HOUSE RULES:
HEROD, HOGWARTS, AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD

January 8, 2023
Epiphany of the Lord
Isa. 60:1-9; Ps. 72, Eph.3:1-12; Matt. 2:1-12
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were both blessed and memorable for Tom and me because we were neither alone nor did we have to travel on Christmas Day. Our oldest daughter, the son-in-law, and two grandchildren, who live in the Cleveland area, came to us. We worried about them traveling on Dec.23 because of the snow, high winds, and frigid temperatures. The first part of their trip was easy, but in the middle of Indiana, the weather got pretty rough, and they stopped for the night. There wasn’t much for the children to do in the hotel room at night after a long, boring car ride. My daughter, a huge Harry Potter fan, found a TV channel that was playing all the Harry Potter movies, in order. Our 6-year-old granddaughter got interested, much to her mother’s delight. The Harry Potter movie marathon continued throughout Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after. It seemed Harry Potter was always in the room with us. I have now refamiliarized myself with the stories. While contemplating the story of the three Magi or Wisemen, the world of wizardry and Hogwarts kept coming to mind.

More specifically I have been reminded of a phrase in the Harry Potter movies and that is “House Rules.” The wizardry students at Hogwarts’s lived by the House Rules, which were enforced by their professors. All week, while the Republican House legislators had an extended battle over the Speaker of the House position, there was a lot of talk about “House Rules” – House Rules being broken, and House Rules being changed. One of the concessions made by the new Speaker of the House, finally selected after 15 rounds of voting, was to change the House Rules to allow a single member of the House of Representatives to call for a vote to oust the Speaker. He will now be at the mercy of his rivals in the “Never-McCarthy” squad — one of whom broke House Rules with a scathing personal attack during the election process. What happened to the unwritten house rule of prefacing a disagreement with: “I respectfully disagree with my esteemed colleague?”

The Speaker of the House, third in line for the presidency, has lost a lot of power. King Herod, the villain of the Epiphany story in Matthew’s gospel would never allow himself to lose power. Herod didn’t compromise and he didn’t tolerate any rivals. His method of enforcement was murder. Thus, when he learned from the Magi, who came from the East following a star to the new king that had been born, he immediately hatched a plan to kill the child as he had other rivals to his throne – including a wife and three sons. Herod’s “House Rules” made living in his household quite dangerous.

In Harry Potter’s world, the boarding school for wizards in training, Hogwarts’s House Rules were very important. Harry and his two cohorts, Hermione and Ron, were sometimes caught breaking the House Rules, but their intentions were always good. They broke rules to help others, to right injustices, and especially to protect others from harm, who were threatened by the wizards loyal to the evil Lord Voldemort. The Harry Potter books, and the movies based on the books, depict the classic struggle of good versus evil. When Voldemort killed Harry Potter’s parents, the infant Harry miraculously survived with only a scar on his forehead. Voldemort yearned to destroy Harry by either killing him or bringing him over to the dark side. Like the cruel and power-hungry King Herod, Voldemort could not tolerate a rival.

When the first Harry Potter book was published in 1997, to great acclaim among children and youth, there were parents who wanted to ban the book because it included wizards, witches, warlocks, and other fictitious magical beings. Belief in magic, even in a work of fiction, was seen as a threat to their religion. But if you actually read the books, you will find Harry Potter, his friends, and the adults who worked at Hogwarts had a code of ethics to which they adhered to strictly. It was in book number 5 that the evil Delores Umbridge joined the staff and instituted new House rules in service to Lord Voldemort. Under Albus Dumbledore’s leadership, house rules protected the students from harm and nurtured mutual respect and care for one another. Dumbledore only tolerated the breaking of house rules when they were broken to serve the greater good. Jesus was quite a rule-breaker in his community – rules that upheld bigotry, exclusion, injustice, and exploitation of the poor. Jesus had “House Rules,” but these rules came from the one he called “Father.” The rules were not just household rules, they were Kingdom rules – the Kingdom of God. Jesus declared when asked the most important rule/commandment in the Kingdom of God on earth: ‘You shall love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.’

Our gospel reading today records the travels of the Magi from a distant land, who followed a star to Bethlehem to pay homage to the infant king of the Jews. The word in the original Greek text is “magoi” from which we get the word, “magic” and “magician.” These men were most likely Zoroastrians from the land which is now Iraq. The history of the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has many intersections. This famous visitation is the first interfaith event reported in the New Testament. These Magi were astrologers, who observed the stars and interpreted the meaning of their positions and movements for others. At that time, kings in the Middle East consulted magi and other seers to guide them in their decisions. Matthew tells us these particular magi had a revelation mediated to them by a traveling star. How remarkable for men who were not Jews to come to see the one who would be King of the Jews. This is what Epiphany is all about – a revelation from God, the Word made Flesh, who altered the world in a most profound way.

Matthew tells us that magi from the East trekked through the desert to Bethlehem without knowing when or where they would reach their destination. They trusted that star and whatever power placed that star in the sky to guide them. These foreign gentiles, who may have never read the Hebrew Scriptures or attended worship in a synagogue, received a divine epiphany that led them to the Christ child. Matthew doesn’t tell us how many magi there were. Traditional lore supposes there were three because they brought three gifts. We don’t know their names because names were not important to the story Matthew told. What was important for Matthew to convey to his audience was not scientific or historical, his message was theological.

