Poem about the Magi and Herod

I wrote this when I was preparing for a sermon on this text in Matthew.

Herod and Magi
Wandering nomads from the east. Like gypsies but more respectable. Like the Dali Lama coming to Bush to give him advise. And they come.

I see them with my two eyes and wonder at their search.

God did you send for these men or did they wander off through their own searching. Did you want them to come or did they come and you let them?

And what of this king who acted like the devil. Was he even a man? What possessed him to try to destroy the hopes of Abraham, David and Isaiah. The promise of messiah was so woven into the People of God and yet Herod the great would destroy it all.

Is this the evil end of a man who sought power and control his entire life ... to have as a last act the slaying of Jewish children with the thought that he would kill God's King? With one last thought of overthrowing the plans of God and having assalted the Great One take His seat?

What is it in him that is like us? Are there times when we should look to the skies or deep in the earth or into the heart of our brother with wonder, searching out a glimpse of the King ... but instead we seek to destroy that look in our blind search for more power and control.

God is at work in the earth, but do we look with our wideawake eyes and open up to joy and gladness at the wonder of God's glory ... or are we disturbed and angry and murderous?