The Write Place

Many things come to mind during Christmas. Whenever I reread any portion of scripture there is always more. Some of it may seem curious at the first reading, and these scriptures always provide profound depth.

You may have noticed something odd in the account of the nativity in Matthew 2

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
Matthew 2:3

Herod’s fear one can understand. He is an Edomite who was made king by the Roman occupiers. Herod is not in the line of David. He is not even in the line of the Hasmoneans who had liberated Israel against the Seleucids. But why would Jerusalem be afraid if their messiah had been born, ready to overthrow the pretender king Herod?

Well, because they are corrupt pretenders too.

Rome had setup Herod, but it had also come to a power arrangement with the officials over Jerusalem. The high priest at the time of Jesus birth was just as invalid as those alive in Jesus’ lifetime Annas and Caiphas (who was serving) were not descendants of Zadok. They were Levites but not in the right order or family line. They had their position, like Herod, by the sheer force of Rome. They had offered Rome stability and sacrifice for the emperor. In return, Caesar had granted them power and position. If the system goes, they lose their cushy position. If the system they have arranged with the enemies of God falls, so does the national system they created.

You can see their investment further what they do after.

 ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

⁶ “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Matthew 2:3-6

They are troubled, and they help Herod. Remember Herod is an Edomite. He does not know the scriptures and only cares insofar as it preserves his kingdom. But Jerusalem has a vested interest in Herod, and the arrangement with Rome that he is a part of.

Like all government programs, this one goes on way too long. See the response to Jesus’ ministry.

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

John 11:47-50

Their response to Jesus’ miracles is to pursue his death. But taken together with Matthew 2 this makes even more sense. They are concerned for their place and position. The city at his birth was just as invested.

Because of the corruption in the heart of every individual man, human societal structures tend towards that same corruption. Humanity didn’t need a perfect system (that does not exist so long as sin is present). Humanity needs a savior from sin and the curse first.

The coming of the Messiah who they expected to take the throne as an earthly king meant the end for both of them. Jesus was killed by the human participants, so that they could gain the whole world at the cost of their soul. A theme that pours out of scripture

 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically^[a] is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

Revelation 11:8

Of course for Jesus and those who did receive him, the story does not end there.

The nativity of Christ bears incredible similarities to Christ’s death.
Jesus was wrapped in a swaddling cloth and laid in a manger.

 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.^[c]

Luke 2:1

This repeats in a place you may not expect.

⁵⁰ Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, ⁵¹ who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. ⁵² This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁵³ Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. 

Luke 23:5-53

When he was crucified, he was wrapped in grave clothes and laid in a tomb. A tomb that, like Mary’s womb, had never held anybody before. The womb is a place of life, a tomb for death. Jesus came to life in both places. He came in a lowly estate, he died a criminal’s lowly death, but was buried in a rich man’s tomb. He rose from it again as if from the womb to new life and ascended on high. He has been both poor and rich, affirming the dignity of man in all his estate.

He did not blame the existence of a high priest, or of the kings as somehow unjust or aberrational. No, in fact he gave them their authority. What he did was deal with the real issue, not the existence of structure or power or authority but the hearts of those who wield it. Are there unjust systems? Depends on how you define it. First there are unjust men.

It is not based on results in how much you make, or neglecting the choices of individuals as a factor in their success or lack thereof. Jesus was a low/middle class “white man” who affirmed Rome, and the Jewish officials, had authority but challenged them honor God’s law. He had no issue with different results and did not hate others for his lowly economic estate in his first coming. He had a problem with a wicked and rebellious heart that favors it’s own selfish interests. Unjust systems are visible in their laws and practices which do not comport to God’s law.

In Christ we see the end of sin and death, and the transformation of hearts and minds. Only in Christ do we see a new “system” breaking into the world. In a world that hated him and persecuted him for nothing, he suffered and died in our place. Rising again he secured the world to come, that is now breaking into the world through the spread of the Gospel.