killing a rival

St John Chrysostom leads us to some profound wisdom today in A Year with the Church Fathers. He talks about when Herod killed the newborn babies in Bethlehem. And St John tells us to make sure we don't come to mass in a sinful state. But there is more to be found there, I realized.

See, he told the wise men from the east to let him know where the found Jesus, because he said he wanted to come worship, too. But what he really wanted to do was kill the rival to his throne.

It's easy for us to do the same thing. Instead of laying our lives down at the feet of Jesus and asking Him to do with us as He wills, which would be the worship that Herod promised, we often find ourselves trying to kill the rival to our throne. Because WE want to be in charge of our lives. We don't want to turn over the throne to anyone else, especially someone who wants us to do things that make us uncomfortable. And you can bet your last dollar that when you start following Jesus, He will call you to do things that make you uncomfortable. Because He's making you into someone new.

So we need to emulate the wise men, and bring our gifts to Jesus, and then go back a different way than we came... because we're changed into new people, walking in a new path.

God help us to be like the wise men and give You our gifts, and avoid the little Herod inside of us that wants to keep the throne.