Monday, December 12

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Matthew 2:1-4
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

Have you ever thought about Christmas as an interruption? It’s a wonderful interruption perhaps - a fun interruption, but an interruption nonetheless. As we have said several times, the word interruption comes from two Latin words that mean “to break into” – and it is true that Christmas breaks into our lives every year!

Starting on “Black Friday” – and even earlier – Christmas breaks into our lives – into our whole culture – with shopping, traffic, crowds, TV commercials, office parties and thousands of strands of tiny Christmas lights.

I have two jobs when it comes to Christmas decorating at our house. Job #1: I put up all the outside lights – basically on several trees and on the house itself. Job #2: I drag the artificial tree out of the basement and set it up in our family room with the help of at least one of my sons. My wife and our boys do most of the rest, but I take my two jobs very seriously. So every year on the day after Thanksgiving, I dig several black plastic garbage bags filled with Christmas lights out of our attic and get to work.

And every year the relatively simple process of putting lights on the three trees in our front yard and on the gutters across the front of our home is interrupted by any number of frustrating problems. First, no matter how carefully I coiled the strands of little white lights the previous Christmas – they manage somehow to get tangled up all by themselves and I have to take time untangling them before I can string them on the trees. Second, even though I test every strand to make sure the lights actually work before I put them up – inevitably there will be one strand or part of one strand that refuses to illuminate once displayed. Then I have to go to a local store – pick up a replacement set of lights – then climb up and actually replace the faulty light strand before my job is finished.

So even though the Christmas season is a fun and welcome interruption of our everyday lives, there are interruptions within the interruption that can cause frustration – and even anger! Did you see the story about the lady who used pepper spray at a Walmart on “Black Friday” – seemingly because she grew frustrated with the crowds that prevented her from getting to the check out counter?

We’ve already looked at the amazingly grace-filled responses of Mary and Joseph as God broke into their lives with the arrival of a child. This week we turn our attention to a figure who did not respond with such grace.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

Far from being excited or even joyful about the news of the birth of a new king, Herod was disturbed. Now “disturbed” is an interesting word. It carries a sense of being “troubled” – “anxious” – but an anxiety tinged with fear and anger. Why was Herod disturbed by this news? Herod knew he had acquired the throne and maintained his throne through shrewd political manipulation and that he was not loved by the people he ruled. In short, he feared that his falsely held kingdom would soon be interrupted by another – and more deserving – King!

As we begin to look at the ancient figure of King Herod, the question I have to ask myself – and that you might want to ask yourself is, “Who is king?” If I am honest with myself, I have to confess that I really like to be king! I like to pretend that I am in control; I like to think that I always know what’s best for me; I like to be the one calling the shots in my life. But the truth is, I’m a lousy king! How ‘bout you?

Christmas reminds me that I am not king, nor do I have to pretend to be. I have a King – a King who loves me and died for me - his name is Jesus.

Pastor Brian Coffey