What do you do about Jesus? The shepherds went to worship him, and then returned to their work filled with gratitude.
Herod had a different reaction. Matthew 2:13 says, "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.'"
To Herod, Jesus was a threat. Herod wasn't going to let anyone else rule; the news of a newborn king made him furious. His solution was to kill the baby; when the magi failed to return to tell him which one, he killed them all.
There are a lot of people today who see Jesus as a threat. Some are outright sinners: pornographers and gamblers and addicts who can't acknowledge Jesus because they don't want to give up their sin. Some want control of their own lives, and can't let Jesus be Jesus because that would make him their Lord. Some want to live in ways that, while legal, are immoral; for them, Jesus and His followers are an external guilty conscience that won't let them have their fun.
They can't kill Jesus, so they attack Him in other ways. They try to banish Him from public life. They try to prove scientifically that He doesn't exist. They mock and marginalize His followers, as if He only has power if we do.
That all seems ridiculous, until I look at my own life. Are there times that I set Jesus aside? Are there times I leave Him behind? If so, why?
What do you do about Jesus? His birth, and death, demands an answer every day.
Herod had a different reaction. Matthew 2:13 says, "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.'"
To Herod, Jesus was a threat. Herod wasn't going to let anyone else rule; the news of a newborn king made him furious. His solution was to kill the baby; when the magi failed to return to tell him which one, he killed them all.
There are a lot of people today who see Jesus as a threat. Some are outright sinners: pornographers and gamblers and addicts who can't acknowledge Jesus because they don't want to give up their sin. Some want control of their own lives, and can't let Jesus be Jesus because that would make him their Lord. Some want to live in ways that, while legal, are immoral; for them, Jesus and His followers are an external guilty conscience that won't let them have their fun.
They can't kill Jesus, so they attack Him in other ways. They try to banish Him from public life. They try to prove scientifically that He doesn't exist. They mock and marginalize His followers, as if He only has power if we do.
That all seems ridiculous, until I look at my own life. Are there times that I set Jesus aside? Are there times I leave Him behind? If so, why?
What do you do about Jesus? His birth, and death, demands an answer every day.
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