Each of the four gospel writers had particular theological points that influenced how they told the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. For Mark and John, Jesus’ birth was not important to their message. Luke tells us a group of shepherds were the first to hear the announcement that God’s Son, the savior, had been born in Bethlehem. Matthew tells us it was these magi who first recognized the revelation from God that a new king had been born. Matthew tells us the magi followed that star, only deviating from its path when they mistakenly followed their own assumption that a king would be born into a royal household living in a palace.  We could say they made the same mistake we do when we are lured off the path Jesus has shown us by worldly powers and temptations.

In Matthew’s gospel, the side trip to King Herod’s palace set up a critical dichotomy between the earthly king and the divine king. The magis’ encounter with Herod at his palace revealed God’s plan that ran counter to Herod’s. Herod’s rule was supported by a small elite group of Judeans who were given money and privileges to serve the Roman Empire first over the foundational tenets of their Jewish faith. Herod’s reign was reinforced by the Roman military, a great disparity between the wealth and power of a few, and the poverty and powerlessness of the rest of the population. Herod understood the fragility of his position. He ruled by inciting fear because he was fearful himself.

Matthew used the description of a divinely appointed king from Psalm 72 as a thread that links the Old Testament with the infant king of the gospel. Psalm 72 is a royal psalm, written on the occasion of a new king’s coronation. The ascription is to King David, the greatest king in Israel’s history and Jesus’ ancestor. As with any new national leader, there is a hopeful tone that a new order will bring peace and prosperity, and all the ills of society will be rectified. The psalmist declares that the new king will bring about social justice for the most vulnerable – the poor and the needy. The new king will rule with righteousness, meaning he will rule according to God’s priorities, not his own. He will be a king who serves all his people, not one who forces his people to serve him. The hope for the new king is that he will be a model of justice and righteousness that will inspire the kings of all nations to emulate his leadership, thereby bringing the same blessing to their people. The psalmist envisions kings of other nations honoring him with gifts as Matthew’s magi bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the infant king Jesus. The psalmist expresses this hope with the words: ^“May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. ¹¹May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service. (Ps. 72:10)

The psalmist emphasizes the reason a king would be so honored. It is not because of his military might, his ability to instill fear, or his great wealth. This king is worthy of respect and praise: “For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper.”  (Ps. 72:12) The Psalmist affirms that God judges a ruler by how well he treats the most needy and vulnerable in society. Following the model of the psalmist, Matthew tells us what kind of king Jesus will be. He will not be king of a province or even a nation. He will be the king for all people, who brings God’s kingdom to earth. Matthew brings the flaws and limitations of King Herod to light and contrasts him to King Jesus.

Herod was taken by surprise that a threat to his power would come from outside of the great city of Jerusalem and in the person of one without political connections or great resources of wealth. He did not read or study the Holy Scriptures. The advisors with whom he surrounded himself knew about the prophetic scriptures that promised a new king for the Jews, but they had become distracted from their study of sacred texts. They were busy placating their insecure king and ingratiating themselves for the favors he might bestow on them. They retained the power given them by telling Herod what he wanted to hear. When Herod learned that the Hebrew Scriptures contained a prophecy that the new king was to be born in the small backwater town of Bethlehem, he saw his chance to remove this threat to his power and position. Herod was a king whose only concern was for himself. He had no interest in the people other than as a means of gaining more power, enhancing his reputation as a strongman, and lining his own pockets. Herod had no qualms about harming the most vulnerable in society, infants – even murdering them — to deal with a possible threat to his own power.

In our reading from Ephesians, writing as Paul, the author recounts Paul’s dramatic epiphany on Damascus Road, which turned an outsider to Christ’s followers into a champion for Christ’s teachings about the kingdom of God. The book of Ephesians, more a theological treatise than a letter, confirms God’s gracious inclusiveness, writing: “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ.” (Eph.1:5) Through Christ we are also included in God’s household.

With the magi, Matthew has given us a model of active faith. This faith is characterized by paying attention, obedience, and showing up when led to the places we will find Christ. With Christ as our king, we will be led to the poor, the needy, the oppressed, and the rejected. The magi paid attention to God’s presence in the world and showed up to receive the revelation of the new king created to lead God’s people into God’s ways of righteousness and justice. When faced with the decision to go back and report what they had seen to King Herod or heed God’s instructions to travel on a different road away from the glittering palace, the magi made the righteous choice. Every day we are faced with the same choice – do we take the road God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ or do we return to the palaces of worldly kings?

In all Christian houses of worship, Christ invites us to his table. The rules of eating in his household are: ‘Take, eat, do this in remembrance of me.’ With the celebration of the sacrament, we give thanks for Christ’s sacrifice for us and then go out to share God’s blessings by putting food on the empty tables of the world. The world is crying out for justice, righteousness, and freedom from oppression in all its despicable forms. In this season of Epiphany, we are invited to pay attention to what Christ has revealed to us, to leave our comfort zones to places where we will find Christ waiting for us, and to avoid the worldly palaces and kings that dazzle us with wealth and power that die like a shooting star. In the words of our Lord: “Come, take and eat.” Christ, whose post-resurrection presence was revealed to his disciples in the breaking of bread, invites you to His Table. Thanks be to God!

© Rev. Denise Clark-Jones, 2023, All Rights Reserved
Westminster Presbyterian Church | 1420 W. Moss Ave. | Peoria, Illinois 61606
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“Why am I a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church?  Two words keep  floating up in a rather persistent way  –  “home” and  “family” – and I realized that it is an inescapable fact that is what this church means to me. During my 40 years here, so many life events have happened and Westminster has been there for me through all those times – good and bad.    It has been my home and family.  They say “home is where the heart is” and I’ve found the heart of Westminster to be as open and warm as a family’s!”