An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Get up, take the child and his mother,
and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you,
for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
—Matthew 2.13
This is the world Jesus comes into.
One that would kill him.
Powerful, fearful men denounce him.
Typical, respectable men wish him harm.
We ourselves, at times, turn against him.
This is why he comes.
It is not despite Herod (on the throne and in our hearts)
but because of him that Jesus comes to us.
Spurned, denounced, targeted—love persists,
embodied among us—
warm, vulnerable, doomed, undying.
We harbor in our hearts
one opposed as an enemy of the state.
This is the shepherd we follow,
the Savior we trust, the Body we join.
Herod signs his executive orders,
cloaked agents enter the road,
mothers hide their children,
and we bear love into the world.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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