Wednesday, 10th Week of Ordinary Time

Acts 12:18-25

Today’s scene from Acts was well known to the people of the region. The Jewish historian Josephus reports that Herod wore a gorgeous robe of fine silver. Imagine the sun shining on that robe. Imagine the robe glittering and sparkling in the eyes of his rapt audience as Herod moved about, spreading his pearls of wisdom. No wonder the crowd began to shout, “The voice of a god!”

I, and other scholars, believe that Herod was preparing to declare himself the Messiah, the Christ, the King anointed by God himself to redeem the people of Israel. Of course, what if the Jewish people had rallied around him? What then? Rebellion against Roman rule? They actually tried that in 66 AD, without any messiah. Four years later, that rebellion ended with thousands dead, Jerusalem burned to the ground, the Temple of God destroyed, and the nation dispersed. Jesus predicted it all. Herod played with fire, and got burned

Kingdoms and empires come and go. And don’t assume that our kingdom, however prodigally blessed and virtuous, will alone avoid that fate. We don’t need a King to enlarge our territory, to put up higher walls against our enemies who remain at the gates, clawing their way under. We need someone whose mere “word” carries power, but not the kind of power that overwhelms its enemies, or even manipulates them into doing what we want.

We don’t need human words. We need the “word,” which the prophet Isaiah described:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Here we are, centuries later, because as Luke wrote, “the word of God increased and multiplied.” Thanks be to God.