Tuesday, 10th Week of Ordinary Time

Acts 12:1-17

Today begins the confrontation of two kings: Jesus and Herod. Yesterday, I wrote of how Jesus’s disciples, by insisting on Jesus as the Messiah, or Christ, had become well known in Antioch as “King’s men.” Their king was Jesus.

Now the story moves back to Jerusalem, and we see King Herod Agrippa I, who really was a “king” only because the Roman Emperor Claudius had made him a king. Roman Emperors had made his father, Herod Antipas, and his father, “Herod the Great,” kings before Agrippa. The first Herod was “great” in the measure of his cruelty. Read in Matthew’s Gospel of the slaughter of the young boys in Bethlehem to get a taste.

There is no evidence that Jesus’s disciples were plotting in any way against Herod, or Caesar for that matter. But by claiming the title of God’s Anointed for Jesus, these “Christians” were acclaiming him as a King. Thus, it makes sense that Herod would strike against this movement. Note that James, the brother of John, was not stoned, as Stephen was for offending the Jewish leaders’ religious authority. James suffered the death of those convicted of rebellion.

As he went to his death, I’m sure that James remembered what his mother had asked of Jesus on his and John’s behalf. She asked that her sons sit at Jesus’s right and left when he came in “glory.” What Jesus promised was that they would share his cup and baptism, in other words, his death. I believe that as he went to his death, James understood that he actually was sharing in Jesus’s glory.

Jesus is not a King untouched by defeat, who destroys his enemies and conquers territory. He endures defeat, survives even death, and turns the hearts of his enemies. Just ask Saul. Jesus is not a “winner,” who divides the world between winners and losers. He always offers peace, and lets his enemies judge themselves. That judgment will be made clear tomorrow.