The birth of Jesus according to the Gospel of St. Matthew is fraught with peril, flight, exile, and murder.  The innumerable Christmas pageants tend to omit most of this drama, perhaps because pageants often are for children. “The Wise Men” are coupled with Luke’s “shepherds” at the manger scene.

Herod is the villain in the story.  Wily and jealous of any usurper to his throne, Herod pleads the Wise Men to lead him to the new born King of the Jews so that he, too, might worship him.  The Wise Men find Jesus and pay him homage with precious gifts. Warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they leave for their home country by another road.  Upon discovering that the Wise Men had tricked him, an infuriated Herod orders all male children in the Bethlehem area up to two years old slain.  Joseph, warned in a dream, escapes to Egypt with Mary and the infant Jesus.

History notes Herod the Great, as differentiated from sons, as a master politician, exceptional architect, and supremely cruel and paranoiac ruler over Palestine.    As a regional vassal king of the Roman Empire, he had immense opportunities for self-aggrandizement as long as he continued to fill the coffers of Rome and maintained political stability. Ever guarded that he might be overthrown, Herod executed numerous members of his own household, including two wives and several sons.

In 20 BC Herod built the expanded second Temple in Jerusalem.  An extraordinary achievement, the Temple was built in less than two years with thousands of slaves and the employment of at least 1000 priests to comply with religious code.  This Temple is the scene of some of Jesus’ dramatic healing, teaching, and confrontations with religious authorities. Jesus was arrested, tried, executed, and buried all within a few hundred yards of the Temple.

Herod was a murderous despot. A modern equivalent might be Saddam Hussein.  It would be slanderous to compare Herod with anyone in American politics or corporate power.  However, it is instructive to delve into some of Herod’s inclinations as applicable to power-mongering in today’s American society.  Let me explain:

First, Herod pulled out all stops to aggrandize and protect his own power base.  One notes this trend, even though much softer, in today’s political and economic battles.  The public loses.

Second, life for Herod was expendable in deference to his own selfish ambitions.  The history of Appalachia bears witness to this grim truth of the Herod spirit arising in the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster to Blair Mountain to Black Lung to Prenter’s contaminated well water.

Third, Herod co-opted religion to consolidate his power by building a magnificent Temple and through enabling an elite religious priesthood to benefit economically while hoodwinking and burdening the common people.  Too few churches in America today are willing to challenge corruption due to compromised alliances.

Fourth, Herod built monuments of pleasure and ego for himself and for his legacy.  Herod’s plush vacation palaces and vast tomb display his vanity.  There are those today who plunder God’s creation and exploit God’s creation for wealth and pride. Appalachia continues to suffer under their selfish greed.

Fifth, Herod opposed Jesus all the while masquerading his feelings by pretense. I personally believe an imposter will reveal his or her true hand when confronted by a choice between their god and the true God.  Their love of money (mammon) often smokes this out.

Sixth, Herod was an unhappy man who died in torment.  Jesus taught, “What profits a person to gain the whole world yet lose his (her) soul?” (Matthew 16:26).  As anti-mountaintop removal activist Larry Gibson often asks, “What in your life is not for sale?”  Let’s hope it isn’t our soul.

—Allen Johnson