“Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.” (Matthew 2:12)
Around the world, we see governments cloak themselves in the language and symbols of sacred religions to legitimize truly awful things.
Whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the U.S. government’s warrantless abductions of asylum-seekers, despots everywhere declare their deeds to be divinely ordained. In such a time, we Christians would be wise this Advent season to remember Matthew’s account of Jesus’s birth.
The Magi seeking the child who was born King of the Jews followed the star first to Jerusalem. There, they encountered the despot King Herod, who was frightened by the news they brought of the birth of this child. This child, Herod rightly understood, would one day overturn earthly empires — not by the sword, but by the cross.
The Magi continued on to Bethlehem and honored the baby and his mother with gifts fit for a king. Matthew then tells us that “having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.” Because the Magi took another way home, they played a role in thwarting Herod’s planned murder of the baby Jesus, allowing the infant and his family to flee to Egypt.
An actor leads a camel past the U.S. Supreme Court during a live nativity procession in Washington, D.C., on December 13, 2017. (Erin Schaff/UPI/Alamy)
The birth of the Christ child was a threat to Herod’s — and by extension Caesar’s — rule. So consumed with fear at losing power, Herod ordered the slaughter of the baby boys around Bethlehem. That a baby could pose such a threat to those ancient despots is still something to consider.
The first candle we light during Advent symbolizes hope: the hope of Christ’s coming, the hope of light always shining in the darkness such that the darkness can never overcome it. God is always on the side of the oppressed and the marginalized. God is never on the side of empires and their despot rulers — particularly those who claim God’s mantle for evil.
In this, we can find life-giving hope this Advent season. Let us find hope enough like the Magi to find another way home — one that honors the Christ child and hinders the unholy actions done by despots in the name of God.
Mara Richards Bim serves as a Clemons Fellow with Baptist News Global and is the first Justice and Advocacy Fellow at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas. She is a spiritual director and a recent Master of Divinity degree graduate from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.
NOTE: This is part of our Unsettling Advent devotionals running Nov. 30-Dec. 24. You can subscribe for free and receive them each morning in your inbox.
