Beating the Herod within

Who were the Magi? How did they come to know about the birth of the King of the Jews?  How did they recognise his star? And what can we learn from them?

It is said that a comet, Halley’s Comet, was visible in 12BC. From this we could argue that the wise men were perhaps descendants of Abraham who were also astronomers. But these two facts alone cannot fully explain the heroic journey they undertook to a foreign country to worship a baby.

There must have been something else: They were people in tune with the cosmos, who were able to see the connection between the galaxies, the human mind their inner selves. They allowed the star to inspire them and guide them to the birth place of Jesus because they listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and allowed the Spirit to guide them. We too will discover Jesus if we regularly shy away from the dinning “busyness” of our world and find moments to be still and listen to the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit leading us to the Creator of the universe.

The journey must have been a long and difficult journey undertaken in the very dead of winter. The wise men must have faced cold nights, hostility, hunger and the temptation to give up.

Of all the problems they met, none was as challenging as the cunning wiles of Herod. King Herod, ruler of Palestine at the time of the birth of Jesus, had a sense of insecurity that led to extreme brutality. His jealousy led him to have one of his five wives executed. He accused two of his own sons of plotting against him and had them put to death.

How incensed he must have been when he heard that the King of the Jews had been born in Bethlehem! He resolved to kill the child. When he realised the Magi had outwitted him and not told him exactly where the baby had been born, he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years and under.

What an evil man Herod was, we might say! But we forget one thing: There is a Herod within us! We want to worship Jesus, but how horribly we betray him!

Those of us who aspire to leadership positions are lured by the attractions and trappings of power. We are jealous of all those we consider to be competitors for these positions. We are even jealous of the success of relatives and neighbours.

Furthermore, we tend to see Christmas in terms of showy gifts, sumptuous meals and expensive holidays. May we learn from the Magi to defeat the Herod within us so as to discover the true meaning of Christmas in Jesus!

The Magi brought to Jesus the most precious and royal gifts they could think of: gold, incense and myrrh. What we often forget is that they gave the gift of themselves—undertaking that long journey to Bethlehem required a tremendous sacrifice.

God has given every one of us natural and spiritual gifts. Above all, he has given us the gift of life and the gift of his Son so that we can become his sons and daughters.

The best we can do is to accept these precious gifts by resolving to dedicate our lives and our gifts to his service and to the building of the kingdom of God on earth.

It will not be easy, but like the Magi, let us persevere, defeat the Herod within us, and join the angels and shepherds in singing the Gloria to the King of Kings!