents would take their Christmas gifts given by family members and sell them to pay for drugs. You and I have absolutely no idea why someone would hate the Christmas season, but it is there present in their heart. Many emotions are often involved with holidays and especially Christmas. When we think of Christmas, we think love, joy, peace, and giving. When they think of Christmas, they think arguing, sadness, grief, and heartache.
Second, someone might be hostile towards Christmas because Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus and not everyone is a Christian! Now I understand that Christmas has gotten commercial with gifts, Santa Claus, and other aspects, but at the heart of Christmas is still the celebration of the birth of Jesus. When we say “Merry Christmas” we are in fact saying, “Merry Birthday of Jesus!” That is what we mean as believers! If then, Christmas is indeed a Christian holiday, we should expect that people who are of another religion or have no religion at all, do not want to acknowledge the true heart and meaning of Christmas.
Let me give you an example. A person who is a Muslim and takes their religion seriously will not want to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and will in fact consider anyone who does an enemy of their faith. Are you hearing what I am saying? All Muslims who take their religion seriously and do what their holy book says (no matter where they are from or where they were born) consider people of the Christian faith as enemies. A person of a different religion will not want to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Let me give you an example. A person who is Jewish and takes their religion seriously will not want to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ because we believe He is indeed the Christ and they are still waiting for the Messiah. They believe we are in error in our belief! They certainly do not want to kill Christians, but will not want to celebrate the birth of what they would consider a false prophet. Plus, they have their own holiday to celebrate. A person of a different religion will not want to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Let me give you another example. A person who claims to be an atheist claims to have no belief in God what-so-ever will not want to celebrate Christmas. There is absolutely no reason why an atheist-type person would want to say “Merry Christmas,” come to church with you, or light candles and sing “O Holy Night.” None of that fits within their frame of how the world works. They see such a celebration as unnecessary. A person of no religion will not want to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Third, someone might be hostile towards Christmas because Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus who is the Son of God and some people are against God. Some people are lost in darkness and want to live in sin. Please understand that Satan is as much alive and well today as he was at the birth of Jesus. Darkness hates light. People in darkness hate the light. Christmas is the celebration of the coming of the light. Christmas is about the coming of the light and some people just want to live their lives in darkness and so they will not want to celebrate Christmas.
John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
John 3:19, “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
John 12:46, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”
So, what are we supposed to do about someone who hates Christmas or doesn’t want to celebrate the birth of Jesus? What should our attitude be? What should our focus be? What should be our reaction? What do we do when we who are children of the light come upon darkness? There is only one thing we should do.
Yell at them. Nope that’s not it.
Ignore them. Nope, that’s not it.
Shy away from saying “Merry Christmas.” Nope that’s not it.
Put down others’ religious beliefs and make jokes. Nope that’s not it.
Keep our religious opinions to ourselves. Nope that’s not it.
Boycott stores. Nope that’s not it.
Send them a Christmas card with a drop of Jesus’ blood in it. Nope that’s not it.
Write a rant on Facebook or Twitter to make ourselves feel better. Nope that’s not it.
Start an argument every chance we get to try and prove we are right. Nope that’s not it.
Start a debate every chance we get to try and prove we are right. Nope that’s not it.
Stop talking about Jesus around Christmas time. Nope that’s not it.
Change our Christmas party to holiday party. Nope that’s not it.
Change our Christmas tree to a holiday tree. Nope that’s not it.
Make up a song and sing “Dredel Dredel Santa Kwanzaa.” Nope that’s not it.
Stop praying before our meal around Christmas. Nope that’s not it.
The one thing that we can do when faced with darkness is to be the representative of the light. When you and I are faced with someone who hates Christmas, we are called to be faithful. That’s it. Be the light. Live the light. Talk about the light. Do not shrink back from who we are as children of the light. In doing so, we are acknowledging our Savior in the midst of darkness and He is glorified. Now is not the time to be squeamish about living out our Christian faith. Christianity will always be under attack because Jesus is the light in a dark world. We are called to be faithful and be the light.
Acts 26:17-18, “I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'”
Ephesians 5:8, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”
1 Thessalonians 5:5, “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”
CONCLUSION
Cuddly as a cactus
Brain is full of spiders
Charming as an eel
Heart is full of unwashed socks
A bad banana with a greasy black peel
King of sinful sots
Soul is full of gunk
Your heart's a dead tomato squashed with moldy purple spots
And toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce
Be faithful. Be the light.
