“He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.”
This week, the church remembers the holy innocents, those small children whom Herod slaughtered out of a jealous protection of his own earthly throne. For him, the Messiah is a threat to be reckoned with, not a bearer of salvation.
We might insist that we would never stoop to such unthinkable violence, but we must admist that often, our hearts are in the same place. As kings over our own little domains, we can find ourselves willing to stoop to great lows to serve ourselves and spurn the rule of the true king. Whether for Herod or the monarch in our hearts, the arrival of the Word made flesh brings terror. But this is not the case for the penitent, for the lowly of heart, for the hungry who need the food of the Gospel. To those people, the song of Mary brings long-awaited joy. The Messiah has arrived, and with him, profound grace and mercy that he delivers in spades to all who need it.
Still, in this world, that arrival can result in great trouble. Already, before Jesus can grow out of infancy, the powers of the world act, and act with aggression. As brothers and sisters in Jesus, you and I should not be surprised when the world turns its anger against his church. It hates us because it hates our king.
However, just as no king could destroy the one promised, no king will destroy those under Jesus’ rule. It has already begun! By Jesus’ innocent death and resurrection, he has brought us into his everlasting kingdom. In the world to come, a crown awaits - not a fading crown lost to history, but an enduring one given to us by Jesus himself. And so, with the arrival of our king, we rejoice in what he came to do, and in the kingdom to come, where the kings of the earth cast down their crowns and our Lord rules forever.
