Today is the last day of the Christmas season in the United States. In most other countries, Christmas is already over but the powers that be in the USA pushed Epiphany to the nearest Sunday so we get to rejoice a little longer and read another nativity story.
Today's story, of course, concerns the magi and King Herod. All of them were earthly kings but at least the magi were real kings. Herod was just a figurehead - the Romans were the ones really running the show in Jerusalem. Nevertheless, Herod was very intent on keeping his "power" and was wary of any potential threat to it. So when kings - real kings - from other lands came and inquired about the newborn king of the Jews, Herod was quite troubled and decided to be a little sneaky about it. He tried to use the sincere intentions of the other kings - real kings - to help him devise a sinister plan of his.
In stark contrast to Herod's power-hungry ways (even though he had no real power), the magi from the east - they're real kings, unlike Herod - knew that there was one greater than they, and they had no problem with that in the slightest. Curiously ironic, don't you think? It seems our friend Herod was a little insecure.
Matthew 2: 1-12
No comments:
Post a Comment